Chinese cuisine has a wild side where some food lovers dare not walk
- Haul of century eggs at Chinese business in Italy turns spotlight on unusual dishes
- Ox dung hotpot, drunken shrimps and salted mouse may not leap off menus
Police in Italy recently confiscated hundreds of century eggs from a shop in Sicily run by ethnic Chinese, throwing a spotlight on a traditional Chinese delicacy.
Century eggs, prepared by burying eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt and lime until they develop a pungent aroma and salty taste, are by no means China’s most unusual food.
As a saying goes, there is nothing flying in the air except planes, swimming in the water except ships, and running on the land with four leg except desks that Chinese people dare not eat. These are 10 of the more unusual dishes from across China.
Ox dung hotpot
Contrary to its eye-catching name, this dish from the Miao people of southwestern China is made with a fluid that is wrung from semi-digested grass in the animal’s stomachs. The fluid – plus water and spicy ingredients to cover the smell – will be used as a soup for a hotpot that is prepared for distinguished guests. The soup is also sold online for those who might think twice about rummaging around an ox.
Wu Maozhao, vice-director of Guizhou Dietary Culture Research Society, told Sohu.com that this delicacy was recorded in books dating back 1,000 years. It was helpful for the digestion, he said. Still, some would-be diners said they could not bear its aroma, its traditional Chinese medicine-like bitter taste, or in some cases stomach it knowing where the soup came from.
