22 foods that are popular in their own countries but considered disgusting abroad
AUSTRALIA: It's hard to imagine eating adorable animals like kangaroo, alpaca, or emu, but they're all over menus in Australia.
AUSTRALIA: Vegemite, a salty paste made from brewers' yeast extract, is considered a delicacy in Australia. It's usually served on toast.
BANGLADESH: Shutki is dried raw fish known for its potent smell. It's used in various dishes.
CAMAROON: Palm weevil grubs are the larvae of a beetle species that burrows into palm trees and can kill them. They are rich in nutrients.
CHINA: Blood tofu is fresh coagulated pig blood that is formed into cubes and commonly served with noodles or rice.
CHINA: A century egg, also called a hundred-year egg or thousand-year egg, is an egg that has been preserved in a saline solution for several weeks or months resulting in a creamy yolk and jelly outside.
ENGLAND: Jellied eels consist of eels boiled in stock that sets and forms a gelatin when cooled.
ETHIOPIA: Kitfo is marinated and minced raw meat served with various fixings.
FRANCE: Mimolette cheese has a grayish exterior color, which is the result of cheese mites intentionally added to the cheese's surface.
GERMANY: Hackepeter or mett is minced raw pork served on bread, occasionally with garlic and chopped onion.
GREECE: Most commonly only eaten during Orthodox Easter celebrations, kokoretsi is lamb or goat intestines wrapped around organ meats and usually grilled.
ITALY: Lampredotto is a popular Florence street food consisting of the fourth stomach of a cow prepared and typically served in a sandwich.
JAPAN: Natto, fermented soybeans, is usually served with soy sauce and karashi mustard. It's known for its strong smell and slimy, stringy texture.
MEXICO: Serve these fried maguey worms, which live on maguey or American aloe plants, with guacamole.
MEXICO: Chapulines? are a type of grasshopper popularly served fried in tacos, ground or whole. They are also widely served as snacks in Oaxaca.
NORWAY: The (black) pantteri seen below is a gummy salmiak, or salted black licorice, candy flavored with ammonium chloride. People not used to the flavor could find it overbearing. It's also used in ice creams and alcoholic beverages.
PHILIPPINES: Balut (balot), a developing duck embryo boiled in its shell, is a common street food.
RUSSIA: Kholodets, or meat jelly, is a popular appetizer where meat is left to cool in its stock, which congeals into a gelatin.
SCOTLAND: Haggis, often served with turnips and potatoes, is a pudding made from the heart, lungs, and liver of a sheep cooked inside its own stomach.
SINGAPORE: Durian, known as the king of fruits, is known for its strong odor and spiky exterior. While some people love the smell, others have described it as "turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock."
Source: Smithsonian Magazine
TRINIDAD: Bake and shark is a popular street food made from fried shark stuffed in a fried flatbread.
UNITED STATES: Rocky Mountain oysters have nothing to do with the sea. This appetizer is deep fried bull, pig, or sheep testicles.
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