I was nauseated to read about a very weird Sardinian delicacy.
Costanzo Carta takes a big knife, cuts into a chunky wheel of tawny cheese and there they are, white and wriggling in a lively fashion: maggots.
“Try it, it won’t do you any harm,” he says, proffering a dollop of the stuff on the end of the blade.
This is casu marzu, a highly unusual delicacy from Sardinia that has earned a listing by Guinness World Records as “the world’s most dangerous cheese”.
To some, it is a proud symbol of Italy’s gastronomic heritage; to others, a stomach-churning abomination.
Either way, it is a tradition that is now in decline, to the regret of many Sardinians.
Shepherds deliberately allow a specific type of fly called piophila casei to enter the cracked rinds of the cheese wheels and lay their eggs.
The eggs hatch into maggots which slowly but avidly squirm and munch their way through the cheese.
Their secretions turn it into a creamy, pungent goo that is highly prized by aficionados. In the Sardinian language, casu marzu means “rotten” or “putrid” cheese.
There’s just one problem – it is illegal.
Casu marzu has been banned not only by Italian authorities but the European Union.
That has not stopped a thriving black market from developing. If you know where to go and who to ask in the mountain villages of Sardinia, you can get your hands on it.
There's more at the link.
I wonder who first looked at a maggot-riddled cheese and thought, "That might taste good. I must try it!" I suspect I'd be better off putting a clothes peg over my nose and reaching for the Limburger . . .
Peter
8 comments:
The first person to eat that maggot-infested cheese lost a dare among starving peasants.
1. "Secretions" = poo
2. Who? Some starving shepard stranded on a mountainside maybe.
I bet the first person to try that was a starving shepherd.
A starving man turns down no meal.
With all of the “problems” in this great country, the reality of just how good it is slips right past most of the spoiled brats that reside within.
May each and everyone of them choke on their overcooked birds this coming Thursday.
TMF Bert
my guess, also, is a guy who had nothing else to eat was the first.
You nailed it!
All I see is bait to catch something to eat.
Weird Food is a list of odd things that people eat, such as jello or mice. Every culture invents a food that is weird or disgusting to outsiders. These strange foods are cultural markers to show who's a member (insiders like it) and who's not a member (outsiders hate it.) If you eat it, you are accepted as a member of the culture.
This along with Balut were my nominations for most disgusting foods.
Link
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