Here are the ten worst food practices around the world!
10 – Ying-Yang fish The Ying-Yang fish is a dish with its roots
back in China.
However, it has been banned in several countries and is illegal in Australia and Germany, which
means that if you’re there and you try to cook a fish that way, you’ll go to jail.
Aww!
You wonder why?
Let’s take a look!
Well, someone thought that it would be just super awesome to show how much you care for
the customer who walked into your restaurant and prove to him just how fresh the fish you
serve is… so it’s cooked while it’s still alive.
Not only that you cook it, you DEEP FRY it and while doing that, you have to be careful
not to kill it!
Some chefs have come up with the genius idea of wrapping the head of the fish in a wet
towel and deep-frying it that way so it stays alive for longer.
Once the body of the fish is cooked but its organs are still well working, they serve
it in front of the customer, who apparently is to happily indulge into eating a half-alive
meal.
5-star review, here I come!
Psyche!
9 – Ikizukuri The Chinese got away on this one – it’s
completely and 100% Japanese!
Yet, it’s extremely controversial and again, banned and illegal in several countries.
If you translate the name, it roughly means “eaten alive” which is pretty much self-explanatory.
However, note that eating something raw is one thing; but eating something ‘alive’
is completely different.
Anyway, restaurants that offer ikizukuri have large fish tanks full with different types
of fish.
A naïve customer might be a bit shocked at first; it doesn’t sound that bad?
You just pick a happy little fish – hey there, buddy – and then they fish it out
and… ouch!
It’s not only chopped right in front of your eyes, but the chef has to do it in a
way without killing it – the trick is to have it stay alive.
Professionals recommend doing three cuts only without damaging internal organs.
Then, as if this is not bad enough, the chef would reassemble it back together like a weird
puzzle and serve it in a plate with some vegetables.
That way, you end up with a chopped-up and yet reassembled fish in your plate that is
staring at you and is obviously as confused as you are.
Do you see how much everyone is worried about keeping the food fresh?
I’d say a bit too much.
Yeah, serve my food de*d please.
8 – Habu Sake Another Japanese invention, Habu Sake is also
known by the name Habushu.
The name comes from the venomous snake Habu used for this process.
In this particular case, an alcoholic liquor originating from Okinawa, Japan, is used that
has been infused with some bit of a snake venom.
De-licious!
The controversy around this drink is that the snake isn’t even killed beforehand.
Producers just shove it in a bottle and let it drown on its own in alcohol!
Some have been trying to “ease” the process by putting the snake on ice and removing its
intestines after it passes out.
Then, they proceed by putting the snake in 59% percent alcohol and afterward moving it
to a bottle filled with liquor.
When choosing to go with the second method, the distinctive smell of the drink, which
is mostly coming from the intestines of the snake otherwise, is lost; apparently, a lot
of customers get disturbed by that fact.
Even though such an extreme method is used in its production, it’s still a very popular
drink in Asia.
The Habu snake can mate for as long as 26 hours, so many people drink the Habu Sake
with the hope that it will improve their, ahem…..yeah.
I’d just probably recommend popping a Viagra!
7 – Drunken shrimp Since we’re talking about dunking animals
in alcohol… here’s another ‘alcoholic’ delicacy!
Again, this one is widely popular in Southeast Asia and the whole point of it is for you
to bite the head off of the poor shrimp, who’s at least only semi-conscious because of the
alcohol.
As the name itself applies, the shrimps are first put in ethanol or some other alcohol
of choice and considering the fact that they’re tiny, it takes less than a minute or two for
them to get ‘drunk’.
Afterward, the alcohol is tossed out and the tiny shrimp are marinated in a sauce; since
they are, technically speaking, ‘drunk’, they become thirsty – as far as a shrimp
can become thirsty – and thus absorb a huge amount of the sauce.
Some prefer to actually cook the shrimp in addition to marinating it, but the original
recipe doesn’t include any cooking.
They’re served covered with a lid, so they don’t become too eager and jump into your
lap.
Which totally brings this head biting thing onto a whole different level.
6 – Sannakji Moving a bit further east and we’re now
in Korea, a place where sannakji originates from.
It’s a traditional dish where you’re served a portion of live octopus tentacles that are
still moving on the plate in front of you.
Again, you have the option of choosing your own octopus, most often a baby one; then,
it’s quickly chopped up, sprinkled with some sesame oil and seeds and served in front
of you.
If they wait even a bit longer, the tentacles, which are full of nerve endings and thus wiggling,
stop moving – apparently, that ruins the whole fun.
Yet, it’s worth mentioning that this is not only traumatizing for the octopus itself
but it can present a real choking hazard for the one eating the dish.
Statistic says that five or six people die each year while eating sannakji.
Tentacles, even when removed from the body, have large sucking power and can stick to
your throat.
Talk about getting revenge, huh?
5 – Balut Balut is a traditional street-food from the
Philippines that has been becoming more and more popular in the West as well.
The balut is a developing bird embryo, usually one from a duck – a chicken embryo can be
used as well.
Then, the egg is boiled exactly like you’d boil an egg, and eaten straight out of the
shell.
Apparently, some prefer to only use fertilized eggs that are 18 days old, swearing it gives
the balut a whole different flavor.
When cracked open, you can see the small body of the bird.
Another ‘fun fact’ would be that weirdly enough, balut is usually served with beer!
Yep, you heard that right, the same as you’d get peanuts with your beer in a western pub,
you might as well expect a balut with your beer in the Philippines.
Even though, technically speaking, the bird inside isn’t alive-alive, this practice
is judged upon for well, I mean, let’s be for real.
They’re boiling a living creature.
Anyways, it’s popular and eaten not only in the Philippines but in other countries
in Asia as well.
Men eat it in the hope that they’ll improve their sexuality, while women are especially
encouraged to eat it when being pregnant since it’s rich in protein.
4 – Shark fin soup Legend has it that the shark fin soup can
be traced all the way back during the Ming Dynasty, meaning that it’s been on the tables
in Southeastern Asia for a bit more than four centuries.
There’s a story going around that an emperor wanted to show just how powerful and wealthy
he is so he ordered every single person at one of his banquets a shark fin soup, which
is of course, the appropriate way to show how balling you are in Asia!
If you’re still thinking, hey, this isn’t not that bad, we eat fish every day – then
hear this.
All would be fine if the sharks were treated humanely, to say the least.
However, shark finning is most often done on sharks that are still alive and in the
most brutal way.
After cutting their fins off, they’re thrown off back into the sea.
And what’s a shark to do without its fin?
The shark pretty much dies.
The worst part is that the fin doesn’t even add any flavor to the soup – the flavor
of the soup is actually coming from the chicken broth.
The fin is added just to change the texture of the soup.
I mean, really, this is just pretty much like popping bottles at the club; you’re not
doing it for the alcohol, but you’re doing it for the status associated with popping
bottles at the table.
Except that popping bottles hurts no one except feelings and wallets, and you know what, I’m
totally fine with that!
3 – Kopi Luwak Nicknamed as the most expensive coffee in
the world, Kopi Luwak is a type of coffee that goes through a rather special production
process – it literally goes through the body of an Asian civet.
Yes, you have that right – the coffee is made out of poop.
The civet is a cat-looking – or a monkey-looking?
– mammal that lives in Asia and decades ago, when the Kopi Luwak wasn’t as popular,
the digested coffee beans could be found on the forest ground.
In 2012, it was said that the production of the coffee nicknamed ‘civet coffee’ may
pose a potential threat to the civet numbers.
Not only are they kept in captivity, civets are force fed with coffee beans only in order
to speed up the production process – when living in nature, their diet is absolutely
much more diverse than this and includes fruits, reptiles, and insects.
It’s known that the coffee has a better taste because of the digestive enzymes in
their bodies, which is responsible for removing the acidity from the coffee beans.
The question that lingers is how much can the coffee maintain the same level of quality
if the animal is forced to go through the process, rather than chooses to do it by itself?
2 - Foie gras At number two, we have a rather well-known
and common dish not only in France, from where it originates, but also around Europe, USA,
and Canada.
The foie gras is a meal made from the liver of a goose or a duck; however, not a regular
one but a fattened one.
Those who sampled the dish share that the texture of the liver is fatty and buttery,
unlike the one you can taste when eating a “normal” goose or duck liver.
This is achieved by force-feeding the birds with a metal pipe that’s pushed down their
throats and through which corn mix is pumped straight into their digestive systems.
And in order to prevent the bird opposing this monstrosity – how dare they deny free
food?! – they’re kept in tiny, dark cages.
Another sad fact is that when young, birds are left to live a normal life, running around
and doing the stuff every duck or goose should be doing.
This isn’t out of humane reasons – farmers are doing this as to strengthen their esophagus
so it can hold the mammoth influx of food.
However, it still happens that some of them die – and rather painfully – during this
feeding frenzy.
1 – Ortolan Ortolan is considered a real delicacy in the
gourmet world and it has its origins in France; yep, you heard that right, no Asians this
time!
However, France has been taking some legal action to stop this horrible tradition.
Actually, ortolan is a type of a small bird that’s around six inches long; pay attention
– there’s a catch in the size here.
Once the bird is captured in the wild, it’s immediately put in a dark room and blinded
with a pair of pincers.
Then, it’s put in a cage so tight, that a six-inch bird isn’t able to move.
After that, it’s introduced to a diet of only millet, grapes, and figs.
See what they’re doing here?
They’re trying to fatten up the poor bird and most often, the birds manage to become
four to six times bigger.
As if this is not enough, after the bird is fat enough, it’s drowned by being put in
brandy.
As far as the actual cooking of the bird goes, the meat is so tender that they’re only
cooked for ten minutes at the longest.
When the time comes to savor the ortolan, you put the whole bird in your mouth with
only its head sticking out.
Then, as if trying to hide your misdeeds, you cover your mouth with a napkin and bite
off its head, enjoying the rest of its tender body.
It’s believed that this napkin tradition has begun with a priest, who had much enjoyed
his ortolan but was scared of God’s fury as well.
Here’s what’s next!