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Pass the Head Jelly, Please: Ten Gag-Inducing Foods

6. Chitterlings
This refers to pig intestines that are stewed or fried and included in a main dish. It’s most popular in the South. Photo source: Wikimedia Commons

7. Haggis
Haggis is a traditional Scottish dish involving sheep organs mixed with grains, spices, and soup stock, then stuffed into a sheep’s stomach and boiled. Photo source: Biology Big Brother (cc)

8. Dormouse Stew
Just like it sounds, this hearty soup consists of dormice and is eaten in Slovenia, Italy, and Croatia. The little critter is actually a protected species, so sometimes rats, not dormice, are the stars of the dish.

9. Vegemite
This food paste—beloved by Australians—is extracted from yeast and is used in the way we use peanut butter—spread on toast, crackers, biscuits, and so forth. It’s salty and includes various spices and a hint of vegetable flavor. Photo source: Rob Qld (cc)

10. Tiết Canh
A component of Vietnamese cuisine, it features duck blood and innards, chopped nuts, and herbs mixed together and cooled so that it congeals. Photo source: Wikimedia Commons

After looking over that list, I can’t stomach the idea of eating anything, let alone dishes centered on blood and rodents. I’m all for cultural immersion when I travel, but everyone has to know where to draw the line. For me, that’s when someone hands me a meat jelly sandwich.

First published August 2009

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Comments

I find this culturally offensive. Many people enjoy the foods listed even if most Americans don't. There is food in the US which is considered disgusting by logical standards, yet people eat it regardless. The writer of this article should think twice before devaluing other cultures.

No worries. ;)) I love tasting new things. I also cook much, but never from books. Feeling the ingredients and tasting the final dish before you even get started, is the key to a good chief.

Don't close your mind to new experiences....you would be surprised how delicious come of these dishes can be. Sweetbreads, fixed properly are soooooo good....head cheese was a way of being frugal and is also delicious .... I have a feeling that the taste of the Balut would be good if you could get past the little bird staring back at you.....Not sure I would like the strong flavor of Blood pudding, but I would try it once. And chit'lins....a real southern thing...if fixed properly I am told they are wonderful, but the ones I tried were not cleaned well and I was definately turned off....but that was because of the cook, not the ingredient. You may be missing some really exciting flavors by not at least trying something new occasionally....

Hi all. I'd like to know where this information on food specialities is coming from. I'm a native Slovenian and I have never even heard of or seen Dormouse Stew in Slovenia. Well even if it's true I'd never eat it. :)

Did you actually try any of these foods? If not, how can you give an opinion? The fast food industry serves far more disgusting "food". Way to keep an open mind.