While putting together our list of disgusting delicacies we realized that we may have missed some, and that our audience would likely be able to outmatch our choices. Hundreds of great entries poured in, and you guys listed some interesting dishes!
Which of these delicacies is the most disgusting?
Need more background information? Here are links to more information for the finalist entries for the crown of world’s most disgusting delicacy.
The winning submission will win $500. Voting ends at noon Eastern on April 13th. Best of luck to the entrants! We track IP addresses to prevent vote stuffing and other such gaming attempts.
Update: Below is a snapshot we took to record the final results. Congratulations to Jianu Lucian for the winning entry.
The most disgusting dish I’ve ever seen (and I’ve actually eaten sheep’s head, stinkhead, and moose nose jelly) is the Namibian Warthog Anus that Anthony Bourdain feasted on when he took a trip into the African bush with Namibian bushmen.
Nambian Warthog Anus al dente.
To cook Namibian Warthog Anus, kill and gut the warthog and pull out the anus with the last 1 foot of intestine attached. Squeeze out the feces, but don’t wash the anus or intestine. Make a fire and throw the juicy anus directly into it, ignore the dirt and ashes that will cover the anus. When the anus is al dente – be sure not to cook it too long – cut it into bite sized pieces and serve immediately. For a picture, check out this video:
This is disgusting primarily because of the very high risk of contracting fatal transmissible spongiform encephalopathies such as Variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease and other similar brain diseases. In parts of China, the monkey’s brain is eaten raw. While it is most likely an urban legend, some people claim that monkeys’ brains are, or were, eaten from the head of a live monkey.
Monkey Brains.
The monkey’s head was supported by its neck in a bracket, two pieces of wood with a semicircular hole on each side such that when you put them together, they form a complete circle around the animal’s neck, allowing the head to be exposed above the plank. The hair around the head is shaven with a shaving razor. A small chisel and a hammer is used to quickly chisel a circle around the crown, and the top part of the skull is removed. A teaspoon is used to scoop up the brain, which is immediately eaten. This has to be done before the monkey dies.
Monkey with exposed brain taking his last selfie on his cell phone.
Widgety grubs – giant tree maggots here in Australia, about the size of a human thumb. Eat raw and wiggling. I’ve tried them, they are kind of gooey and eggy, but they can bite your tongue if you forget to bite their heads off.
Photo of a brown young bull running at matador in Sevilla, Spain.
In Boliva the world famous Caldo de Cardan soup is a dish based around the bull penis and testicles as the key ingredients. The penis is sliced thinly and takes the cardan name from local slang, based on how it looks like a car’s drive shaft.
Caldo de Cardán Preparation
The following video is in Spanish, but it shows the preparation process for the dish.
Caldo de Cardán Soupa Ingredients
Bull testicles are optional with some preferring to eat the dish without them. The soup contains many other ingredients like:
a lamb rib
chicken breast
a hard boiled egg
potatoes
rice
Bolivian beef jerky
The heavy bull penis is chopped into small pieces which sink to the bottom of the dish and the eater works their way through the other ingredients.
Why do People Eat Caldo de Cardán?
The soup is both affordable and delicious due to the extended cooking time and flavorful ingredients. The broth is typically cooked the night before the dish is served and cooked on low heat throughout the night.
The energy boosting soup is believed to help with sexual impotency, anemia and hangovers.
It costs around $2 per serving (in 2020 USD) and is frequently sold in close proximity to Bolivian bull slaughterhouses.
Bolivian Caldo de Cardan Soup.
More information is available online in Spanish at MDZ Online [link to Wayback Machine version of article hosted on Archive.org]. A reader named John helped up by providing a translation of the above referenced 2009 article in the comments section. Here is his translation:
In Bolivia they do not need Viagra, there is a common broth.
To fight fatigue, but not with an energizing drink of “Red Bull”, they say this increases sexual potency. But it is not Viagra. It is a common broth, a curiosity of the Bolivian cuisine that seems to be gaining more and more support among those in need an extra push or clear mind after a long celebration.
Weekends, and always after dawn, many Bolivians fill the restaurants in the city of El Alto and the slums of La Paz in search of the intense flavor of the broth, whose main ingredient is the virile member of the bull.
Consumed by people of all ages, including women, convinced that it is an effective cure for a hangover. Some attribute aphrodisiac properties and some will recommend it for back pain and joints.
“It’s like my breakfast. The first thing I eat when I get up,” confessed Bráñez Benito, a resident of El Alto for 59 years, who has eaten the broth for the last decade.
The popular soup takes its name from the similarity between the member of a bull, and the mechanical tube located at the base of a car which carries the force of the engine to the rear wheels.
The secret of the mint broth’s effectiveness lies in preparedness. “As a concentrate, we cook it from 10 pm until the next morning,” Luque said in July, owner of a restaurant whose specialty is the popular soup.
The liquid acquires in this way, according to connoisseurs, the strength of the bull, contained in the testes.
“The long, slow cooking in huge pots heated with wood fire stoves or liquefied petroleum gas, makes taurine (a substance present in many energy drinks) which is mixed with the broth” explained Luque, who has prepared the porridge for the last 17 years with a recipe he learned in the central region of Cochabamba, where he worked as a kitchen helper.
“Almost 10 hours of cooking so that the broth is concentrated, this is one of the secrets, the other is taking it tomorrow,” said Cristina Poma, wife of Luque and cook in the restaurant that they handle.
After cooking, the broth takes on a creamy consistency and only then are small pieces of the bulls member mixed in the dish with lots of legs of beef, chicken and lamb, boiled egg, some rice and potato. The potato is ubiquitous in Andean Bolivian cuisine.
“I like it because it is rich,” said Bráñez sipping the broth, which, by the variety of ingredients has a pleasant and intense flavor.
For her part, Surco Lucio said: “I have nine children thanks to the broth” while lifting her chest and shoulders to lift up her younger son, Marco, who she said will, from time to time, taste the succulent dish.
“The broth is a universal tradition,” added the young man carrying a piece in a plastic bag. A single dose of just 12 bolivianos, will cost you a little over a dollar and a half.
Isolated photo of a telmatobius aquatic frog on white background.
In some South American countries like Peru people may take endangered Telmatobius frogs, skin and cut them, then throw them into a blender to make a frog smoothie.
Photo of the underside of a titicaca water frog isolated on black background.
To complete the dish a few other ingredients are added to the blender:
three ladles of hot white bean broth
two generous spoonfuls of honey
raw aloe vera plant
several tablespoons of maca
1 dead, skinned, endangered Telmatobius frog
Woman blending a frog smoothie.
The above recipe makes about 200ml of smoothie.
Man Drinking a Frog Smoothie.
Here is a video showcasing of the process of making a frog smoothie.
Some believe this helps with fatigue, anemia, bronchitis, or stress. These uses have not been approved by the FDA.
Screenshot from National Geographic short video about the preparation of kutti pi.
Kutti pi, which is an Anglo-Indian dish consisting of an animal fetus (of any sort- usually goat or cow). National Geographic published a video of a woman preparing the dish on YouTube.
Merchants at spare parts markets sell kutti pi though doing so is taboo, so they deliver the dish to her home rather than selling it on camera.
Supply of kutti pi is hit or miss with availability determined by if a pregnant mother goat (or other animal) was recently slaughtered. The lady preparing the dish suggests a medium sized kutti pi is ideal as it yields plenty of flesh to eat, yet the goat fetus still remains free of hair.
The ideal stage of the fetus is beyond embryo state but of course not yet live. If you split the difference on the following two images it would be almost perfect.
Goat Embryo.
An embryo is the early stage of the animal development where critical body structure and organs are formed. In humans an embryo switches over into the fetus stage 9 weeks after the egg is fertilized or in the 11th week of a pregnancy. Humans have a 40 week or 280 day gestation period. Goats, by contrast, have a 5 month or 150 day gestational period.
Baby goats grazing on grass on a farm.
A female goat is called a doe or nanny and can reach puberty between 4 to 12 months.
Not sure what makes me more quesy; all the organs for sale in the market or the fact shes’s holding her modern car keys while bargaining for a fetal goat.
Dog meat is eaten in some countries and certain breeds of dogs are raised on farms and slaughtered for their meat. Dog meat may be consumed as an alternative source of meat or for specific medicinal benefits attributed to various parts of a dog. In parts of the world where dogs are kept as pets, people generally consider the use of dogs for food to be a social taboo.
Cultural attitudes, legalities, and history regarding eating dog meat varies from country to country. Very little statistical information is available on attitudes to the consumption of dog meat. Though the consumption of dog meat is generally viewed as taboo in Western culture, some Westerners support the right to eat dog meat and accuse other Westerners who protest against dog eating in other countries of cultural imperialism and intolerance
Submitted by Jianu Lucian
As of 2014 it is estimated 25 million dogs are eaten globally each year.
Pork vendors are complaining about losing market share to dog meat sellers
“They have taken away a lot of our business this year because now dog meat, as well as cat meat, is cheaper than pork and beef,” said the vendor, while pointing at a dog meat stand doing a roaring trade at the city’s bustling Ximen fresh market in December.
And people are suggesting dog meat is a great gift as it becomes more mainstream.
“Dog meat tastes better than pork. Why not choose dog meat to treat guests, because it’s no longer affordable to order pork?” – Luo Liu, Jiangxi resident
Here is a disturbing video on Twitter of a Chinese man cooking a live dog. 🙁
The placenta is a temporary organ which provides oxygen and nutrients to growing spawn while removing waste products from the spawn’s blood. It attaches to the wall of the uterus and the umbilical cord is attached to it.
Stem cell therapies may be able to treat many diseases and conditions, but the hype has run ahead of reality and many treatments are not FDA approved.
The placenta is a flexible organ, yielding a rather chewy texture. Deer placenta soup can be served with mushrooms, flowers, black chicken, and deer tendon in the broth. It is believed to be good for skin, kidneys, vitality and sexual vitality.
What better to wash down your gelatinous lumps of lye fish than a nice chilled cup of dead mice?
What better indeed.
Baby mice wine is a traditional Chinese “health tonic,” which apparently tastes like raw gasoline.
Little mice, eyes still closed, are plucked from the embrace of their loving mothers and stuffed (while still alive) into a bottle of rice wine. They are left to ferment while their parents wring their tiny mouse paws in despair, tears drooping sadly from the tips of their whiskers.
Chinese Baby Mice Rice Wine.
Wait, it gets worse …
Do you wince at the thought of swallowing a tequila worm? Imagine how you’d feel during a session on this bastard. Whoops, I swallowed a dead mouse! Whoops, there goes another one! Whoops, I just puked my entire body out of my nose!
