Fruit Bat - © Musem of Disgusting Food

‘Disgusting Food’ Museum Defies Imagination

Well… It defies mine, anyway, and I’m posting this story largely to show that ‘one man’s passion is another’s poison’. The question other Food News outlets are asking is, ‘Would you eat any of the stuff in the Disgusting Foods Museum?’ I’m asking, ‘Why would anybody eat this stuff?’

Guinea Pig - MDF - © Museum of Disgusting FoodSmoked Cuy – Guinea Pig – is a delicacy in Peru. But a nightmare for me.
I had one as a pet when I was little…

Museum Curator Dr. Samuel West, a psychologist by profession, says his goal in mounting the exhibition was to to analyze why people love and hate certain foods. The answer, he says, is it’s purely cultural: what you’re used to and what’s traditionally been available to eat where you grew up.

“If you ask people if they want to eat bugs, they say ‘that’s gross’,” Hunt told CNN. “That’s the obstacle. But maybe I can make them reconsider.”

Be that as it may…

Behold a sampling of exhibits from the Museum of Disgusting Foods which opened recently in Malmö, Sweden:

  • Sardinian Maggot Cheese – Cazu Marzu, or ‘Rotten Cheese’, which just isn’t the same if it’s not crawling with insect larvae.
  • Chinese Baby Mouse Wine – Rice Wine with real dead newborn Mice in it. Left for 12-14 months after adding the Mice before it is considered ‘safe’ to drink. Asian connoisseurs say it has medicinal properties.
  • Cuy (Guinea Pig) – Considered a delicacy in Peru, where it’s eaten grilled, smoked or fried.
  • Kale Pache – This is Soup made form the head and feet of a sheep. It might be the origin of the quasi-apocryphal notion that Persian potentates prize the Sheep’s Eyeball above all other foods.
  • Fruit Bat – On the island of Guam in the eastern Pacific, they consider the meat of Fruit Bats sweet and tender. Aside from the obvious gag-inducing qualities of such a dish to most Westerners, I wonder just how much meat they get off a Fruit Bat? Not much, by the looks…
  • Kopi Luwak Coffee – Remember the joke shared by the two old guys in The Bucket List? Kopi Luwak really is one of the rarest, and is probably the most expensive Coffee in the world. Because it really is made from Coffee Beans eaten by Lemurs and pooped out minus their ‘berry’ husks.

And, in what might be characterized as an attempt as ‘turnabout is fair play’, some Western dishes are spotlighted, including:

  • Jello Salad – one of the most reviled party buffet dishes of all time, the Jello Salad was popularized by the gelatin dessert maker as a way to break out from the ‘only for dessert’ identity it started with. But, after a while, folks finally admitted that floating Veggies in Lemon or Lime Jello, even when created in a Bundt Pan mould, didn’t really cut it.
  • Haggis – The traditional Scottish year-end holiday feasting centrepiece is classically constructed from Organ Meats, Oatmeal and Spices stuffed into the Stomach of a Sheep. I am Scottish on my Mother’s side, and I’ve had Haggis, which I considered ‘interesting’, but I can see how others might view this delicacy as ‘disgusting’.

…And that’s just the beginning. The Museum of Disgusting Food features no less than 80 exhibits from around the world. If you’re planning to visit Sweden in the next little while, don’t miss it. Or, wait until Hunt takes his 400 sq. metre show on the road…

~ Maggie J.