Definitely one of the best things about travel is that you get to eat some amazing food. Yeah sure, you meet some nice people and you visit some nice places but the interesting conversations you have with your fellow adventurers usually start when you start talking about what strange foods you have tried – good and bad. It is with this in mind that I thought I would share with you some of the stranger things that I have tried on my travels. I’ll start with a couple of bad ones first.
Surstömming was something I won’t forget in a hurry as it is basically rotten fish that they eat in Sweden. Absolutely disgusting and was reminded of its horrific aftertaste when I went to Cambodia and was tricked into sampling ‘Cambodian cheese’, or Prahok which is basically the freshwater equivalent but equally awful. Balut is another which difficult to hold down but seems to be very popular in the Philippines. This is basically a duck egg that has the embryo of a not fully formed chick inside. Not nice. Popular around Asia as well are the different varieties of insects you seem to be able to consume. Crickets, water beetles, deep fried scorpions and even tarantula in some parts of the world are eaten as delicacies. If you are travelling around and are travelling on a budget a small bag of insects will serve you quite well as they are an excellent source of protein.
Now for the good stuff. I must admit I am a bit of a carnivore so this section contains mainly meat. When I was in West Africa I was able to try crocodile. It is actually quite nice but can be a bit chewy if its overcooked. Apparently they only use the tail meat and after you are done you can make a nice pair of shoes. Another delicacy in some parts was snake. Again, it is tasty but can get a little bit boney. It is customary to drink a shot of the blood from the snake as well in some places and it doesn’t taste that bad. Something that I didn’t expect to ever try was black bear in North America. Apparently it is eaten very commonly in the Northern states and has a very gamey flavor and is tender.
So there you go. Just some of the things I have been fortunate or unfortunate enough to sample on my travels. If you get the chance give them a try, see what you think. Before you head off on your travels I recommend a great blog post from Voucherbox that I was lucky to discover the other day, it’s packed with brilliant tips on how to save money on the road.
