Although I didn't find it that big of a deal, many people find it difficult to drink snake wine (
shejiu). It's pretty much what it says on the label: A large jar of rice "wine", i.e.
baijiu, i.e. fairly nasty rice vodka...with an entire snake in it. The snake is usually dropped in alive, drowns in the alcohol and is pickled, and slowly infuses the wine with...snakey goodness.
It's considered a medicinal drink in much of China, Vietnam and a few other places in Southeast Asia. Tastes kind of like Drambuie--cloyingly sweet with a licorice aftertaste.
Now one dish that I won't even go *near* much less stick in my mouth is 臭豆腐 (chou doufu), or
"stinky tofu". It's fermented, spiced tofu and doesn't look all that bad. But the smell is....think of rotten garbage which has been marinated in an open sewer, then strained through old socks. The first time I was exposed to it at a street market in Hangzhou, I kept looking around for an open manhole cover, convinced that I was smelling raw sewage. It was the kind of odor that is
aggressively bad. I know a lot of Chinese who love it, and defend it by saying "Well you white people eat stinky, moldy cheese. It's the same thing." It is NOT the same thing. I've never smelled Limburger that could clear a city block.
EDIT: Oh, and there's always the Southern US delicacy of
pickled pigs' feet. My mom used to eat those, but I just can't bring myself to it. I'll happily eat pickled sausages, which are done up in the same kind of hot pepper-vinegar brine, but not the feet.
Budweiser had a good "Real American Heroes" commercial dedicated to
Mr. Pickled Pigs' Feet Eater.
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Topic: Bizarre and/or Disgusting Foods (Read 20959 times)