Pasta, pizza and salads are all very well and good, but when you’re on an adventure one of the best parts is trying all the local foods, no matter how weird they may sound. Sometimes, eating as the locals do can open up a whole new world of taste sensations.
Warning: not for the squeamish. (Total Travel)
Healthy and delicious, grasshoppers are considered quite the nutritious snack in Burma and taste like prawns. They’re low in fat and high in protein and the legs can make a nice crunching sound between your teeth. The wings don’t taste of anything really, so remember to remove them first. Yummy. (Total Travel)
There’s a time limit on this Thai delicacy as the eggs of weaver ants can only be collected for one month every year. It can be a painful, time-consuming mission to collect them, which is why these squishy, tasty eggs, often served on tortillas or salads, are considered a special treat. (Total Travel)
This dish is a delicacy in Chinese cuisine, but it’ll cost you. The edible bird's nests of the cave swift are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. The nest isn’t made of twigs, but of saliva. When dissolved in water, the birds' nests have a gelatinous texture used for soup. (Total Travel)
A regional delicacy in Cambodia, fried spiders make a delicious roadside snack when you hop off your tour bus in a little local village. Nibble off those arachnid legs one by one and savour that spidery, spicy flavour. Buy a few – they’re only about the size of a human palm. (Total Travel)
If you had a guinea pig as a pet when you were a kid, it might be wise not to think of his name when you’re tucking into his cousin somewhere in a back alley in Peru. Around 65 million guinea pigs are eaten in Peru every year and there’s a reason for it - they’re tasty. (Total Travel)
A sheep's milk cheese named Casu Marzu comes crawling with delicious insect larvae in Italy’s Sardinia. This soft cheese sits fermented for so long that it starts to decompose, leaving tiny translucent worms to wriggle on the surface, and in your mouth. (Total Travel)
Scorpions are eaten traditionally in Southern China, and the soup in particular is worth trying. Scorpions are also eaten in Mexico, where they’re found in their masses in the wild. Often slightly spicy, the soup is known to help those suffering with rheumatism, so bare these stingers in mind if you start to ache on your travels. (Total Travel)
You don’t have to go too far from home to experience the tasty Aboriginal specialty of a big, white, wood-eating moth or beetle larvae. Witchetty grubs found in the bush are still commonly eaten in indigenous communities and they’re surprisingly high in protein. Ask for yours seared over hot coals. (Total Travel)
If you enjoy eggs, why not go one step further and tuck into a fertilised duck or chicken egg, which has been buried in the ground for three weeks? Balut are a Philippines specialty – incubated duck eggs with beaky, boney insides, typically sold on the streets. (Total Travel)
