The Most Outrageous Delicacies (PHOTOS, VIDEO)

Here at HuffPost Green, Our fascination with food, animals and surprising tidbits has taken a turn down the road of unpredictable, unusual and what some might call outrageous delicacies. We've put together a slideshow of some pretty unusual (to American palates) specialties from near and far. From maggot-ridden Sardinian cheese, to Rooster testicles, we've got a few things that might just whet your appetite for something a bit different...or not.

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Tarantula

Arachnophobes look away now! Often the source of much anxiety for young children and fearsome adults, spiders, or more precisely tarantulas are quite the delicacy in Cambodia. Caught en masse, and de-fanged, these eight-legged fiends are fried-up and offered as a cheap snack to passers by.

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Comments

[Farro]

05:40 PM on 02/10/2010

I can't say I have eaten any of these, but the only one that actually grosses me out is the live frog heart...

[kareemachan]

01:10 PM on 01/23/2010

This is all old news if you've watched Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern....

[SusanElizabeth1949]

08:47 PM on 01/22/2010

the only one of the foods shown that I have any experience with is birds nests, as in Birds Nest Soup, which is delicious.

[ashabot]

06:42 PM on 01/22/2010

I say "barbaric" when that "food" is a STILL LIVING BEING. But then, for me, if anything is sacred, it is life, creatures great and small, my friend. Creatures great and small.

[levoyageur]

09:37 AM on 01/22/2010

balut!!! yum..

[RDAM]

08:07 AM on 01/22/2010

Most of these are the result of starving people, somewhere, sometime, eating whatever was available just to stay alive. Insects in South Asia were the best, if not only, source of protein. A half formed chicken embryo was more than likely the only thing that could, at a moment, be found to eat. Very few "delicacies" are the result of thrill seeking, taste seeking gourmands...they've just developed into that as other sources of nutrition supplanted the delicacy but people continued to associate eating them with survival/mystical properties...
least that's how I see it...

[Farro]

06:35 PM on 02/10/2010

I believe the Tarantulas actually came out of the Khmer Rouge era, when people were starving.

I don't think the Bird's Nest Soup, on the other hand, developed the way you described, given how rare and expensive those things are.

The rest, I'm unsure of.

[goddess1871]

10:20 PM on 01/21/2010

I realize that different cultures are out there and all cultures have different dietary habits, but YECH! I'm a little more happy with my "processed cheese food" and "chemical bread" now.

[leanjhuls]

08:01 PM on 01/21/2010

You won't get a clogged artery eating tarantulas 3 times a day. Maybe it's about time to rethink an American diet.

Most of the food there I could eat all right; but the bat dish? That was just plain nasty. Barf!

[hypnotoad72]

08:42 PM on 01/21/2010

This country has become a clogged artery.

Okay, it's the opposite - jobs are hemorrhaging out of this country... and the merit of any society is not just how it treats its elderly and its ill but how it treats its workers. In all three cases, "hemorrhaging" is not an unfit epithet...

[emsique]

07:07 PM on 01/21/2010

poultry is served with the head attached, which some like to crunch on. Dog is very common and roasted bowser is displayed in plexiglass cases in many markets and in front of doggie restaurants. I pass on the dog, since it seems cannibalistic.

[emsique]

07:04 PM on 01/21/2010

I live in the Guangdong province of China, and the people here have a reputation for eating anything that moves. I like the sea worms, which have a delicate seafood flavor and are generally cooked with garlic. All poultry is served with the head,

[joeyc]

06:15 PM on 01/21/2010

To all the culinary adventurists, I introduce to you a new friend, and one far surpassing you silly amateurs: Issei Sagawa. Why the long faces? Don't worry, he only wants to eat you :) He says, "You are delicious."

[goatrancher]

05:40 PM on 01/21/2010

Think I will start my diet now.

[ENK727]

11:48 PM on 01/24/2010

Yeah same here. These pictures made me lose my appetite.

[TazoWolf]

05:33 PM on 01/21/2010

Se'a is a Samoan delicacy. It's the raw innards of a sea sl.ug, eaten/drunk from a coke bottle. Tried to submit it here, but it's not showing.

[TazoWolf]

05:34 PM on 01/21/2010

For some reason HuffPost seems to moderate the word s.lug

[Joe The Nerd Ferraro]

05:37 PM on 01/21/2010

slang for bullet ?

[TazoWolf]

05:33 PM on 01/21/2010

Se'a is a Samoan delicacy. It's the raw in.nards of a sea slug, eaten/drunk from a coke bottle. I tried to submit it here, but it's not showing.

[beanchihuahua]

05:09 PM on 01/21/2010

I guess if all else fails, I have my seven pet guinea pigs to fall back on for sustenance.