As you know, I'm curious about things people do and how they do them. The following list is from a local magazine called City Weekend and I'll add either explanations or commentary help you understand. Think about which one of these you would actually try. Susan, Chris, Nancy and Dolores all have a chance fairly soon to dive right in.
I feel it necessary to warn you that some of these things are gross, so look away if you get easily bothered by articles about gross food and return for my next blog.
These are called Odd Eats - The fifteen Strangest foods in Shanghai...
1. Dog - known to be served in Korean restaurants and grilled on a barbecue. There's a restaurant here called Ruilin Dog Restaurant so they are proud of what they serve. Most people in this neighborhood don't have household pets.
2. Snake - You choose a live one in the alleyway and watch them butcher it by chopping their heads off. It's then put in a bucket until the nerves stop twitching. Usually served in a spicy stir fry; yum.
3. Guilingao - Herbal jello made from turtle shell and blubber. Hey, in the West jello is made from animal cartilage.
4. Bull Penis - served in a tonic soup, the bull penis looks like a criss-crossed white calamari ring. Supposed to give men vital energy. How is that proven?
5. Bone Marrow - you get a large bone and a straw to suck the bone's marrow out of the middle like a blood milkshake. It's a cheap snack at under $2 each.
6.Bugs - You get an enormous plate of four different fried bugs - honey bee larvae, scorpions, large black mountain ants and bamboo worms.
7. Live Drunken Shrimp - This is a bowl of live shrimp swimming in wine so they're sloppy drunk but still put up a fight and may pinch your lips.
8. Scorpions - Not as big as the ones in Beijing, the writer complained that these tasted like mold: vile, foul, nasty. Avoid this plate if you're on a date.
9. Silkworms - Like little fat grubs (oh, that helps)... you put them between your teeth and squeeze out insides.
10. Duck Bits - Your choice is necks, webbed feet or full heads cracked lengthwise down the middle so you can spoon out whatever is inside the head.
11. Fried Bees - These are deep fried Honey bees airlifted from Yunnan province far away from Shanghai. They are a must try for their light crispy coating and sweet, creamy insides.
12. Deer Placenta - All right, this is too weird, but I'm just sharing the facts. Served in a medicinal soup with herbs and meat you get some of the squiggly, wiggly bits of deer after birth. You can wash it down with some deer penis wine.
13. Peacock - tastes and looks like tough, old chicken and comes accompanied by a carrot carved like a peacock head.
14. Water bugs - You walk up to a tub of water with these little bugs swimming around, grab a bunch with your bare hands and put them in a bowl for the waiter to clean for you. They are stir fried until crispy but you need to pull off the top shell wings before eating.
15. Pig Brains - Wobbly, squishy and pink is how these are described. The same restaurant also offers sheep testicles.
The five star fear factor items were Bugs and Scorpions.
I think I lost my appetite so I'll stop here.
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