Here are some of the most dangerous foods that people actually will eat!
10 - Raw Baby Octopus Also known as San-nakji, this dish is basically
a raw, small octopus that’s sometimes eaten alive!
Even if it isn’t alive prior to consumption, many of the nerve cells are still firing and
the tentacles still move around.
This really odd feature is thanks to their nervous system with neurons located in the
arms.
Getting past that mental hurdle of wiggling tentacles isn’t the tough part.
It’s being able to actually swallow the tentacles that’s the hardest task here.
The tentacles contain miniature suction cups that keep on working even when the octopus
isn’t alive.
Yep.
They can hold onto someone’s throat.
Do I really need to mention choking hazards here?!
Would YOU eat a raw baby octopus?!
Let us know in the comments!
And oh yeah, do us a favor, hit that like button, down here!
9 - Hakarl The fact that humans still eat rotten shark
meat this day and age makes you wonder how we evolved to be the smartest, most advanced
species ever to roam the planet.
But you know what, here we are!
This dish is from Iceland, where Hakarl is a traditional dish.
Hakarl is a mixture of Greenland Shark and other Sleeper Sharks that’s hung up to dry
for five months to ferment before eating.
Sound appetizing yet?
Since this fresh shark meat is poisonous when it’s fresh of a high content of urea and
trimethylamine oxide, chefs have to go to great lengths to prepare it for consumption.
When the sharks are first caught, they’re gutted and placed in a shallow sandy hole
for several weeks.
Then strips of the meat are hung up for five months.
Just try and imagine THAT smell!
Hákarl contains a large amount of ammonia and has a strong smell, similar to many cleaning
products.
People trying it for the first time apparently gag involuntarily on the first attempt to
eat it because of the high ammonia content!
Yeah, that’s gonna be a no for me dawg.
First-timers are advised to pinch their nose while taking the first bite, as the smell
is much stronger than the taste.
While this is a well liked dish in Iceland, the rest of the world seems to hate Hakarl.
Anthony Bourdain described it as quote “the single worst, most disgusting and terrible
tasting thing.”
Chef Gordon Ramsay tried it and….well you can pretty much guess how that went.
Anyway, not only can this meat be dangerous if it isn’t prepared right, the payoff seems
to be virtually non existent!
8 - Casu Marzu Does rotten cheese made from sheep milk with
maggots swimming around in it sound tasty?
It’s soft cheese with putrid liquid from wormy maggots.
Yet, there are Italians that like to eat this dish!
Pecorino cheese is left outside for days, while larvae lay eggs in the cheese.
Once the eggs hatch, the larvae will chomp their way through the cheese.
Meanwhile, acid from their digestive system just pours into the cheese.
Unsurprisingly, this cheese is often unsafe to eat.
To begin with, it’s only safe to eat it WHILE THE MAGGOTS ARE ALIVE!
Also, if you eat any of the maggots, there’s a good chance that they can survive on the
inside of your intestines, a condition called pseudomyiasis.
The European Union has banned the cheese, and offenders face heavy fines.
Because of this, casu marzu can only be found on the black market!
7 - Blood Clams If you ever find yourself in Bangkok and you’re
feeling adventurous and you’re trying to take advantage of your insurance, be sure
to check out Blood Clams.
The thing is, when these clams are served raw, that’s when they’re most dangerous.
They’re supposedly extremely tasty, assuming if shellfish is your thing.
If you decide to eat it raw…..watch out.
People have been known to suffer from “Rotten Stomach” which is pretty much exactly what
you think it is.
Yeah.
It’s all liquid.
Because the blood clam lives in low-oxygen environments, in order to get the nutrients
they need, they ingest a lot more viruses and bacteria, such as hepatitis A, typhoid,
and dysentery, just to name a few.
And while they can be found in the waters all over the world, some countries ban the
import of them because of health concerns.
If you’re gonna try it, we’d recommend to only eat it fully cooked, unless you’re
wanting to spend a few days in the bathroom or the hospital!
6 - Nomura’s Jellyfish When most people go to the beach, they avoid
large jellyfish.
That’s just basic common sense right?
But some people prefer to eat jellyfish.
Commonly known as Nomura’s Jellyfish, it’s one of the largest jellyfish in the world,
and it’s technically edible, even if it’s low on nutrition.
There’s a Japanese company called Tango Jersey Dairy, and they make this crazy Vanilla
and Jellyfish Ice Cream using Nomura’s Jellyfish.
Cubes of the jellyfish are soaked in milk and it reportedly has a chewy texture.
It must taste awesome though because people more or less risk their lives to eat this
stuff.
If the toxic part of the jellyfish isn’t properly removed, and the remaining parts
properly cooked, the toxins can be dangerous.
However, jellyfish in general have been eaten in Asian countries for thousands of years
now.
It’s used in a variety of dishes, and jellyfish is often utilized to add texture or to spruce
up salads.
5 - Monkey Brains It’s not ever necessary to eat monkey brains,
but some people allegedly do it anyway.
In a modern context, it’s more of an urban legend than an actual thing.
In China, it’s illegal to sell Monkey Brains, and breaking this law will land someone in
jail for up to 10 years!
But assuming someone did eat monkey brains and managed to not get caught, they’d have
something called Creutzfeldt-Jakob (yah-cub) disease to deal with.
This is a dangerous brain disease that pretty much guarantees whoever gets it doesn’t
make it.
90 percent of people who contract this disease lie within a year.
Of course, it’s hard to say if there’s any actual evidence of people eating monkey
brains.
It’s largely rumored to be rooted in Eastern and Asian folklore, as there have been legends
that suggest that it was served at the Manchu Han Imperial Feast during the Qing dynasty.
The feast was a multi day banquet where hundreds upon hundreds of dishes were served to the
Emperors.
Armed with that little tidbit of information, pop culture has often depicted monkey brain
eating as an Eastern thing.
Indiana Jones and the Temple of Death, pop into mind for example.
Who can forget the monkey brain scene!
However, it’s just historically inaccurate.
However, who knows about today.
Anyone that’s actually eating monkey brains should really reconsider THAT dietary choice!
4 - African Bullfrogs As their name would suggest, African Bullfrogs
make their homes in, wait for it….
Africa.
Preferring the dry savanna, shrublands and marshes, these large amphibians hang around
all over the place in Africa.
As there are no laws that prohibit the trade of African Bullfrogs, they’ve become an
increasingly popular choice for exotic pets.
One reason for this laissez faire approach is that Bullfrogs in general are kind of disruptive
to their ecosystem as they eat just about everything that they can get their mouths
around.
Anyway, it’s not uncommon for African Bullfrogs to be kept in captivity or to be featured
items on restaurant menus.
The French, for example, are known to enjoy eating their legs.
But in Africa, however, some folks eat the whole frog.
This isn’t a great idea.
Their skin and organs contain a toxin called Oshiketakata that’s extremely dangerous.
When the frogs are young and have yet to mate, that’s when the toxin is present.
Ingesting the toxin can lead to kidney failure.
However, it’s a celebratory dish in Namibia, and they’re still happy to take the risk
and eat the entire frog.
3 - Fesikh The Egyptians have a lot of traditions.
One of them is eating a potentially dangerous fish called Fesikh.
Like virtually every other item on our list, this fish is potentially lethal if it isn’t
prepared correctly.
Even if this dish doesn’t end your life, it can cause botulism poisoning, which isn’t
a walk in the park.
And while the Egyptian Ministry of Health and Population issues a yearly warning telling
its citizens not to eat Fesikh, the BBC reported in 2017 that it only serves to increase interest
in the fish.
For thousands of years now, egyptians have feasted on this fermented fish meat.
The recipe itself is simple.
The fish is dried in the sun and then placed in large wooden vats filled with the right
ratio of salty water for 45 days.
The key to success is apparently in knowing all the subtle fishy rules.
While the fish technically remains raw, the salt ‘cooks’ it, in theory preventing
any rotting.
The end result is a normal looking fish on the outside with a grey-tinged, gooey inside
that apparently reeks.
If it isn’t prepared with enough salt or if there’s already dead fish floating in
the water, botulism bacteria, which thrive in anaerobic environments, can fester.
It causes nausea, paralysis, or in rare cases, even breath!
2 - Pufferfish Despite looking weirdly cute and also being
highly poisonous, the pufferfish is still a fairly popular dish in Japan called fugu.
The majority of pufferfish species are toxic and some are among the most poisonous vertebrates
in the world!
There are strict laws in Japan that govern how this fish is prepared.
Any chef who prepares a pufferfish for consumption must have at least three years of training,
which for the sake of reference, is considerably longer than it takes to get a pilot’s license!
Fugu is normally eaten in thin sashimi slices, but it can also be served in other ways, such
as in soup or deep fried.
The liver of a pufferfish is allegedly very tasty, but it’s the most poisonous part,
and serving it has been banned in Japan since 1984.
Their livers contain a lethal dose of tetrodotoxin, a toxin that blocks sodium channels, causing
paralysis of the muscles, tongue and lips.
The worst part is, when someone’s poisoned, they stay conscious the whole time.
They just can’t move or speak!
Also, there’s no antidote for it.
Fugu has been a part of the Japanese diet for centuries, and no matter how poisonous
it is, its taste and the danger involved won’t stop this dish from being consumed anytime
soon!
What do YOU think is the craziest food on this list?
Would you ever try fugu?
Let us know in the comments!
1 - Wild Mushrooms It should go without saying, DON’T EAT WILD
MUSHROOMS!
If you buy them at the store….great, go to town on em.
But unless you’ve spent some serious time studying mushrooms, don’t eat what you find
in the woods.
For some reason, people still do it!
Telling the difference between safe mushrooms and toxic ones is a challenge even for the
seasoned professional.
If you picked wrong, you’ll first have issues such as throwing up, diarrhea, abdominal pain,
and nausea.
After that, you may think you’re getting better.
However, the worst is yet to come.
Finally, about 48 hours later, the liver begins to fail, leading to multi-organ failure and
possible breath.
Charcoal is sometimes used to absorb the poison, but beyond that, there’s no antidote.
So the moral of the story is simple….DON’T EAT WILD MUSHROOMS!
Here’s what’s next