Where to eat the weirdest food on the planet

Ten of the strangest foodstuffs in the world. And where you can have your fill

7 mins

1. Fermented shark, Iceland

With a whiff like fishy bleach, the biggest battle with consuming fermented shark (hákarl) – which is buried for up to 12 weeks, then hung for several months – is being able to stomach the smell.

2. Puffer fish, Japan

The food that fights back – Japanese puffer fish (fugu) is deadly if prepared incorrectly, first paralysing then asphyxiating the diner. Still hungry?

3. Duck embryo, South-East Asia

Balut – fertilised duck or chicken egg containing a nearly developed embryo – is boiled and eaten in the shell. Enough said.

4. Sea slugs, Korea

Pulled live from a tank, then sliced and gutted before your eyes, this is not a dish for the slime-averse.

5. Prairie oysters, USA

Known euphemistically as huevo del toro (literally, 'bulls' eggs') and 'cowboy caviar', there's no escaping what these actually are – the peeled and peppered testicles of an unfortunately emasculated bull.

6. Witchetty grubs, Australia

A popular Aboriginal snack, this pale and chubby bug should be extracted from the roots of the witchetty tree then consumed immediately – live and wriggling.

7. Roasted ants, Colombia

The perfect high-protein, low-fat snack? South America's Atta laevigata ants called bachaco, have been harvested, de-winged, roasted and eaten for centuries.

8. Fish maw, China

Yellow and puffy, with a texture like sponge, these fish flotation bladders are a popular – and surprisingly pricey – addition to many soups.

9. Fermented herring, Sweden

Surströmming unleashes an odour of pure evil when its tin is opened – even the strong-nosed Swedes generally eat it outside.

10. Grasshoppers, Mexico

Eaten by peckish locals for more than 3,000 years, toasted grasshoppers (chapulines) have a singular taste. Just try not to get the legs stuck in your teeth.

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