Over 125 years, five generations and a process that can take from four to 25 years. That’s the essence of Flor de Cana, Nicaragua’s delicious rum that has continued to be processed despite political unrest, volcano eruptions, and earthquakes.
A mere hour or so drive away from the heart of Leon, you can visit the Flor de Cana distillery and museum, where a two-hour tour will give you an overview of Nicaragua’s top spirit. Jumping into outdoor buggies, we were whisked away first by our guide to watch a brief video about Flor de Cana.
Since 1890, Flor de Cana has been aged at the base of San Cristobal volcano, where the volcano-enriched spirit has been distilled. The drink was a fairly well-kept secret of the country until the 1950s when the rum started to be exported around the world.
The rum production process itself is also very sustainable. For example, each year the company plants over 50,000 trees, and the rum is distilled with 100% renewable energy.
The next (and most important) stop on the tour, was to the family’s private tasting room to sample one of their finest products. The group was busting with anticipation and of course, what’s a rum tour without tastings?
Flor de Cana is available in four, seven, 18 and 25-year aged varieties, and during the tour, you can sample both the 18 and the four-year-old drinks. The younger varieties are typically enjoyed mixed with soda. We tried the 18-year-old distilled drink first in a cool underground room filled with barrels, where our guide talked us through the sight, smell (smooth, molasses) and taste of the rum.
Unlike other spirits, however, the sense of touch is added to the experience. Pour the smallest drops onto your hands and rub them together and you’re not only greeted with the sweet smell of the rum between your fingers. Once you’ve finished absorbing it into your skin, you realize that there’s no sticky residue remaining at all. It’s almost like you’ve washed your hands with a silky soap.
Photos are not normally permitted during the tasting but I managed to convince the guide to allow a quick snap of the bottle we sampled.
The barrels themselves are imported from the U.S., where they previously stored whiskey and bourbon, adding to the flavors of the final product. We were able to see one of the many storage rooms they had in the vicinity, which housed literally thousands upon thousands of the good stuff. The barrels are tested regularly, to safeguard against any leaks or other issues.
Predictably, the tour finishes up at a museum/gift shop, where you can try the four-year-old variety and make any final purchases. And after a few more tastings, who can resist taking home a bottle (or two)?
If you are staying in Leon this tour is well worth the $10 entry fee. However, if you can’t make it to the tour during your visit to Nicaragua make sure you try one of these award-winning rums.
In many world cultures, it has long been believed that the most honorable of all occupations are teaching, healing, and nurturing. Chefs in France are considered equal to great artists. The ability to cook meals for erotic purposes is even greater still. Throughout history in cultures all around the world, all manner of natural ingredients
Throughout history in cultures all around the world, all manner of natural ingredients has been used in cooking for their aphrodisiac properties. Today, we’ll go over some you’ll most likely know about, along with a few surprises just in time for Valentine’s Day!
For more aphrodisiac food tips visit myaphrodisiacs.com
The sexual temper of Italian men is well known all over the world. Italian food is rich in olive oil, garlic, roasted or steamed tomatoes, seafood, and various herbs, especially basil and celery. These foods stimulate and encourage passion and desire.
Nuts and seeds are also aphrodisiacs because they contain a high amount of vitamin E. In India, roasted sesame seeds are a traditional remedy for decreased potency when mixed with honey.
People in Russia and the Ukraine mix walnuts with honey and take one dessert spoon 30 minutes after a meal to prepare them for a romantic encounter.
Siberian pine seeds, usually called pine nuts or pignoli, are a particularly strong aphrodisiac. The kernels of these nuts contain up to 66% fat and 20% protein. In addition to vitamins and trace elements, pine nuts also contain oleic acid, providing enough energy for any sexual encounter. Even the ancient Romans, recognized experts in comfort and pleasure, placed a high value on these and other seeds and nuts, and used them to improve their sexual health.
In ancient Greece, artichokes were considered to be strong aphrodisiacs. People even credited them with being able to influence the gender of a baby. The Greeks believed it increased the chances of a woman giving birth to a boy.
French connoisseurs of artichokes believe that it causes a rush of blood to the genitals. Because of its ability to excite the genitals, French women were not allowed to consume artichokes. This ban did not extend to Maria de Medici, who claimed that the artichoke warmed the genitals.
Spinach originates from ancient Persia. The Arabs believed spinach was the king of vegetables. It was considered a delicacy and only available to noble families. Spinach was brought to Europe by the Crusaders during the Middle Ages. The first harvest of this vegetable was collected by Spanish monks who cultivated it in monastery gardens. Nowadays, doctors recommend including spinach in the diet of infertile women and impotent men.
The northern populations of the world, such as the Chukchi and the Eskimos, have been eating pink salmon for centuries. Their excellent health and extreme physical endurance are legendary. This is because the chemical composition of pink salmon contains almost the entire periodic table of elements within it. It has pyridoxine, which improves cellular metabolism, mood, and endurance.
Salmon contains arginine, an amino acid required for the production of nitric oxide. The more nitrogen in the body, the better quality erections for men and lubrication for women. Also, salmon contains substances that improve brain function. Evidence shows that due to its unique composition, salmon can help male infertility because it improves blood circulation to the genital organs, increases potency, and improves erection.
This luxuriously delicate fish has been enjoyed by gourmets all over the world since ancient times. King Edward II of England (1284-1327), was so fond of sturgeon that he awarded it royal status. A representative of the sturgeon family, known as a sterlet, is generally considered to be a classic dish of Russian cuisine. Sterlet cooked in champagne was served for Nicholas II’s coronation dinner. Prince Potemkin especially loved sterlet and always included it in his diet. It was not always easy to keep up with the demands of Catherine II, but the sterlet no doubt helped him manage to do so for many years!
Sturgeon has tender white meat with amber fatty layers and black caviar. Only sturgeon has this particular kind of caviar, which is known as “black gold”. Sturgeon contains a large amount of easily digestible proteins, vitamins A, B2, B3, C, D, E, and minerals such as sodium, phosphorus, chromium, nickel, and others.
In the Middle Ages, scallop shells were sold to pilgrims visiting the tomb of St. Jacob in the Spanish town of Santiago de Compostela. They were believed to attract good luck and bring good health. Vertically divided clamshells are also considered a symbol of femininity.
Scallops are a valuable source of natural minerals and trace elements iodine, iron, phosphorus, copper, zinc, manganese, cobalt, and calcium. Furthermore, scallops contain a whole multivitamin complex, as well as omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids. Scientists have proven that regular consumption of scallops by men helps to restore and maintain sexual function at a high level for a long time. In Asian countries, scallops are valued for their ability to increase male potency.
According to ancient Greek mythology, there was an ordinary girl who seduced the sun god Apollo by giving him a dish prepared from squid. When the golden-haired god tasted it, he became inflamed with passion for the girl. She had not realized the squid was a powerful aphrodisiac. Its meat is rich in phosphorus (250mg per 100g) which benefits the entire reproductive system.
Basil is particularly famous because the ancient Greeks fed their horses this spicy grass right before mating. Italians called it the herb of kisses. Certain varieties of basil with purple flowers are more potent than others.
Avocado, or the “alligator pear”, is a very strong aphrodisiac. In ancient times it was used to increase potency and fertility. For this reason, it was excluded from the diet of Spanish colonizers. The ancient Aztecs called the avocado tree “the testicle tree” because the fruit hangs in pairs from the branches like testicles. The main substances contained in avocados are phytosterols which awaken sexual desire in both men and women. Avocados also contain large amounts of carotenoids, lutein, beta-carotene, glutathione, and zeaxanthin.
Grapes contain a record amount of natural boron, which increases testosterone levels and improves endurance during sex. Pekmez is boiled grape juice, which is thickened like syrup but does not contain any added sugar. Pekmez contains a lot of chromium, which is involved in spermatogenesis. It improves sperm quality and increases their number. In Turkey, carob pekmez is made from grapes and black mulberries.
In Malaysia, there is a saying that when a durian falls from a tree sarongs fly up! It is claimed that its effects are felt within 1 or 2 hours. Durian is a fruit from Southeast Asia with a heavenly taste but an awful smell. Some gourmets have likened its fragrance to that of a spicy cheese. This exotic fruit is recognized as the most powerful aphrodisiac among all the fruits in the world, and it works on both men and women. Be warned though: don’t eat durian every day unless you want to find yourself in a constant state of sexual desire!
Lychee has a long-standing positive reputation in China. Lychees contain copper, potassium, phosphorus, iron, sulfur, iodine, fluorine, nicotinic acid, and vitamins C, B1, and B2. The rough peel is easily removed. Lychee are called the fruit of love in many Eastern countries.
According to Asian legend, the god Shiva cultivated the mango tree and gave it to his beloved. People in India and Pakistan believe Eve tempted Adam with a mango. For 4,000 years mangos were considered to be one of the most powerful aphrodisiacs. In modern India, it is recommended that men who have sexual problems consume this fruit often.
In the 7th century B.C. the ancient Mayans grew cacao beans and cooked them into a bitter drink called chocolatl. It gave them great physical strength and wisdom for life. Europeans didn’t learn about chocolate until the 1520’s when conquistador Hernan Cortes brought the drink home from his travels with the Aztecs. Chocolatl was prepared using cocoa liquor, honey, and vanilla.
Thanks to its magnesium content, chocolate improves mood and energizes the body. Chocolate contains antioxidants that help keep us feeling young and beautiful. Cocoa powder contains phenylethylamine, which stimulates the love center of the brain. It aids with the development of serotonin, the happiness hormone, and helps create positive feelings and a state of mild euphoria. This magical food also contains theobromine which gently stimulates the nervous and cardiovascular systems.
Although many of these foods are what we consider an ordinary part of our cuisine, they have taken on special connotations in different cultural contexts throughout history. Used in the right way, anyone can still enjoy the libido-enhancing effects they offer. Don’t be afraid to get a little inventive in your kitchen tonight as you spice up your love life with these cultural delights.
If you’re a lover and a lover of food you’ll want to pick up a copy of Olga’s new book:
Intimacy On The Plate: 200+ Aphrodisiac Recipes to Spice Up Your Love Life at Home Tonight
Beer is probably the smallest, most common denominator of the backpacking community. Travelers get to know each other over a pint, decide to make a trip together in the course of a few sips and cling to their bottles to say goodbye after a life-changing journey.
Some beers, like Heineken for example, are served literally everywhere and I find it kind of sad that you travel to a very distant place on this planet, meet fascinating people from foreign cultures yet drink these same interchangeable brews all the time. So instead, next time you order, why not try one of the local craft beer specialties? Craft beer represents a hand-made product and gives you an authentic taste of the region you happen to be in. Moreover, you support local brewers and thereby help diversity to stay alive.
In this article, I’d like to introduce you to some of my favorite craft beers that I’ve sampled throughout my travels.
Side note: In case you’re next trip is still months ahead, you might as well get one of those liquid delicacies at your local craft beer dealer to put your palate into travel mode.
Iceland sports a range of truly great beers. One that really blew my mind is the Icelandic White Ale by Einstök. It’s a beer that feels rather light, which made it highly popular with my female travel companion. So guys, if you want to be successful in a bar in Iceland, my tip is to invite your love interest to a glass of Icelandic White Ale. If you want to come off like a pro, about the notes of coriander and orange zest that are the essential ingredients of this brew.
A fruity, well-rounded India Pale Ale from Utrecht, Netherlands. This pleasantly bitter beer pairs nicely with the dutch street food classics such as Kibbeling or Frikandel.
Good to know: The brewery Maximus is open to the public from Wednesdays to Sundays. Say hi, next time you’re in Holland and make sure you get a pint of Highhops 6.
A cooperation by brewmasters Sebastian Sauer and Fritz Wülfing – two legendary craft pioneers from Germany. Sauer brewed his first beer at the age of 22. He still lives and works in Germany but his beer brand Freigeist has become a surprise hit especially in the United States.
Today, aged 29, Sauer is best known for bringing long-forgotten recipes back to life. Methusalem is a brilliant example of this. It is a beer in the “Adam” style (that is a sour Altbier). It hasn’t been brewed anywhere in the world since the sixties. This is your chance to get a taste of beer history and indulge in creative German brewing culture.
What a smack in the face this is. A bold, unconventional beer made from whisky malt. Appealingly strange, heavy and intense, it guarantees that your palate won’t forget this trip to Austria. … and I mean that in a good way.
I actually drank this Swedish beer on a trip to Amsterdam. Ever since, I wonder where the brewery’s hometown, Hedemora, is located. As soon as I find out, I will travel there and order another Amarillo. This IPA is quite memorable as it stacks serious amounts of hop flavors. With a bit of concentration, you will taste caramel and citrus. At this point, the beer leaves you with a bitter finish and you may even grasp that note of cut grass. Not kidding, this one is a keeper.
Edge is the brainchild of two Americans living in Barcelona. Flor de la Vida is their American Pale Ale. It pours a light golden body with a creamy white head. It reminds me of summer nights in the capital of Catalunya and is a great choice to start your night out in this poetic and lively city.
Based in Kailua-Kona on Hawaii’s Big Island, the exotic location already makes Kona a one-of-a-kind brewery. Since 1995 the company supplies Hawaii with local beer and all of Kona’s brews and designs are inspired by its direct surroundings. Their Golden Ale “Big Wave” for instance is a smooth, sunny beer with beautiful artwork depicting a logboat scene.
I’ve also heard good things about the company’s dedication to sustainability ranging from fundraising for local environmental organizations to simple things like the use of biodegradable cups at events or collecting condensation from air conditioning systems to be used for landscaping irrigation. I value this, especially as a traveler who’s trying to leave the world better than we found it. So on your next trip to Honolulu show what you’re made of and catch a wave of the Kona’s Golden Ale.
Canada’s only steam-generated brewery is located in Vancouver’s historic Gastown. Great visuals make their bottles an appealing gift to bring home. Their creative recipes offer a good occasion to team up with other travelers for a spontaneous tasting. Fasten your taste buds for experiences like the Jasmine IPA, which is blended with jasmine flowers, the dry-hopped and unfiltered Heroica Red Ale, or the Belgian Style Abbey Ale featuring Candi Sugar.
For travelers with an interest in history, this is your chance to dive into it since the origins of the Kiuchi Brewery date back to 1823. Nowadays, the brewery is known for its unconventional beers made from special ingredients such as red rice, espresso beans or real ginger. My favorite is the Red Rice Ale, which is super refreshing and finely nuanced.
Bierol is an Austrian craft label run by the two young guns Christoph Bichler and Maximilian Karner. In 2012 Bichler took over his father’s traditional brewery and soon used it as a platform to spin off his own brand “Bierol”. Since the official start in 2014, Bierol has taken Austria’s beer scene by storm. From Schwoich to Vienna, craft aficionados sing enthusiastic odes to these creative beers even when sober.
My favorite product: Going Hazel Nuts. A nutty crowd-pleaser that will see you longing for more.
So there you have it, 10 of my favorite craft beers have taken us on a journey around the world…. well sort of. Narrowing down to just 10 beers was no easy task and there are plenty of other great ales that I enjoy so please go easy in the comments. While you’re at it, tell me about your favorite craft beers.
If travel is an experience for all the senses, then trying out a country’s cuisine can also achieve the same thing. From seeing and touching the fresh ingredients of a meal, listening to the sizzle of an ingredient as it is being cooked, smelling a dish’s aroma as it is being prepared, and finally savoring its taste – a food tour can provide a gastronomic delight to all the senses.
Brazilian cuisine has strong European and African influences and is a melting pot of different flavors, thanks to its mix of native and immigrant populations and the sheer size of the country. Our group of 10 traveling friends felt that the best way to become oriented with the cuisine was to do a walking food tour with Eat Rio, which has an awesome website that not only details its tours but also offers a lot of tips on where to stay, what to do and where to eat in Rio de Janeiro.
We signed up for a six-hour food tour that covered four neighborhoods. The length of the tour may sound daunting but time flew by and we were also able to find out more about Rio and see a few attractions between eating. Our guide, Felippe, met us and promptly took us to a street market, where we rubbed shoulders with the locals who were buying their fresh produce for the day.
At the street market, we first walked over to a stall that was showing the fairly laborious process of extracting tapioca, a starch from the cassava root. This was then made into a fine flour that was used to make beiju de tapioca – hot tapioca pancakes topped with cheese and oregano – which everyone devoured quickly.
Stepping through the market, what struck me immediately is that Brazil is absolutely blessed to have such a huge list of fruits and vegetables – with quite a few being completely foreign to me. I drooled over the rows of colorful fruit including papayas, oranges, pineapples, and guavas. My mouth watered while gazing upon dozens of vegetables, including cassavas and yams. And I jumped behind a fishmonger’s stall to get a picture with them after seeing them taking a photo of our group!
Once we got to the end of the street market, Felippe set up a makeshift stand to tell us more about the foods we’d seen as well as let us try a ton of fresh fruits. We took sips of caldo de cana (sugarcane juice, which we tried with and without lime). Most of us felt that the inclusion of lime made the drink better tasting and highlighted the sugar cane taste better.
We also tried little red berries called acerola that have over 30 times more vitamin C than an orange of the same quantity, siriguela (a small yellow fruit with a thick skin and a large stone), caqui (a persimmon, although the fruit we tried was redder in color and a bit sweeter), abacate (avocado) and a crowd favorite, coco (coconut). A funny memory was sampling two types of mangoes (manga palmer, a large mango and manga espada, a small yellow-green mango that was sweeter). The manga espada was so stringy though that everyone had to floss their teeth immediately afterward – quite a sight for people passing by to see a group of tourists using dental floss next to the street market!
Afterward, we hailed cabs to Nova Capela, one of the oldest restaurants in Rio and with an old-school Portugal decor. As a former Portuguese colony, there are many Brazilian dishes adapted from Portugal, including bolinhos de bacalhau (salt cod and potato croquettes). What’s interesting though is that codfish cannot be found anywhere in Brazil but it is a very common meal to eat, so Brazil has to import this fish heavily across the country. We washed this down with a refreshing dose of suco de abacaxi com hortelã (pineapple juice with mint) and were then off to our next destination – a walk through the neighborhood of Lapa.
Lapa is a happening neighborhood for nightlife, but during the day under the sweltering summer sun, we focused on the funky urban art and the Selarόn Steps, the work of Chilean-born eccentric artist Jorge Selarόn. The 215 mosaic steps were built over 23 years as a tribute to the Brazilian people, the steps include thousands of tiles collected from over 60 countries around the world. There’s even a tile showing Selarόn himself, looking very much like a quirky yet charming fellow.
As we walked to our next step in the stifling heat, it was juice time! Juice bars are littered throughout Rio and we lined up for a taste of several exotic juices (suco). We tried suco de acerola (that vitamin C-packed fruit again), suco de graviola (a creamy white juice from a fruit also known as guanábana), suco de cupuaçú (a strange Amazonian fruit juice that changes flavor as you drink it!), suco de cajá (a sweet ‘tropical fruit drink’ flavored juice). Next to the juice bar was a food cart selling pão de queijo (Brazilian cheese bread) which we also sampled. The bread is small and round, made from tapioca flour and with very soft cheese inside. It’s commonly eaten as a snack and even for breakfast. Delicious!
If you want to sample Amazonian cuisine, you’ve got to visit Tacacá do Norte. A tiny restaurant with no more than 15 seats at best, our group was fortunate to arrive early enough that we were able to all be seated. Here, I sampled one of the most exotic meals of my life (and that’s saying a lot as a foodie).
Tacacá is an anesthetic soup common in North Brazil, made with dried shrimps, small yellow peppers, and tucupi (a sauce extracted from the manioc root). But the crown ingredient is jambu, a flowering plant with a grassy taste that gives your mouth a strong tingling and numbing sensation – followed by a bit of excess salivation. The tingling sensation is a very strange feeling – I found that if I bit into the flower part itself the numbness was more acute.
Other Amazonian delicacies we tried included Cerveja Cerpa (beer from northern Brazil) and açaí com guaraná (pulp from the açaí berry gently sweetened with guaraná, a spice from the Amazon, which we ate topped with granola or toasted tapioca). I left Brazil pretty obsessed with açaí – drinking it or eating it as a dessert while in Brazil.
I first truly discovered the fruit and ate it for breakfast nearly every day only to find out afterward that it is extremely expensive to buy online.
Our final stop was lunch – and despite our already full bellies, we were able to tuck in a decent-sized meal at a restaurant that included pastel (deep-fried pastry parcels), queijo coalho na chapa com melado (grilled cheese with molasses), carne see com abobora e feijão de corda (air-dried, salted beef with pumpkin and beans), moqueca de camarão (stew of shrimp, made with coconut milk, peppers and palm oil), and escondidinho de camarão/frango (creamy cassava purée with shrimp/chicken).
On a hot summer’s day, there’s nothing better than washing down all that food with delicious drinks. There was Theresopolis Gold (Pilsner brewed in a town one hour north of Rio), Caipirinha de siriguela, acerola e limão (caipirinhas – ubiquitous Brazilian alcoholic beverages made with siriguela, acerola and lime) and Cachaça de Jambú.
This last spirit is a must-try in Brazil and if I could, I’d have brought bottles of this stuff back home with me as gifts. Remember the tingling/numbing Amazonian plant that we ate in a soup earlier? Well here it’s in a spirit, and the same sensation occurred from drinking it. What was really fascinating was that Felippe told us to swirl it in our mouths for about 30 seconds before swallowing it, and then drink water immediately afterward. The water actually tasted sour after.
Caipirinha de siriguela, acerola e limão – very fruity and packs quite a punch while this bottle of Cachaça de Jambú was a weird sensation in your mouth
Felippe, our food tour guide, was incredibly knowledgeable, warm and personable throughout the entire tour. Tom, who founded Eat Rio, also went above and beyond afterward, sending further tips about things to do and see in Rio. Our group of friends finished the tour with full bellies, a ton of local insights, and lots of fun memories to take back home.
If you’re planning a trip to Rio de Janeiro you should definitely include this tour as part of your itinerary!
One of the most memorable aspects of traveling is a country’s food. Cuisines play an integral part in defining a nation’s culture – and whether you’re sampling a local delicacy at a street market, being entertained by a family in their home, or dining out at an upmarket restaurant, here is a list of must-eat foods around the globe.
This is just a small taste (no pun intended) of dishes… but the world is your oyster, and there are many more foods to try!
A classic breakfast that you will find in any brasserie, it’s a great way to start your day. If you are tired of croissants and baguettes, a Croque Madame is a kind of fried egg and cheese sandwich, topped with grated cheese. If you eat this without the fried egg, the French call it a Croque Monsieur.
This soup originated in Ukraine and is popular throughout Eastern and Central Europe. Borscht has dozens of variations, but beetroot is a core ingredient, as well as stock and sauteed vegetables. Try it both hot and cold.
If you’re keen on fermented vegetables and spicy food, this is the dish for you. The main ingredient of this Korean side dish is Chinese cabbage, which is also flavored with onions, garlic, and red pepper. You’ll find this dish in every Korean household.
This dish originated in Rome and is pasta cooked with cream sauce, eggs, pancetta (sliced bacon), and olive oil. It is usually served in a round dish and topped with Parmesan cheese. The most critical piece of making Carbonara is that the pasta should be boiled al dente.
This Greek fast food is cheap and delicious. Made with beef, pork, or chicken (as well as vegetables on occasion), this dish consists of kebabs on wooden skewers. The dish is either served on a plate with various garnishes, bread, or fried potatoes or in a pita sandwich.
This roasted ham hock (“pork knuckle”) is very popular in the Bavaria region. The meat is marinated in flavors – sometimes for up to a week. The meat is crispy on the outside and deliciously tender on the inside, and is typically served with sides such as sauerkraut or braised red cabbage, or roasted potatoes.
Kitfo is a traditional dish found in Ethiopian cuisine. It consists of minced raw beef, marinated in a chili-based spice blend (mitmita) and a clarified butter infused with herbs and spices (niter kibbeh).
The ultimate communal dish, fondue is a dish of melted cheese served in a pot over heat. People dip bread into the cheese with long-stemmed forks. You may also find variations to the traditional cheese fondue – hot oil instead for a meat fondue, or melted chocolate for a tasty dipping dessert.
A traditional dish from the British Isles, this delicious meal of sausages and mashed potatoes – topped with onion gravy – is perfect as a homemade dinner.
Serbia’s national dish is a spiced meat patty, prepared from a mix of beef, pork, and lamb. Served as a main course – usually with onions, milk cream, relish, and a spicy cheese salad, you’ll find this in many fast food stands across the country.
This sour-spicy soup is flavored by a broth that includes shrimps, chicken, fish and fragrant herbs and spices such as lemongrass, kaffir lime leaves, fish sauce, and crushed chillis. It has a distinctive taste and has many variations – most include prawns and other seafood.
You can’t visit Japan without trying sushi. Rice and seaweed (nori) are the main ingredients that hold basically any ingredient – whether it’s meat, seafood, vegetables, or egg. Sushi is always accompanied by pickled ginger, a fiery horseradish (wasabi), and soy sauce.
This dish originated in Portugal but can be found in many former Portuguese colonies, including Macau, Mozambique, and Angola. A stew of black beans with mixed beef and pork cuts, seasoned with garlic, onions, and bay leaves, interestingly this dish is traditionally eaten on Saturdays (it’s so heavy that it can induce a food coma, so pace yourself!).
The closest thing to a national dish (besides Vegemite, which is a thick food paste usually spread on toasted bread), meat pies are made with a shortcrust base and contain minced meat. Sometimes meat pies have onion, mushrooms, and other ingredients inside. Whether it’s for lunch or as a snack, meat pies are quintessentially Australian – and don’t forget the tomato sauce.
Discover some more Aussie dishes you’ll want to check out here.
This is a kind of spring roll, consisting of prawns, pork, rice noodles, vegetables, and other delicious stuff, wrapped in rice paper. You eat this by dipping it in a hoisin or chili sauce with diced peanuts.
This mixed dish with rice, meat, vegetables, and various strong spices can be found across the Indian subcontinent. The biryani meat and rice are cooked separately before being served together. Usually, it is the primary dish in a meal.
The national dish of Jordan is made with rice and meat that is cooked in a sauce of fermented dried yogurt, then served over thin flatbread or rice. It is meant to be eaten communally – and to try this like a local, make sure to eat with your hands.
Ceviche is part of Peru’s “national heritage” and has even had a holiday declared in its honor. It is composed of chunks of raw fish (corvina or cebo – sea bass), marinated in freshly squeezed key lime or bitter orange (naranja agria) juice, with sliced onions, chili peppers, salt, and pepper.
Paneer is a type of fresh cheese common to the Indian subcontinent, and when paired with butter masala (a type of rich tomato gravy), it is the perfect combination of creaminess and spiciness. This dish is served with rice or tandoori roti (a type of flatbread).
This Spanish national rice dish is tinted with saffron. It is usually made with a wide variety of chicken and seafood, although variations also include vegetarian options. The name of a dish comes from the Latin word patella, meaning “frying pan”.
The direct Spanish translation of this dish is “cheese tortilla”. This Mexican fast-food snack consists of grilled folded tortillas stuffed with vegetables, meat or poultry, and of course – cheese.
Bacalhau is the Portuguese word for cod. Often served with potatoes, this salted cod dish is sometimes garnished with parsley, hard-boiled eggs, and olives.
Köttbullar – or Swedish meatballs – are perfectly round meatballs made out of pork/beef mince, and are traditionally served with mashed potato, creamy sauce, and a little bit of lingonberry jam.
Skip the hamburgers of the McDonalds or Wendy's variety and try a more homemade option. The best hamburgers include fresh bread, crunchy vegetables, melted cheese, and juicy burgers, with a side of French fries.
Sarmale is a stuffed cabbage roll. Mamaliga is a type of polenta, served on top or next to sarmale. It is a main dish that is usually cooked for special events, such as Christmas, New Year’s Eve or any other family gathering.
Jerk is a style of cooking where meat is rubbed or marinated with a very hot spice mixture, that includes allspice, Scotch bonnet peppers, and other ingredients. The seasoning is traditionally applied to pork or chicken, but can also be used for virtually any other meat, seafood, or vegetable.
Considered the national dish of the Philippines, it involves meat (especially chicken or pork) marinated in vinegar, soy sauce, black peppercorns, and garlic, then simmered in the marinade. The dish can be prepared with only a small number of ingredients but still be extremely flavorful.
This South African fast food dish consists of a hollowed-out loaf of bread filled with curry. Its origins come from migrant Indian workers, who apparently found that bread was the most convenient way to carry their curries on the way to work in the sugar cane plantations.
This dish is made of rice, macaroni, and lentils mixed together with a tomato-vinegar sauce, and then topped with chickpeas and crispy fried onions. This vegetarian-friendly and filling meal can be found in roadside stalls and restaurants throughout the country and is sometimes enhanced with garlic juice and hot sauce.
Readily found throughout the Middle East, a falafel is a deep-fried ball made from ground chickpeas or fava beans. The ultimate in fast food is commonly served in pita bread or wrapped in a flatbread. Falafels are topped with vegetables, hot sauce, and tahini-based sauces.
Food is truly a central point in many cultures and this is merely the tip of the iceberg when it comes to some of the incredible dishes there are around the world. We’d love to hear your favorite dishes too, so please let us know in the comment section below.
Are you up for anything? Got a stomach made of steel? Great, you’ll need it if you are up for eating some of these delicacies. In this article, we feature a selection of 30 of the most unusual foods you can find (and eat) across Asia.
Let’s get started!
Eating horse is quite taboo in many cultures, but in Japan and Korea (especially on the island of Jeju) you can try raw horse meat sashimi. In Japan, it’s called basashi, while in Korea it’s called yuuk-hwe.
According to a Korean Nutrition Society study, horse meat contains high doses of acids and minerals that can be beneficial to your health. Check out ZenKimchi’s post about trying horse and dung-fed pig belly.
This is one that I personally don’t agree with and not something I recommend you try!
When I went to Beijing with some of my friends we sat down in a restaurant and played Russian Roulette with the all-Chinese menu and pointed at some pictures that looked quite good. One of the dishes was really good and tasted a lot like chicken, but had all of these funny bones. In our very limited Mandarin, we tried to ask the waitress what the animal was.
We played charades as we mimicked the behaviors of certain animals. “Was it chicken?” “No”, she shook her head and bounced like a rabbit would do. “A rabbit?” I tried to signal as I bounced and motioned long bunny ears. “No”, she shook her head again. This went on for a while, as we went through all kinds of different animals until she gave us a signal to wait a minute. Moments later she came back with this huge ugly green toad in a net… really ugly, but surprisingly really good.
In Shanghai, my friends and I managed to order a deep-fried pigeon. After a few beers, and because the pigeon was quite small, we decided to draw straws where the loser would have to eat the head. Unfortunately, for me, I drew the shortest straw. I thought, “well bugger this, I may as well eat the whole thing.” And so I ate the head… and the eyes… and the brain… and the dirty, chewy, crunchy, tasteless beak.
Yes, beak and all. Not something I’d recommend.
In China and parts of South East Asia, you can order fried scorpions or grasshoppers on skewers. Be careful though, because my friend kept on getting nosebleeds from eating them. He thinks eating two is OK, but three is when the nosebleeds start to happen. Apparently, frying the scorpion neutralizes the poison. In any case, they’re quite cheap and chewy.
One of the (bad) stereotypes about Korea, is that all Koreans eat dogs. Now, this isn’t really the case, but dog is still a popular delicacy, especially on the hottest days of the year, when spicy dog soup is eaten by a lot of men because apparently, it enhances virility and sexual potency. Before it used to be called ke-go-gi (literally “dog meat”), but many restaurants now call it something different like yong-yang-tang (literally “nourishment soup”).
Definitely not something I condone nor recommend you try!
I personally haven’t tried it… yet, but blood soup is a delicacy in Vietnam, China, and other parts of southeast Asia. Duck blood soup (tiet canh vit) , pork blood soup (tiet canh heo), or blood soup with all of the gizzards and bones that are leftover (can’t let it go to waste) is a good dish to eat/drink when you’re drinking alcohol. Recently Anna tried it in Vietnam, with rice wine (supposedly an aphrodisiac) and Wes got to try some courtesy of his new “friend”.
Pufferfish is an expensive delicacy that has to be tried once in your life. Known as fugu in Japan, and bok in Korea, this infamous deadly delicacy is one of the most expensive and most delicious meals I’ve ever tried. Over the years many people have died from eating pufferfish that hasn’t been prepared properly. The pufferfish is the second most poisonous vertebrate in the world, with its skin and some organs highly toxic to touch or eat.
I had it twice in South Korea, where it was expertly prepared by a master chef who had spent many years in Japan learning the art of preparing the fish correctly. It was about $70USD (70,000 won) per person for a 4-course meal of pufferfish sashimi, boiled pufferfish with mushrooms, battered pufferfish, and pufferfish sushi. I was a little hesitant to try it at first, but after tasting it, It’s definitely worth every cent. Mmmm, pufferfish!
Tong zi dan or Virgin Boy Eggs, is a traditional delicacy of Dongyang, China made by cooking eggs in urine collected from young boys. Urine is collected from school toilets or boys urinate directly into collection buckets set out by vendors. The eggs are soaked and boiled in the urine. The shells are cracked and cooked all day on low heat. Residents believe “the eggs decrease body heat, promote better blood circulation and just generally reinvigorate the body.” In 2008, Dongyang recognized the eggs as a “local intangible cultural heritage.”
Known throughout Southeast Asia as the “King of Fruits”, the durian is distinctive for its size, strong odor, and badass-looking husk. The fruit can grow as large as 30cm (12in) long and weigh up to 3kg (7lb).
After removing the husk, the edible flesh emits a distinctive odor that is strong and penetrating. The smell evokes reactions of intense disgust and has led to the fruit’s banishment from certain hotels and public transportation in Southeast Asia.
Bird’s nests have been used in Chinese cooking for over 400 years, most often as bird’s nest soup. The nests are composed of saliva cement interwoven with small strands, that’s right.. spit!. They take the shape of a small cup stuck to the cave wall and are built during the breeding season by the male swiftlet over a period of 35 days in enormous limestone caves in Borneo. The nests have high levels of calcium, iron, potassium, and magnesium and are among the most expensive animal products consumed by humans, with an average nest selling for $2,500/kg for end-consumers in Asia.
Beondegi is a popular dish in Korea. Beondegi is steamed or boiled silkworm pupae that are seasoned and eaten as a snack. You will find them being served by street vendors, as well as in restaurants and drinking establishments. They are also sold in cans in grocery stores and convenience stores, but they must be boiled in water before serving.
Shark fin soup is a popular Chinese cuisine usually served at special occasions such as weddings or banquets as it is considered a luxury item in Chinese culture. The shark fins provide texture while the taste comes from the other soup ingredients. The soup originated centuries ago when shark fins’ were believed to contain properties to boost sexual potency, enhance skin quality, increase qi or energy, prevent heart disease, and lower cholesterol.
The process of gathering the shark fins is a gruesome one that has drawn criticism from the international community, calling for it to be banned completely. Like the ivory trade in Africa, this is cruelty on a massive scale.
I do not condone the consumption of shark fins.
Drunken shrimp is a popular dish in some parts of China involving fresh-water shrimp that are stunned in a strong liquor (baijiu) and eaten alive. The shrimp are sometimes treated in alcohol and then cooked in boiling water rather than served live.
It is important to note that consuming uncooked shellfish may be a serious health hazard.
If you like honey, perhaps you’ll like the Japanese delicacy, Hachi no Ko or honey bee larvae. Crunchy and full of protein, the bee larvae are eaten for their texture and nutritional value. Legend has it that the Japanese emperor Hirohito’s favorite food was fried wasps over rice with a dash of sugar and soy sauce.
Deep-fried spider is a regional delicacy in Cambodia. In the Cambodian town of Skuon, it has even become a popular attraction for tourists passing through. The spiders are bred in holes in the ground and fried in oil. During the years of Khmer Rouge rule, when food was in short supply, locals began eating the spiders out of pure desperation and hunger. The spiders are a species of tarantula called “a-ping” in Khmer and are about the size of a human palm.
Sannakji is a Korean delicacy of octopus that has been cut into small pieces and served immediately while still alive! The tentacle pieces are still squirming on the plate and are served with sesame oil. Since the suction cups are still active when the dish is served, special care should be taken when eating to avoid them sticking to your mouth or throat.
Nattō is a traditional Japanese food made from fermented soybeans. Mostly eaten as a breakfast food, it is an acquired taste due to its powerful smell, strong flavor, and slimy texture.
Guīlínggāo, also known as Tortoise Jelly, is a jelly-like Chinese medicine that is also sold as a dessert. It was traditionally made from the crushed shell of a turtle combined with a variety of herbal products. It is extremely expensive due to the turtle-derived ingredients, therefore the commercially available guīlínggāo usually does not contain turtle shell powder at all. However, they both share the same herbal additives and are similarly marketed as being good for skin complexion when ingested.
Fancy a cracker that looks like it has been dropped in a wasp’s nest? Are you brave enough to join the “wasp fan club”? In the Japanese town of Omachi, hunters catch digger wasps, boil them up, dry them, then add them to the cracker mix. Makes me concerned that those stingers are just begging to find the inside of my mouth.
White ant eggs are commonly found and utilized as food in Southeast Asia, predominantly in Thailand, Cambodia, and Vietnam. The ants are often piled high and fried, ready to be consumed as a quick snack. One of the weirdest is white ant eggs soup, a mixture of eggs, partial embryos, and baby ants. People say the eggs pop in their mouths, releasing a sour flavor.
Century egg or pidan, is a Chinese cuisine ingredient made by preserving duck, chicken or quail eggs in a mixture of clay, ash, salt, quicklime, and rice hulls for several weeks to several months, depending on the method of processing. Through the process, the yolk becomes a dark green to grey color, with a creamy consistency and an odor of sulfur and ammonia, while the white becomes a dark brown, translucent jelly with salty or little flavor.
Some eggs have patterns near the surface of the egg that resemble pine branches, giving rise to one of its Chinese names, the pine-patterned egg. It is also known as preserved egg, hundred-year egg, thousand-year egg, thousand-year-old egg, and millennium egg.
Pig’s blood cake is a street food delicacy served on a stick from market stalls in Taiwan. It is made with pork blood, sticky rice and soy broth. It is fried or steamed and coated in peanut flour, then eaten as a snack. Keep an eye out for the street vendors who keep it warmed in a wooden box or metal steamer.
Shirako literally translates to “white children” in Japanese. Pretty descriptive considering it is the male equivalent of caviar, yep you guessed it – the male cod fish’s sperm sac. Technically it can come from many different kinds of fish. Shirako is described as tasting “creamy”, “buttery” and “custard-like.” It can be steamed, pan-fried, or deep-fried, but no amount of cooking will take away the uncomfortable silence when you tell your friends what they are eating.
While walking through a Japanese fish market or grocery store, don’t be surprised to see a large tuna eye staring up at you. The taste is a bit like squid and the eyeball comes surrounded by fish fat and severed muscles that are also meant to be quite tasty. To cook, you simply boil it and then season to taste….yum!
Shiokara is a food in Japanese cuisine made from a selection of small meaty offcuts in a brown viscous paste of the animal’s heavily salted, fermented viscera. The raw viscera are mixed with salt and malted rice, packed in a closed container, and fermented for up to a month. The flavor is similar to cured anchovies due to the saltiness only with a different texture. It is quite strong and is considered something of an acquired taste even for the native Japanese palate. One method of enjoying it is to consume the serving at one gulp and to follow it with a shot of straight whiskey.
Balut is a developing duck embryo that is boiled alive and eaten in the shell. It is commonly sold as street food in the Philippines. There are also variations to be found throughout Southeast Asia, in countries such as Laos, Cambodia, and Vietnam. They are generally sold at night and often served with beer… makes sense to do it in the dark with the help of alcohol.
The process involves the top of the egg being cracked open and salt poured into the opening. Then the contents are pushed up from the bottom in one motion, crunching on the beak and feathers ensues.
Originally from Taiwan, stinky tofu is also a popular cuisine in China and some parts of Indonesia. This fermented tofu dish is one of the most pungent smelling, uniquely tasting foods anyone encounters. Even the native Taiwanese have mixed feelings about their regional tofu-based cuisine.
Paniki is a dish from North Sulawesi made from fruit bats, yes that’s right as if bats don’t freak people out enough. The bats are burned to remove their soft hairs, then cooked in coconut milk, herbs, and spices. Paniki is often also cooked in spicy rica-rica, a mixture of various herbs.
Namako, as it is known in Japan, Balatan, in the Philippines, Trepang, in Indonesia – is a sea cucumber. They resemble a large slug and are prolific in the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Most cultures in East and Southeast Asia regard sea cucumbers as a delicacy.
A number of dishes are made with sea cucumber, and in most dishes, it has a slippery texture. It is usually eaten raw or with a vinegar dressing and is considered to have a delicate flavor.
The gonads of both male and female sea urchins, usually called sea urchin roe or corals, are culinary delicacies in many parts of Asia and the world. In Japan, sea urchin is known as uni and is served raw as sashimi or in sushi, with soy sauce and wasabi. After carefully breaking the spiky exterior, the gonads of the sea urchin are scooped out and eaten raw. They have a briny, almost creamy taste and can fetch a high price.
Feel free to tell me your favorite unusual foods of Asia in the comments below.
Did you know that Guinea pigs were originally domesticated for their meat in the Andes? For many years, these cute little critters were cared for and consumed at ceremonial meals by the indigenous people of the Andean highlands. Nowadays it is commonplace to see street vendors selling “Cuy” (typically the barbecued variety) which has become a major part of the diet in Peru, Bolivia, and some parts of Ecuador and Colombia.
When you consider the following it is easy to understand why the guinea pig has become a delicacy throughout many parts of South America:
So I hear you asking… what does it taste like? Well as with many types of meat it has a ‘chicken-like’ flavor but due to its gamey nature is probably closer to rabbit.
The guinea pig also plays an important role in both religion and culture for Peruvians. The religious celebration known as Jaca Tsariy (meaning – collecting the cuys) is a major festival in many villages across eastern Peru and is even celebrated in smaller ceremonies throughout Lima. During the festivities, locals will donate their guinea pigs to a Sirvinti or they may be brought to a communal area to be released in a mock bullfight.
Peruvians consume an estimated 65 million guinea pigs each year and the animal is so entrenched in the culture that one famous painting of the Last Supper in the main cathedral in Cusco shows Christ and the twelve disciples dining on guinea pig.
In central Ecuador, guinea pigs are used in the celebrations for the feast of Corpus Christi as part of the Ensayo, which is a community meal, and the Octava, where castillos (greased poles) are erected with prizes tied to the crossbars, from which several guinea pigs may be hung.
Probably the most bizarre festival involving guinea pigs can be found in the Peruvian town of Churin. It involves dressing guinea pigs up in elaborate costumes for a competition.
How adventurous are you when it comes to eating local cuisine when you travel? To me, being immersed in a culture through food is one of the highlights of my travels. I’ve tried salty, oily, milky tea in Mongolia, pigs’ ears sauteed in garlic in the Philippines, and squirming live octopus tentacles in South Korea – and that’s just in Asia.
Balinese food, particularly in tourist-crammed areas like Kuta, Legian, and Seminyak is not as wacky as the above examples. Compared to countries like Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand, the cuisine is not overly spicy, however, you can request the hot sambal, a fresh chili concoction as a condiment to compliment any meal. Meals (including breakfast) usually are served with rice and are eaten with a fork in the left hand and a spoon on the right. The spoon serves a dual purpose to cut up any foods (food is usually quite soft and steak is not typical to Balinese cuisine) and scoop up the rice/meat to eat.
A few typical meals in Bali include:
Fried rice, sometimes with chicken and/or seafood, served with a fried egg on top and prawn crackers on the side.
As with Nasi Goreng but with noodles instead of rice.
Indonesian salad of spinach, mung beans, hard-boiled egg, cucumber, and tomato, with sweet peanut sauce as the dressing and prawn crackers on the side. Can be eaten with rice.
Chinese-influenced stir-fried vegetables.
Satay meat (usually fish or chicken) grilled on skewers, served with a sweet peanut sauce.
Being an island, Bali is rich in seafood and while it is pricey, first-time tourists should visit Jimbaran Bay for a dinner on the beach. Here, a multitude of restaurants competes for clientele, offering a selection of fresh seafood (which you can choose), which is marinated in garlic and chili and grilled.
Michael and I were stuffed with a buffet selection at the Seafood Café which included corn soup, a side of vegetables, steamed rice then plates of grilled lobster, fish, prawns, clams, and squid. Traditional Balinese dancing topped off the experience. All this cost about 125,000 rupiahs in total.
For a cheaper (and arguably just as scrumptious) experience, check out Gong Corner on Poppies Lane. Prices (and taxes/surcharge) vary with each restaurant, but Gong always gets a queue of hungry people thanks to its delicious food served cheaper than other restaurants in the heart of Kuta. Here, you can choose from a wide variety of Western, Indonesian, and Chinese-influenced food – we paid on average 53,000 rupiahs for two people, including drinks.
Michael and I also did a cooking class in Bali at the Anika Cooking School, which I would highly recommend to any food lover.
Starting off with a trip to the markets, we were acquainted with various herbs used in Balinese cuisine, including four types of garlic, turmeric, chilies, coriander (cilantro), blocks of crushed peanuts mixed with herbs, and sugar (for satay sauce) and other mouth-watering ingredients.
Getting back to the school (which also doubled as a hotel and spa), we were treated to fresh hibiscus tea and a few very sweet desserts, including sticky rice balls, rolled in grated coconut and liquid palm sugar that burst in your mouth once you bit into it.
The only downside of the cooking school was that we were not able to do the cooking process from start to finish – a lot of the ingredients had been chopped already for us, leaving us to do only some momentary mortar and pestle work and stirring. However, this was balanced by the fact that we saw all the dishes being prepared and cooked before our eyes.
There were 10 dishes in total, including tofu fritters, chicken and fish curries, fried rice, and noodles, followed by a pandan-flavored pudding and banana fritters (deep-fried bananas in batter, usually drizzled in honey).
Similar to other Asian countries, drinking water from the faucet is not recommended, however, bottled water can be readily purchased in convenience stores for 2500 rupiah (about US 30 cents). In restaurants, soft drinks, beer (Bintang is the local brew), and fresh fruit juices (usually tropical fruits such as papaya, mango, pineapple, and coconut) are on the menu.
If this cuisine is starting to sound rather tame to you, be sure to try kopi (coffee) Luwak. Not to be confused with Balinese coffee, kopi luwak is heralded as the best coffee in the world; however, the process of roasting the coffee beans is not for the faint-hearted.
A Luwak (it looks like a cross between a possum and a cat) eats coffee beans and then… poops them out. These are then collected and roasted, giving coffee connoisseurs the erm, unique flavor. At US$20 a cup in cafes it is also not for everyone.
I did try one cup though and while the coffee was smooth and did not leave the bitter aftertaste that so many other brews do, my verdict was that it’s not worth the asking price.
Kopi luwak can be readily found throughout the city of Ubud in Bali, which is renowned also for its fantastic massage/spa and cultural stores. Mike and I stopped by a serene spot in Ubud that had beautiful, manicured gardens and a breathtaking view of the hills and trees below, which not only educated us on the kopi luwak process but also sold a number of other teas, hot chocolates, and coffees.
The hands-down favorite for me and Michael was the ginseng coffee. Light brown in color, it looked like milk had been added and had a smooth, slightly sweet, and mild taste. I would have substituted this for my usual café latte back home in a heartbeat.
If you don’t have an inclination to try Indonesian food (or if you want to take a break from the cuisine), the standard Western fare of burgers, French fries, steaks, pasta and sandwiches can easily be found (including McDonalds, which does home deliveries, and KFC). While vegetarians should be able to find food to cater to their needs, vegans (as in many Asian countries) may struggle – be sure to double-check what oil is being used when cooking.
Here’s a Nasi Goreng recipe to wrap things up… enjoy!
…..and don’t forget those chillis….
