Top 5 Weirdest Dishes You Should Not Try

If we really are the food that we eat, then we definitely shouldn’t ever try these strange food options. From downright disgusting to disturbingly qualmish, these 5 dishes should never be eaten unless you’re in for some sickening adventure. Check out our picks on what not to eat while traveling abroad or even living for that matter.

1) Fried Brain Sandwich

This dish used to be very popular in central USA, until the infamous mad cow disease spread around the country. People can get a human version of the disease by eating the infected meat tissue. It is now illegal to sell cow meat from a cow which was slaughtered at an age of more than 30 months although sometimes this meat still finds its way into the food system.

2) Raw Blood Soup

Yes, you read that correctly. In Northern Vietnam, they typically eat a bowl of raw duck’s blood for breakfast. This dish, known as tiết canh, is sometimes also made with geese, or pig’s blood. However, the dangerous thing is that the blood can carry strands of the H5N1 Bird Flu, which can be fatal for humans.

3) Hákarl

Hakárl, which is the meat from a Greenland or Sleeper Shark, is traditionally eaten in parts of Iceland. This fermented meat is known to have a particularly urinal taste, with celebrity chef Anthony Bourdain describing it as “the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing”.

4) Stink Bugs

Although it may sound unusual to us, many people around the world do eat insects. In Venezuela they eat tarantulas, in China water beetles are a delicacy, while baby bees are sold in parts of Japan, such as Tokyo. Stink Bugs, which already sound off putting from their name, are commonly eaten in Indonesia. They allegedly have a foul odour and a “bitter medicinal taste rather like eating a bitter sunflower seed”.

5) Tuna eyeball

Literally the eyeball of a tuna fish. It is sold in most Japanese supermarkets for the price of around one US dollar. It is said to have the taste of squid and should be boiled before eating. Good if you like the taste of squid, bad if you don’t!