The tiny spikes on this fish
should be enough to tell you
not to put it in your mouth.
But for some reason,
you still did.
And now you're having trouble breathing.
You just ate one of the
deadliest foods on Earth,
and there's plenty more
where that came from.
Today's culinary tour will have you
dodging maggots
and ripping tentacles off your face.
Bon Appétit.
Your body needs food
to keep you alive
but some foods
might do just the opposite.
Today, we'll be counting down
the top five deadliest foods.
For each entry,
we'll tell you what you can do
to stop it from becoming
your last supper.
Your wholesome hobby of making
your own jam
could end up poisoning your family
if you use this fruit.
The elderberry bush's leaves,
twigs and seeds
contain dangerous levels
of cyanogenic glycoside,
which can produce cyanide.
If you eat a large amount of them,
the poisoning can cause seizures,
coma and death.
The fruit of the elderberry bush is safe
to eat as long as it is ripened
and cooked properly.
Harvest them by hand
and avoid picking any of their seeds,
leaves and bark.
If you ingest raw or
unripe elderberries by accident,
get to a hospital immediately.
You'll need to get treated for cyanide
poisoning as soon as possible.
This national dish of Iceland
can kill you if you eat it fresh.
It is made from Greenland sharks,
which filter their waste through
their skin and flesh.
that act as a natural
antifreeze for the shark,
but if you ingest it,
you’ll experience intestinal distress,
convulsions and potentially death.
Traditionally,
hakarl is made by
burying a shark in the ground
for months to ferment.
After this,
it is dug up and cut into strips
that then hang for several months
until everything
is essentially rotten.
What can go wrong
with eating
larvae-infested cheese?
Apparently a lot,
because this cheese
has been illegal
in Italy since 1962.
This Sardinian specialty
is made when thousands of maggots
laid by skipper flies
eat a hard wheel of pecorino cheese,
digest it
and produce an acid
that softens the cheese.
Unfortunately,
another thing they can
bring to the cheese
is a yummy little bacteria
called salmonella.
And if that doesn't turn you off,
this will.
When you scoop out
the creamy-mealy cheese,
you'll need to cover
your eyes and nose.
The maggots will try
to protect themselves
by coiling up
and jumping onto your face.
The maggots must still be alive
when you’re enjoying the cheese
because if they're dead,
it means that the cheese has gone bad.
You’re already dealing with the 2009
Guinness World Record
for the world's most
dangerous cheese, so
don’t increase the risk.
Killing your food before eating
it is a common practice,
but not when you’re having
a baby octopus for dinner.
To make sannakji,
the chef cuts the live mollusk's
tentacles into pieces.
These are seasoned
and served immediately
while everything is still writhing
and the suction pads are functioning.
The key to eating this Korean
dish and not choking to death trying
is to simply chew thoroughly.
Chew on the tentacles until
you’ve broken apart
the suction cups
so they won’t stick to the roof
of your mouth or your throat.
Did we mention
those same suction cups
are so powerful
they can stick to your skin
and rip it off?
Fish can be one of the healthiest
items on the restaurant menu
but not this one.
Fugu is the Japanese
word for pufferfish.
This is an extremely
toxic fish
since its ovaries
intestines
and liver contain
tetrodotoxin,
a neurotoxin
1,200 times
stronger than cyanide.
To safely prepare fugu,
Japanese chefs go through
years of training
and require a license to serve it.
So, if you find
yourself ordering this dish,
you might want to double-check
if the chef has all their paperwork
because ingesting
even a minuscule
amount of toxic pufferfish
can be lethal.
Did that hit the spot?
You survived, somehow.
Maybe you should
play it safe for a while
with some cream
of mushroom soup.
But wait,
where did you find those mushrooms?
If you picked the wrong kind,
you might not have long to live.
Find out more
on How to Survive.