10 horrifying delicacies from the past
December 11, 2019 2:07 PM   Subscribe

You’d be forgiven for thinking that the intestinal slurry of a sperm whale might not easily catch on so easily as a food delicacy, especially given that a pound of the stuff currently sells for around $63,000. Indeed, as a beach-combing British boy recently found out to his great delight, perfume companies will pay top dollar for ambergris, which has unique properties in fixing scent to the skin. But we humans are a strange species. And as history would have it, being the balenic equivalent of a gallbladder stone has done nothing to dissuade us from its consumption. Alexander Meddings at the History Collection shares 10 horrifying delicacies from the past.
posted by Bella Donna (9 comments total)

This post was deleted for the following reason: Sorry - this article takes a not-great attitude toward Native Americans, in the middle of the otherwise fine har-har-English stuff. That, plus given the threads we've had on foodways from around the world that have led to conversations that were hurtful or alienating for many members, it's probably better to pass this one by rather than open up another "hey what foods do you find gross" venue. -- LobsterMitten



 
"See the image above? To source that, I just had to type “Helmeted Cock” into Google. So not only did I see some stuff that will stay with me for a while, but now that’s part of my history, and I’m soon going to be getting some strange algorithmically driven ads."
posted by box at 2:15 PM on December 11, 2019 [3 favorites]


The “Glirarium” (otherwise known as the terracotta dormouse fattener).

There is a picture and I have questions. Why all those ridges on the inside? Do they slow down the poor tortured rat from biting your hand when you open the lid and and shove more food inside?
posted by agregoli at 2:19 PM on December 11, 2019


Only one horrifying thing for us vegetarians, and it's poisoned? THANKS A LOT, THE PAST
posted by aubilenon at 2:27 PM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]


forgive me
they were poisonous
so sweet
and so purple
posted by jquinby at 2:31 PM on December 11, 2019 [2 favorites]


Cannibalism didn't make the list. WTF?
posted by BadgerDoctor at 2:35 PM on December 11, 2019


The best part of the poisoned pear recipe story for me: "... its toxicity was only discovered retrospectively..." You gotta wonder how many hosts or hostesses threw a lovely dinner party and then simply never again heard back from one or more of their guests. Or died themselves, never to host another party. Yikes. At least with pufferfish, the risk is part of the thrill (in theory, for some).
posted by Bella Donna at 2:39 PM on December 11, 2019


Are you volunteering, BadgerDoctor? And if so, as diner or entrée?
posted by Bella Donna at 2:40 PM on December 11, 2019


I once had the idea for a "challenging foods festival," featuring foods we've heard as particularly harrowing: limburger cheese, thousand-year-eggs, durian, surströmming, etc. I was aware of the potential issues with cultural othering, so I never pulled the trigger. My friend did bring some surströmming back from Sweden and when it became apparent that the fest was not going to happen and the tin was bulging ominously in his garage, he gingerly disposed of it.

FWIW, I've tried durian and it was actually pretty good but, yeah, best eaten outdoors.
posted by sjswitzer at 2:42 PM on December 11, 2019 [1 favorite]


Only one horrifying thing for us vegetarians, and it's poisoned? THANKS A LOT, THE PAST

Not to start the "Is honey vegan?" fight, but I think ambergris is often naturally ejected into the ocean and wouldn't necessarily require the whale to die, so one could conceivably categorize it as more like eggs than meat.
posted by Copronymus at 2:44 PM on December 11, 2019


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