Unusual food to try
Fried frogs (Photo by shankar s.)
There's a whole world of food to discover as you travel so why not send your taste buds on a global trip with our guide to some of the world's most unusual foods. Dancing shrimps in Thailand
Love Strictly? Then check "dancing shrimps" (goong ten), stars of a northern Thailand travel salad - tiny live shrimp tossed in fish sauce, ground roasted chilli, coriander and onion, with lime juice squeezed over to set them jigging. Your tongue tingles with salty, sour and spicy flavours – plus the pitter-patter of dancing shrimp. You really can play with this food - keeping the critters on your plate.
Many people have a liking for frogs – but the whole beast, curried, deep-fried, stewed. Mok huak, though, uses partly developed tadpoles. Deep-fried, they're said to taste like chicken nuggets. Larb Mote Daeng, meanwhile, is a tempting 2-for-1 - fried red ants plus red ant eggs too. The ants' consumption of mango leaves gives a citrus kick that balances the oily eggs.
Many people have a liking for frogs – but the whole beast, curried, deep-fried, stewed. Mok huak, though, uses partly developed tadpoles. Deep-fried, they're said to taste like chicken nuggets. Larb Mote Daeng, meanwhile, is a tempting 2-for-1 - fried red ants plus red ant eggs too. The ants' consumption of mango leaves gives a citrus kick that balances the oily eggs.
Italy: more than just pizza...
Sardinia's casu marzu, though, is a cheese banned by the EU. It's the live maggots, you see – hundreds that burrow into pecorino rounds to partly digest it to a soft, crumbly goo. Aficionados eat it with the live maggots in, because they claim dead maggots mean the cheese is unsafe. The aftertaste is said to linger for hours.
Insects: a global buzz
Chapulines (Photo by William Neuheisel)
Over 1,000 species of insects – beetles, bees, ants, hoppy things – are eaten in 80 percent of the world's nations, covering travel in South America, Asia, Oceania and Africa. So any squeamishness makes you odd one out. In Kenya and Tanzania, fried grasshoppers are classic nosh to put a spring in your step, while in Mexico so-called chapulines are served with garlic, lime juice and salt containing extract of agave worms for a sour-spicy-salty double dose of bug.
Travel Down Under and New Zealanders swear huhu grub (looks like a mini Michelin Man, but no Michelin stars) tastes like peanut butter. Aussies say the lookalike witchetty grub is like almonds when raw, and roast chicken with egg inside when cooked – Sunday brunch and lunch combined! Leafcutter ants are eaten in Colombia and Brazil, and coconut grubs in Ecuador.
Travel Down Under and New Zealanders swear huhu grub (looks like a mini Michelin Man, but no Michelin stars) tastes like peanut butter. Aussies say the lookalike witchetty grub is like almonds when raw, and roast chicken with egg inside when cooked – Sunday brunch and lunch combined! Leafcutter ants are eaten in Colombia and Brazil, and coconut grubs in Ecuador.
Spiders in Cambodia
Stir-fried tarantulas (Photo by istolethetv)
We're always keen to hear ways to deal with big spiders - so genius to eat them. Tarantulas (a-ping) are a particular delicacy in Cambodia, stir-fried in garlic, chilli, salt and sugar. They're said to taste like soft-shell crab or a strange mix of chicken and cod, with the best bit the white meat in the head and body. The abdomen is spider Marmite – you either love or hate the brown pasty gunk.
Peru is not the place for vegetarians
Roasted guinea pig (Photo by Nestor Lacle)
And finally... balls
Finally, we need to talk bollocks: testicles are tasty globes around the globe. In Spain, rather than bollocco do toro, bull testicles are known as criadillas – floured, breaded, fried and served in spicy wine sauce. They're also legendary cowboy cuisine to try if you travel in USA, called deep-fried “Rocky Mountain oysters”. In China, some people plop rooster testicles in hot pot, while Afghans prefer sheep balls grilled as kebabs. Icelanders pickle rams' testicles for the truly unforgettable traditional dish Hrútspungar. For something soft and tangy, peel off the membrane and sauté with lemon and sumac.
Trying new food and drink as you travel is a highlight of many holidays, but we don't support eating some of the things mentioned in our article just for the sake of it. The best way to sample local cuisine as well as to pick up a few tips from the experts is to check out Responsible Travel’s cooking & food travel guide .
