You Ate WHAT? Contest.: Gold Medal Winner

[Live_to_cook]

I know the topic of gross food has been kicked around before but I found this and had to share:

A Wall St. Journal dispatch from Nuoro, Sardinia, described the locals' love for casu marzu ("rotten cheese"): brown lumps made from sheep's milk crawling with wriggling maggots (the larvae of flies), whose enzymes cause the original pecorino cheese to decompose. Though the delicacy is banned by the government, the black market has pushed the price to more than $7 a pound, double that for worm-free pecorino. Local gourmands disdainfully dismiss any portions that are so stale that the maggots in them have died.

An excerpt: "Enzymes produced by the maggots cause the cheese to ferment and its fats to decompose. The result is a viscous, pungent goo that burns the tongue and can affect other parts of the body. One neophyte experienced a strange crawling sensation on his skin that lasted for days. And some of the wiggling worms jump straight toward the eyes with ballistic precision. To protect the eyes, some Sardinians recommend holding a hand over the sandwich."

I'll eat all the lamb eyeballs you want, just keep the hopping maggots off my plate and out of my eyes.

[This message has been edited by Live_to_cook (edited 12-23-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Live_to_cook (edited 12-23-2000).]

[This message has been edited by Live_to_cook (edited 12-23-2000).]

[shroomgirl]

Yep that was the article I read and quoted not as elaborately as you did, really gross huh?!!! I think that is tops. We had a thread before you joined us on Gross food that ran close to 100 entries...got lost when Nicko was gone into a computer black hole, boy there were some really good ones....gross ones.

[Nick.Shu]

umm, i have eaten witchity grubs, not bad, in omelettes. Not cheap, but tasty.

I think that the subject of gross food can now be closed. I've tried really really hard, and I can't think of anything that could possibly top cheese that is crawling with aggressively leaping maggots.

[Live_to_cook]

I was thinking so too, but hang on a sec. Nick.Shu: Just what are witchity grubs? Are they in fact insect larvae, included deliberately in an omlette? What kind of baby insect are you forking down?

And "not cheap"? How much did you pay for the privilege?

[This message has been edited by Live_to_cook (edited 12-25-2000).]

[Nick.Shu]

witchetty grubs are small grubs liberated from the bush by the aboriginal locals. They are a little nutty, with quite a soft texture.

i have a link to the supplier (bush foods are quite expensive, due to the cultivation techniques.
http://www.bushtucker.com.au

Worth a look.

[Nick.Shu]

ps, i have heard of a french cheese that will not ripen without the effects of a particular species of mites.

Very spectacular.

[Live_to_cook]

Jolly good try Nick.Shu, but unless the larvae actually fling themselves into your mouth, I think you're going to have to settle for silver on this one.

[Nick.Shu]

to get those critters live, you have to go into the outback with aboriginal guides, they dont actually dance into your mouth vis a vis some small childs curious and creative mind, but they do wriggle.

This post actually reminds me of the beast that was in "restaurant at the end of the universe" which was actually presented at the table live and made recommendations as to the best cut of meat off it.

heheh, new dish - witchetties a la congo.

[Live_to_cook]

Wait, Nick.Shu -- don't leave off the genius part of Douglas Adams' scene -- that the cow was bred to be

1. determined to kill itself for your dining pleasure, relieving the sensitive diner of the guilt of contributing to the death of an animal...

2. able to say so out loud...

[shroomgirl]

welllll geeee after Kobe's party hardy and drink tons of beer, get massages daily if not more often I think they feel an obligation to slit their coartid (sp) artory for our enjoyment.....it's the Japanese cow version of obiligatory sacrafices. (oh man where's my spell check when I really ned it)

[Nick.Shu]

i believe the magic of the creature was its complete lack of disregard for its fate and also, it would be very hard to send back overcooked meat that has been personally recommended by the animal itself.


Hehheh.

[Nick.Shu]

kobe beef, indeed, without the beer and massage, but with the self awareness,,, muahahah

Oh my God! I don't think we're in Kansas anymore! I thought my tale of eating something on a bet might have won. But the Sardinian cheese with eyeball-leaping maggots really takes the cake (or cheese?)

Foodnfoto:

I think that's why this thread died for a bit is because of the eye-leaping cheese maggots. I think it left everybody speechless. Enough to puke a snipe.