Top 10 Most Gross & Disgusting Food
It may come as no surprise to learn that, due to limited resources, many citizens of poorer countries are forced to eat whatever they can get their hands on. However, when it comes to gross foods, not all are born from utter necessity. You’d be amazed to learn what disgusting things many people eat by choice. And, while some foods can be identified as gross with a simple glance, others aren’t as easily spotted until you learn about their ingredients.
10. Casu Marzu
Sometimes referred to as ‘maggot cheese’, casu marzu is a Sardinian cheese made from goat’s milk. But what makes this food so disgusting is the way it’s prepared. Early in the fermenting process, the larvae of cheese flies are introduced. Over a period of weeks, the larvae hatch and begin feeding. As the cheese’s fats are broken down, a special flavor is produced which many consider to be delicious. When the time comes for human consumption, many people meticulously remove the maggots. However, some leave them in, believing that they add an extra flavorful punch.
9. Balut
If someone placed balut on your plate, you might think they were serving you a hardboiled egg. That is, until you cracked it open and a fully intact duck embryo spilled out. Balut, considered a delicacy in many Asian countries, is produced when fertilized duck eggs are placed in warm sunlight. After about eight days, the eggs are held up to the light and checked to ensure that the budding embryo is ready. Then, the eggs are cooked and served with a dash of salt and a few squirts of lemon juice.
8. Potted Meat
Potted meat is not some strange foreign delicacy. In fact, this inexpensive meat product produced by Hormel is available at most any North American grocery store. However, when it comes to grossness, this well-known product rivals anything you’ll find in a third world country. A check of the ingredients listed on the label is proof enough: mechanically separated chicken, beef tripe, partially defatted cooked beef fatty tissue, beef hearts, water, partially defatted cooked pork fatty tissue, salt, and less than 2 percent: mustard, natural flavorings, dried garlic, dextrose, sodium erythorbate, and sodium nitrite. Yummy!
7. Fermented Salmon Heads
Referred to as ‘stink heads’ by people who won’t eat them, fermented salmon heads are a traditional Alaskan delight. After the heads are lopped off, they’re buried in the ground for at least a few weeks. As you’d expect, during this time the heads begin to rot. Before they have a chance to disintegrate completely, they’re dug up, mashed into a sort of pudding and served cold in bowls.
6. Jellied Moose Nose
This gross food is also enjoyed in the northernmost of the United States. Preparation is relatively simple: first, the moose‘s nose is removed. Then it’s boiled for a bit until the hairs become loose and can easily be plucked free. After a few spices are added, the meat is boiled even longer until it disintegrates into a gelatinous mass. Finally, it’s sliced and served chilled.
5. Bat Paste
This delightful dish is considered weird even in the few Asian countries where it’s eaten. First, a live bat is forced into a vat of boiling milk. Then, once it has reached optimum malleability, the bat is sliced into fine bits, mixed with various herbs and spices and mashed into a pulpy paste.
4. Hasma
In China, many people consider hasma dessert the perfect punctuation to a great meal. This disgusting dish is basically the fallopian tubes of frogs. Sold in a dried shrunken form, these amphibious reproductive organs are able to swell up to 10 to 15 times their dehydrated size once they are rehydrated with water. Afterward, a bit of sugar is added to give them that special sweetness most people desire from a dessert.
3. Haggis
A traditional Scottish dish, haggis is really nothing more than a type of sausage. However, this particular sausage is comprised of a sheep’s lungs, liver and heart. Many describe haggis as resembling stuffed intestines more than sausage. However, although they admit it looks unappealing, Haggis-lovers swear that those who are brave enough to taste it will come running back for more.
2. Cockscomb
If you’ve ever seen the floppy red mass resembling an upside down glove on the top of a rooster’s head, then you’ve seen a cockscomb. Once served as a garnish along side many traditional French foods, cockscomb is still used as a common ingredient in many Italian dishes and sauces.
1. Black Pudding
This dish is comprised largely of blood drawn from pigs, cattle or sheep. However, it doesn’t become blood pudding until the blood is allowed to coagulate, a filler of oatmeal, barley or sweet potato is added, and the entire mass is brought to a boil. During the cooking process, a delightful skin is produced atop the goo. While some like to remove the skin before plunging their spoon into the pudding, others enjoy its chewy texture and prefer to eat it last.
By Ryan Lawrence
It would be hard to find any foods grosser than the ones Ryan found for this list. A great list, and one well written. Well done! Now I just have to find a way to get those images out of my head. Yuck!
I don’t know which is worse, the duck embryos or the maggots. Thanks for ruining my lunch! And I thought calf’s liver was gross. It’s nothing next to these dishes.
Ugh – these are ALL disgusting (and don’t give me guff about, “It’s there culture that approves of foods like this…”) Most of this stuff is made of parts of animals that should’ve been tossed or fed to something on the complete bottom of the food chain.
Another great list, nonetheless, but now what do I do about lunch? Maybe I’ll do something REALLY crazy, like a hot dog WITHOUT mustard!
People always used all the parts of animals (clothing?), and that includes all the “gross” bits. Otherwise you’re just wasteful.
On a side note, Haggis is the best dish I think I’ve ever had. What they put in it is jus’..
I can’t even describe it, but it’s just like eating sausage meat, really. Only difference is its already in pieces when you cut it open.
Truly amazing dish.
While I am not a fan of haggis, my husband is, and having tried it, I can say that it isn’t overly offensive. It tastes like what dog food smells like, and tastes rather bland. The major upshot is that it doesn’t actually look like what it is. It’s a heck of a lot better than the lamb’s kidneys we get as a side dish every time we go to lunch at our uncle’s house in Wales.
Blood pudding is one of my favorite things, hands down.
I am not a huge fan of offal, but I do believe that it shouldn’t be discarded. It is edible, there are people that like it, and it’s not bad for you. Why not use every part of the animal?
That said, while there are some things on this list I would try for a laugh, I couldn’t even begin to consider the maggot cheese or bat paste.
EDIT = “It tastes like what dog food smells like and tastes rather bland” should read, “It tastes like what dog food smells like, BUT is rather bland in comparison.”
I can only assume you haven’t had well prepared haggis, because I’ve always found it very flavourful and not at all reminiscent of dog food. It’s probably near the top of my list of favourite foods actually.
While I agree with most of these are very gross, having potted meat on there is a bit messed up. Granted the ingredients aren’t great…but then similar items are inside hot dogs, frankfurters, and bologna. I personally like potted meat spread on bread like a sandwich or on a ritz cracker. Its also good on a fried egg sandwich. Should have another list of gross foods like bird’s nest soup, which is made from a bird nest made from its spit, or some Asian dishes that use the penis of various animals, or foie gras. Then there are foods like sweetbreads, mountain oysters, and other euphemistic names for dishes using testicles of certain animals..
Tried this last year from like http://www.geocities.jp/hongkong_bird_nest/index_e.htm . Tastes really good… yeah, I thought it was gross at first, but wow, you won’t regret it.
I can’t believe Balut is only #9.
Me neither, in fact I’m wondering if the list is backwards? #10 on this list seems way grosser than #1…
Blood pudding is delicious.
Ehm… Excuse me? Blood pudding, number one? That’s the grossest you could find? I’m a vegan now, but when I was a child, I ate meat and blood pudding wasn’t at all uncommon or considered “strange” (I live in Sweden), however, those other things on the list, I would never have touched! I suppose I think the grossest things anyone could eat would be human or cat. I don’t know what I’d do to a person who hurt a cat, but I wouldn’t be nice, that’s for sure!
Really? Why is hurting a cat worse than hurting any other nonhuman animal?
Ugh. I have to say, I’ve tried Balut before and it tastes nasty. When I was younger, I had no idea what I was eating. Now I know….
Haggis is higher than maggot cheese and fermented fish heads? Seriously? Have you ever actually eaten haggis?
Blood pudding is not that gross really. It tastes sweet. They served it regularly at school here in sweden. I usually ate the other alternative though since I don’t like sweet food.
Also, I haven’t tried haggis but the balkan version, diado is absolutely mouth watering. I get excited just thinking about it. It’s about the same, guts and meat mixed together but then they bury it in the ground for a few weeks. You actually have to do it in specific places or else it won’t taste right.
I’m quite fond of haggis myself, it has somewhat of a spicy flavour to it. I think its the fact that the ingredients in it are honestly stated (perhaps TOO honestly) that puts people off. After all plenty of people will gladly eat stuff like hotdogs that consists of that euphemism “mechanically recovered meat”, which means it could be almost anything from the cow that you are eating.
I love blood pudding though I would call it black pudding. I’m from Ireland and it’s not at all sweet like the one mentioned above. It is delicious and I don’t care what it is made from I love it.
I agree that the ordering of this list is a bit mixed up, maggot cheese and duck embryos would definitely be higher up on my personal list. That’s some messed up stuff right there.
I’m not exactly sure where my line of taste gets drawn but I know that black pudding is this side and embryos, maggots et al are waaaaaay over the other side.
In my country, (no it’s not china lol) we eat Hasma (which is actually spelt Harshma).
AND DAMN, I WISH I HADN’T READ THIS LIST!
I’ve eaten harshma since young at weddings and as an expensive dessert (double-boiled harshma with snow fungus and pear sugar, yes it tastes really good).
AND NOW YOU’RE TELLING ME I’VE BEEN EATING FROGS’ FALLOPIAN TUBES?!
*retches*
A/N, it tastes like bird’s nest and soft white fungus by the way. From the look of the dish, you can’t really tell it’s fallopian tubes. To put a taste to the image, I’d say, it’s incredibly bland. Tasteless. All the taste comes from the sweet soup.
But still, I swear I’ll never eat it again. Urgh.
you sound like you’re from singapore or malaysia
Where I live we have a dish called scrapple, which is very tasty, but is made from pork scraps. It was originally a Pennsylvania Dutch recipe. People used to joke that it was made from whatever was swept up from the floor of the slaughterhouse. There’s also a saying that scrapple contains “everything from a pig except the oink”.
It’s probably not the healthiest thing to eat, but it’s delicious.
that’s pig brains and eggs to everyone else
As an American living in Scotland, I have to say that Haggis is pretty inoffensive, tasting like spicy ground beef mostly. Black Pudding just tastes like a sausage with a different texture, and is not bad.
I mean, I eat each of them maybe once a year. Nothing I’d seek out, but not bad.
I love potted meat and blood pudding. There is also white pudding in Ireland when I went there. Both are delicious.
Nice post. You should add Soup #5 (Lansiao) which has a main ingredient of a horse and cow’s testicles
I want to try all this food……… and balut doesnt taste bad at all
#8 Potted meat: you claim it’s made by Hormel but the pic shows it’s by Libby’s! (I love hormel chili, and they make SPAM but I’ve never eaten that.)
Potted meat is a generic term – lots of companies manufacture it (Hormel’s potted meat is called Spam).
Spam is a totally diferent product than Potted meat.It is surposed to taste like ham.For a bit of trivia,Hawaii consumes the most Spam in the world.Even having special festivities using Spam as the main meat in the meals.
Wow – I had haggis and blood pudding (called black pudding in the UK) with my breakfast this morning. I had no idea that people would consider these as gross as, say, the fallopian trubes of frogs or rancid fish heads. Haggis is boiled in a sheeps stomach by the way.
blood pudding … commonly known as black pudding … is not disgusting. It is a misunderstood and under rated dish .. goes brilliantly with a full english breakfast
i agree with other commenters that haggis and black pudding should not be on the list. the other things are disgusting because they are the parts of animals that shouldnt be eaten however any butcher will tell you that heart and lungs are as good a meat as any other part and how is eating blood any different from a rare steak?
And as for the potted meat, i agree its disgusting inferior ingredients but if thats there then 90% of an average american persons diet could be too.
If people actually went into the foods they eat every day; bugs, rodent feces. Some of the questionable ingredients on this list; kidneys, etc.. those things wind up in any and all your sausage and hot dog products. Many cold cuts start out as a hot liquidy meat juice which congeals in the skin, forming your “deli meat”.
If you’re so disturbed by this stuff, you should become an organic vegetarian. I’m a veggie now and I really, really, really miss haggis. Och, January 25th just went past too!
Ignorance talking here. Anything different from your own insignificant and inferior culture and habits is considered disgusting. This is the root of racism and intolerance. TRAVEL, embrace different cultures, expand your horizons, and learn that what you think is right is actually horribly wrong.
We are citizens of the world. Nations are stupid concepts.
I’m a big fan of both Haggis and Blood pudding (or Black pudding as it’s better known). Nothing better than a cooked English breakfast with some black pudding to set you up for the day.
As for the rest of them, I’d probably give half of them a try without a second thought. May not like them, but there are many ‘conventional’ foods that I don’t like.
All of them are gross, except of one. The blood pudding is delicious, (in Belgium they just call it blood sausage) and i’ll eat it a lot if i’m there again!!
some of those do sound a bit disturbing…
Rocky Mountain Oysters should be on this list too… — as they are buffalo or bull testicles
Haggis doesn’t look or taste anything like stuffed innards. It’s just like a really yummy dark meat sausage/ mince. It also has oats in it which you missed out adding to the yummy texture.
Also there’s no such thing as ‘blood’ pudding, its called black pudding! And it’s amazing in a fry up, especially if you have a hangover!!!
and the frogspawn probably isn’t as bad as you’re making it out to be. What the hell do you think eggs (unfertilized of course) are but exactly that! again, probably yum!!!
get over yourselves and see what you could be missing, culinary wise and culturally.
This is a little bit sensational, and to be honest, rubbish. Haggis doesnt look or taste anything like stuffed innerds. It’s just like a really yummy dark meat sausage/ mince. It also has oats in it, which you missed out, which adds to the yummy texture.
Also there’s no such thing as ‘blood’ pudding, its called black pudding! And it’s amazing in a fry up, especially if you have a hangover!!!
And the frogspawn probably isnt as bad as you’re making it out to be. What the hell do you think eggs (unfertilized of course) are but exactly that! again, probably yum!!!
get over yourselves and see what you could be missing, culinary wise and culturally.
balut is so yummy! balut is very famous in philippines.
Filipinos think its yummy!
Blood Pudding is delicious! and is not at all sweet. it’s also not eaten with a spoon. It’s just like sausage really. I don’t see how its any grosser than what goes into regular sausage..
Cool list! Blood pudding, not for me!
its called black pudding, not blood pudding.
black pudding, marag dubh, blut wurst, morcilla, boudin noir -seems like these are all different names for blood sausages “From Scottish breakfasts to Spanish tapas, blood sausages have a long and colourful history.” http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mostof_blackpudding.shtml I’m officially changing #1 to Black Pudding.
Oh, BARF! I think haggis and black pudding are nowhere near as bad as the higher stuff. I’ve seen some other pretty gross stuff on Nat Geo – in one of the more rundown Asian countries, they liked to fry up little patties made of mashed-up sandflies, and also raw mince doused with bile. Dig in, everyone!
That was FOUL. That is some nasty-@ss food right there.
No way, even if I was Starving.
ok I liked this post…. I have had haggis, served in a “traditional” scottish way which was with mashed potatoes and mashed turnips, and it was pretty good… no one else has mentioned that it is insanely spicy! at least to me it was at the time, but my mother never uses pepper in her food…. anyway i hear kemchi, korean cabbage, is dusgusting…apparently its left to rot for a time before it is packaged but I love it! its spicy and sour but i am a fan… served as kemchi pancakes is how i feel in love with it though it may be an acquired taste…
I have eaten balut. It actually tastes good but I leave the “chick” part because it’s really gross. I eat the yellow part and it’s really tasty. But I don’t think I can try eating food number 6,5,4, and 2.
Bat Paste, that’s disgusting. Don’t know if should like the black pudding or not. If I didn’t know what it’s made of probably I would but since I know the ingredients, HELL NO
A Swedish dish closely resembling black pudding is called “blodpudding” in Swedish. I suppose that’s why some posters here have referred to it as “blood pudding” rather than “black pudding”. It’s something of a children’s favourite here in Sweden, probably because it is traditionally served with lingonberry jam, which is sweet. I can’t understand how black pudding got to be #1 on this list. There’s nothing inherently disgusting with blood, once it’s cooked. RAW blood, on the other hand, is different. Supposedly it can cause vomiting in people who try to drink more than a little of it. Some kind of immune system reaction, I guess.
It’s because the human body can’t digest (human)blood.That is how they find intestinal bleeding,when you have a lot of black in your stool.Another reason human beings can’t be vampires.What,did I just offend Twilight fans ? Sorry but it’s true.
It looks delicious
Maybe some of these are tasty, we’ll probably never know.
You forget one: Easy Cheese!!
Black pudding is kind of normal here in Europe, most of us would not really consider it gross…
Ever ate Surströmming?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surstr%C3%B6mming
You forgot one. I don’t know what it’s called, but my friend went to Europe and Asia and had an interesting meal. You go to a restaurant, they give you a live poisonous snake, you cut out its still-beating heart and eat it while it’s still warm. Then they take the bowels, cut it open, pour the fecal matter into a shot glass, and mix it with alcohol. Then the restaurant grills the snake and you eat it.
You left out some Taiwanese favorites…
Chicken feet… yes, worse than their combs because they walk around on these things. They are served with the claws still attached. There is relatively little meat on them so you basically chew on the orange skin, ripping it from the bones.
Chou doufu… take your run-of-the-mill tofu, let it soak a few hours in a broth of rotten vegetables, rotten fish, rotten shrimp, and brine that has been fermenting for 6 months. Then you fry it or barbecue it. I remember the first time I smelled, I checked the bottom of my shoes thinking I had stepped in dog feces until my roommate told me what was causing that smell. The taste is 100 times worse.
Thousand-year eggs… these are eggs where the albumin has turned a translucent speckled brown and the yolk a grayish black. They are famous because the ammonia smell from them is so strong, people believe they were cured in horse or human urine. This is the real preparation for them (from wikipedia)…
The traditional method for producing century eggs is a development and improvement from the aforementioned primitive process. Instead of using just clay, a mixture of wood ash, quicklime, and salt is included in the plastering mixture, thereby increasing the pH and sodium content of the clay mixture. This addition of natural alkaline compounds improved the odds of creating century eggs instead of spoilage and also increased the speed of the process. A recipe for creating century eggs through this process starts with the infusion of three pounds of tea in boiling water. To the tea, three pounds of quicklime (or seven pounds when the operation is performed in winter), nine pounds of sea-salt, and seven pounds of wood ash from burned oak is mixed together into a smooth paste. Each egg is then individually covered by hand, with gloves being up worn to prevent the corrosive action of the lime on skin. Each egg is then rolled in a mass of rice chaff to keep the eggs from adhering to one another before they are placed in cloth-covered jars or tightly woven baskets. In about three years, the mud slowly dries and hardens into a crust, and then the eggs are ready for consumption.
I thought that Balut is only found here in the Philippines. Hmmm…now I know. Actually if you eat it, you would be surprised it tastes good. Poor chick though.
duck embryos are really common here in the Philippines. Every night vendors do sell their baluts along the city streets. I actually watched foreigners eating baluts as a dare and stuff…but i myself dont have the guts to have it tasted…
Black pudding is known as morcilla in Spain and is a very common food used in some of the most popular dishes like fabada or cocido. There are varieties with onion or rice instead of potato and it is used often in tapas.
My mom used to feed us black pudding while growing up. We call it blood pudding in Canada. I can’t believe I used to eat dat sh*t. Ew.
i don’t understand how so many people can eat these things….they look so gross !! balut and bat paste seem horible !
You should put the Swedish dish Surströmming on there.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surstromming
These are just good old fashioned traditional foods. Balut puts me off rather a lot but the rest are quite pleasant but can be an acquired taste.
Also note that rooster combs are quite common in Chinese cuisine in southern areas of Guangdong.
Anyone that turns their nose up at these foods is a spoilt brat and should just go back to Mickey D’s. They deserve to eat that crap.
Lists like these are actually kind of racist. I mean, think about it: these foods are traditional. Although some of them may not be common today, at one point, they were considered normal. From the way the entry on Potted Meat was written, I’m assuming this is written from the point of view of an American. What do Americans eat? We eat quite a few meat products (including Potted Meat) regularly that contain God-knows-what. Hot Dogs are legally allowed to contain up to 2% “other.” Bull testicles are eaten regularly in some areas of the US. Pickled Pigs’ Feet are common in southern areas. And it’s not just *what* Americans eat that could be considered disgusting, the portions are pretty crazy, depending on your point of view.
I just wanted to put that out there. You can’t go around calling other people’s traditions “disgusting” without considering how “disgusting” you are to them.
Nice article! I’m happy to see that it’s not entirely comprised of food from Asian countries and shows that disgusting, weird food can be found in any culture, even in European and American culture. I hate it when bloggers throw up a list of disgusting food and 5 of them is from Asia. Sure, Asians have some weird food but it’s a little biased to fill up half the list with them. Well researched article!
Won’t consider balut as gross and disgusting food. It’s nutrious. I’d rather eat it than any kind of American burgers.
hahaha dude its a 1/2 formed baby duck, the bones crunch when u eat it, eww
well, not all are like that.
omg no, haggis and black pudding are quite normal compared to the rest lmoa, FAIL
Balut is from Thailand right?
What a terrible list.
Haggis?!?! Really??? Compared to this list Haggis and black pudding are completely normal and also delicious. There is nothing disgusting about haggis unless you are 10 years old. Every one should give it a try, it is genuinely one of the most delicious and most unique tasting foods you will ever try but i am sure there are other disgusting sounding foods that are actually nice, open your mind.
i’ve tried balut before and well,it’s delicious =)
Wow. come to think of it, I think i’ve eaten the black pudding before…and it was quite good
..Though I thought it was tofu when i first ate it…
odd list but black pudding is flippin gorgeous
I was reading up on blood sausages and I came across your list. *retch* I don’t think I’ll be eating anything today. Thank you for this.
I wonder how do they taste. Seem very unhealty.
Great list.
Soendoro Soetanto
In Thailand we eat cats, they are really good, like a real gamey pork sort of. But so many wild feral cats have gotten out of control its open season on them year round.
Libby’s Potted Meat is not gross at all. My grandfather invented that food when he was producing Libby products. Its a family company, and I’m part of it.