Unusual Foods that Only Exist in China

if you're planning a trip to china anytime soon you should probably know that the cuisine is far more exotic than just pizza and chicken nuggets have you ever seen crocodile meat centipedes fried lizard or bearpaw soup served up in your local restaurant don't reach for the snacks just yet as we feast our eyes on some of the most unusual foods that only exist in china [Music] century eggs how do you like your eggs in the morning if the answer is stinky then china is the place for you these are century eggs a kind of preserved duck quail or chicken egg that are considered a delicacy across china they're also called thousand-year eggs or millennium eggs but don't panic just yet they haven't actually been preserved for that long the eggs are covered in a paste made of tea lime salt and ash and are left to sit for as long as several months during this time the sodium hydroxide in the coating changes the inside of the egg while the egg white turns to a gelatinous brown the yolks become a creamy source of intense flavor as you can guess it's a pretty polarizing dish many fans claim it's a fragrant delight while others think it's a dish that's well past its expiration date a soup with bite you can find plenty of unconventional soups across china and shark fin soup is no exception made from the fin of a real shark it's one of the most luxurious dishes on the market with just one bowl costing around 100 the cartilage which is similar in structure to human fingernails is shredded to add texture to the soup though it doesn't actually provide much flavor but it's a dish associated with good fortune so it's still served at important events like weddings and banquets but gathering the main ingredient is a gruesome affair with an estimated 73 million sharks killed every year for their fins alone for an ingredient that doesn't even add any flavor that's an outrageously high cost [Music] seahorse shish kebab if you ever find yourself wading through the sea of chinese street vendors there's one little seafood snack that might stand out above the rest believe it or not china is the world's largest consumer of sea horses with an annual demand of approximately 500 tons when dried they become a crunchy sidewalk snack that tastes like well i'll let this guy tell you potato chips but they're more than just a bite to eat for over 600 years sea horses have been used in traditional chinese medicine to treat a particular male dysfunction so next time you're too embarrassed to head to the docks why not try to hook yourself a seahorse instead just kidding these little fellas are far too adorable to be used to some wacky alternative to viagra let's take a quick breather to stop you running off to the bathroom so soon here's something tasty to get your teeth into instead those oh so tempting like and subscribe buttons i put out new videos every day to guide you through this delectable world of flavorful facts scrumptious science succulent stories and more have you got your appetite back great on to the next course spit soup just how mouthwatering does bird spit soup sound made from edible bird's nest which are sometimes called the caviar of the east bird nest soup is actually extremely rare and insanely valuable the main ingredient is made by switlets which use their saliva to create the sturdy nests at dizzying heights usually high up in mountaintop caves as you can imagine they're not the easiest things to harvest considering how difficult they are to clean and the perils of getting hold of them in the first place some nests can be sold for almost five thousand dollars per pound they've been used in chinese cooking for around 1200 years and are favored for their gelatinous texture suddenly it seems like having a waiter spitting your food could actually be considered a compliment if he has feathers that is [Music] chip choices when it comes to chips i'm all for a variety of flavors but china has managed to take it to the next level with their bizarre abundance of crazy flavors how does a bag of hot and sour fish soup chips sound not for you then what about lemon tea flavored chips oh did that leave you bitter how about blueberry flavor as strange as they may seem these bizarre food fusions combined with the saltiness of the chips are a popular hit in many regions of china call me boring but i think i'll be sticking to the american classics thanks gutter oil what do you think this woman is doing cleaning the sewers she may be getting all that nasty slop out of the drains but she's not disposing of it she's actually harvesting it that's right all that grey slop is old solidified oil she's taking it away to be processed and recycled back into cooking oil where it'll be sold onto restaurants and street vendors obviously this entire process is super illegal but with regular cooking oils getting costlier in the country this recycled garbage is a much cheaper alternative so much so that back in 2013 it was estimated that a staggering tenth of all the cooking oil in china was a form of this gutter oil it's going to take more than a little seasoning to get the taste of trash out of your mouth bat to the bone just the idea of eating a bat soup like this one from palau island in micronesia is stomach churning to a lot of people but don't worry many people in china actually feel the same way eating bats in china has almost always been culturally unacceptable but not illegal back in 2009 one researcher reported that areas in southern china like guangdong and guangxi provinces sold bat meat at markets and had it advertised in restaurants but there's a huge danger involved in consuming bats as their hosts to a large number of viruses most notably coronaviruses like sars which can be passed on to humans while it's still unknown exactly where the devastating covid19 coronavirus outbreak in 2020 originated from scientific research proposes that it's likely to have come from bats no matter how good the soup tastes which i highly doubt is it ever really worth risking a worldwide virus outbreak for i think not silky surprise some people will eat anything if it's deep fried and yes i'm looking at you america deep fried pizza deep fried birthday cake even deep fried watermelon but would you be brave enough to try deep fried silkworm pupa these would-be silk worms are a traditional delicacy in northeast china and are sold on skewers to be deep fried shells and all but they're not just found on the sidewalks they're a common ingredient in many of the region's restaurants as well they're drenched in delicious spices to make them a little easier to swallow or at the very least make you forget you're literally eating worms soup what better way could there be to warm yourself up than a nice hearty bowl of snake soup known in cantonese as seigong this southern chinese delicacy can contain up to five different types of snake meat the meat itself apparently tastes similar to chicken but with a few more scales than the average chicken nugget snake restaurants in hong kong are called sei wang which translates to snake kings but today these restaurants are becoming increasingly rare as cooking with snakes takes certain expertise and sadly isn't paid very well so if you've ever wanted to take a bite out of a snake you better go get it whilst it's hot literally excellent choice if you couldn't handle the century eggs then cover your eyes and look away now this is balut a fertilized duck egg that's been boiled in its shell and is eaten with the embryo still inside as unappetizing as it looks from the outside these pre-packed snacks originated in china and become a common street food across the philippines to get stuck into this haunting grub you crack open the egg and suck out the broth which has gathered at the top during its boiling then if you're feeling hardcore you peel the shell off and proceed to chow down on the entire thing bones beak and all who knew a little added crunch could be so horrifying [Music] a vegan's worst nightmare many cultures consume blood products like black pudding in england or morsia in spain but china's blood tofu looks a little different that's because the blood tofu's main and sometimes only ingredient is blood the jelly-like blocks of congealed duck or pig's blood are used in many stews and soups it's incredibly rich in minerals like iron but that just adds to the bloody taste it leaves in your mouth reviews online compare the taste to having bitten your lip it doesn't exactly sound appetizing and it becomes even less so when you learn it's sometimes mixed with toxic formaldehyde to improve the color and texture tainted tofu if you're walking down the market streets in china and suddenly gag on the wafting smell of garbage there's a good chance it's actually coming from a cultural delicacy this is stinky black tofu regular tofu is made from coagulated soy milk and any vegan will tell you the resulting bean curds are relatively bland but stinking black tofu takes much longer and the black brine it's made from can sit for almost a whole year to give it a stronger flavor fermented with a mix of chinese herbs and vegetables the solid black blocks of bean curd are then ready for the market some of the more strong stomached among you might be thinking it doesn't sound all that bad but wait until i tell you this some vendors can take a liberty here shortcutting the process by adding feces to the tofu to make it smell more pungent i'd follow your nose on this one not ready for this jelly at a special occasion like a birthday party or anniversary what kind of foods would you serve tasty meats perfect looking cakes what about a jellyfish salad that's right even though they're made from about 95 water some chinese foodies have found a way to make jellyfish into a gourmet dish the jellyfish itself is tasteless but the crunchy texture it has makes it a perfect salad ingredient just check out this bizarre asmr but making jellyfish salad is not as simple as just fishing one out of the sea and taking a carving knife to it because not all jellyfish are edible however the chinese have been incorporating jellyfish into their meals for over seventeen hundred years i guess you never know what you'll get when you ask for a bowl of jello dongs the gulaswang restaurant in beijing prides itself on serving just about every kind of animal weiner under the sun and i'm not talking about sausages but it's not the only place in china that serves them throughout the country various animals as crowns and jewels are a highly favored food not for their taste or sheer variety but for their apparent aphrodisiac quality while there's no supporting science behind it many believe that certain meats from the underside of an animal can increase the libido in men and women don't you wish your own junk looked this presentable when arranged in a glass serving bowl yin yang fish while yin yang may make you think of harmony and serenity yin yang fish couldn't be anything further from that pleasant mental image yin-yang fish is a fried whole fish that's prepared below the gills to keep the fish head alive while it's being cooked served and eaten it sounds totally brutal and that's because it really is why would any chef in their right mind want to do such a thing well in china some chefs do it to prove the fish's freshness to the customer this morally dubious menu item was invented in taiwan but has since found popularity across many parts of china i like my fish fresh but i'd sooner take your word for it than have you serve it up to me flopping and bubbling away on the plate smashed seafood if the yin yang fish had you covering your eyes it might not be time to peep through your fingers just yet because fish aren't the only creatures that can find themselves being cooked alive in china drunken shrimp is a dish where the shrimp are served alive and flipping they're drenched and marinated in a liquor based sauce which irritates them making them jump about wildly in the bowl eventually the shrimp consumed the liquor which makes them sluggish allowing diners to eat them alive it's an incredibly messy pre-dinner show because the little blighters are drunk rather than dead they sometimes manage to get their sweet sweet revenge as they flip off greedy diners literally shrimp one chinese influencer zero hungry for hounds you're going to want to cover fido and rex's ears for this next menu item in case you didn't already know china is the largest consumer of dog meat in the entire world consuming about 20 million dogs every single year although the practice is frowned upon a 2016 nationwide survey revealed that about 30 of the population has eaten dog meat at some point in folklore eating dog meat during the summer months is thought to promote health and good luck it's why events such as the yulin dog meat festival which lasts just 10 days sees almost 10 000 furry friends get eaten each year however rulings made in 2020 by china's government has officially recognized dogs as companions not livestock although they may not have nine lives like their feline counterparts this new legislation should improve the chances of the pups who may have been lined up for future festivals craving cats okay i know i said cats have nine lives but that isn't strictly true in china sadly just like their canine counterparts china's feline friends can also be served up as a side dish about 4 million cats are eaten every year across the country and even though it's seen as taboo it doesn't stop street vendors and rural sellers partaking in this animal scandal areas such as the guangdong and guanxi provinces in south china have an older population that consider cat meat a good source of nutrition during winter months and guangdong province alone is thought to consume around 10 000 cats a day in fact one investigation from 2017 revealed that stray and pet cats were being rounded up and sold to restaurants under the guise of rabbit meat you'd have to be hysterical to order this clawful menu item [Music] terrifying tofu just when you thought vegan food couldn't get any worse enter the nightmare-inducing hairy tofu as you now know tofu is made from fermented soy milk much like in the process of making cheese the time it takes tofu to ferment can change its texture and flavor in the case of this wig wearing tofu also known as mao tofu humid conditions during the fermentation process are needed to help cultivate a mold with hair-like texture the process gives it a very strong pungent flavor if you're a fan of blue cheese or stilton you'll know what i'm talking about here but unlike cheese this hair raising food stuff smells like ammonia fun for some but nauseating for others absolutely crabulous there aren't many foods you can eat with a shell on but thanks to chinese ingenuity you can now eat an entire deep-fried battered crab right off the skewer that's right these soft shell crabs have been battered for street side convenience in markets all over china while they seem like a no-fuss solution to picking out and serving hard to get crab meat that inconvenience is passed on to the customer you have to bite through the shell to get to your meal and by that i mean through eyes guts and all and it's not easy either according to some a lot of it can get stuck in your teeth too i think i might just stick with my value seafood sticks for now not the bees according to scientists the bees are disappearing fast i'm not saying any one factor is totally to blame but turning these flower-loving creatures into a tasty snack certainly isn't helping in the northern city of qingdao one restaurant offers up plates of deep-fried bee larva but the practice isn't actually all that uncommon since the late 1800s bee lava and pupa have been eaten across many areas of china and are still sold in the markets today to some they taste like little balls of raw dough but to others they're naturally sweet and go well with a simple salt and pepper seasoning they don't look too appetizing to me but who knows if they're really that good it's no wonder they're on their way to becoming an endangered species puffle soup at first glance this soup seems more like a prank than a meal it looks like a doll's hand has been left in the bowl sadly this is the crowning glory of horrendous chinese soups wave a big hello to bearpaw soup according to folklore this soup is supposed to give the consumer the power and virility of a bear and for that kind of trade-off a single portion can cost upwards of a thousand dollars but the way they harvest the main ingredient is undeniably horrendous with approximately 10 000 bears kept in tiny cages on 70 farms across china some have even been kept there for more than 30 years seems like this dish is grisly in more than one way crocodile china's first walmart opened in 1996 and while it may look familiar on the outside their range of fresh fish has a whole lot more bite crocodile meat is a commodity that's available across china but the giant reptile has been used in elements of chinese medicine dating back to the 16th century back then the meat was considered highly nutritional and was even believed to cure respiratory illnesses like asthma while we're still waiting on the science to back up the latter claim we do know that crocodile meat is high in protein and low in cholesterol and china isn't the only country that enjoys it in the philippines a crocodile legend like this one is a celebratory meal with enough exotic meat to feed 50 people would you be brave enough to take a bite out of this let me know in the comments guling gao gulen gao was an ancient medicinal dessert that originally came from guangxi province in china it's a type of bitter jelly with enough herbal roots to almost cure 19th century emperor tangji of smallpox if folklore is to be believed but there's one secret ingredient in this dark dessert that might make you recoil in shock can you guess it's made with powdered turtle shell traditionally it was made from the plastering of the valuable golden coin turtle which is this bit here it was thought to help cure cancer and kidney failure even though there was no scientific evidence to back up that claim master splinter is not going to be happy when he finds out about this creepy crawly cuisine there are a hundred reasons why you shouldn't chow down on venomous centipedes but in china this insidious looking insect can be dried or fried to become a crunchy kebab style snack feast your ears on this and that's not all these many-legged monstrosities have been used in chinese medicine for thousands of years to help treat tuberculosis herpes paralysis and even cancer but they often do more harm than good as two chinese patients found out after parasitic lung worms ended up in their brains as a result of eating raw centipedes if it's a satisfying crunch you're after might i suggest sticking to good old potato chips for now frying lizards if you consider yourself a reptile lover exotic chinese cuisine probably isn't your thing we've already seen snakes turned into soup but what about flying lizards on sticks the flattened fried or salt-dried carcasses of these reptiles can be found across street markets neatly stuck on sticks like scaly versions of jesus they're also piled high in crates and boxes ready to be turned into a super tea when they're served up as snacks rather than cared for as exotic pets lizards are said to have medicinal values that help them cure asthma it may sound made up but at least one scientific study from 2017 has backed that claim up say goodbye to your inhalers and hello to a new scaly solution kids star-shaped staple lizards on sticks are pretty bizarre but they're not the only unconventional creature to be skewered and sold on market stalls with china becoming one of the largest and fastest growing seafood markets in the world these ocean-dwelling starfish are quickly making their way across the country but how do you go about eating this five-legged food first you prize away the spiny outer armor see that olive green mush lining the insides that's your meal you then peel or suck out the mush leaving you with a mouthful of fish flavored goop it might not be for everyone but she seems happy enough [Music] colossal clam weighing up to 16 pounds and costing up to 300 each allow me to introduce you to the largest type of burrowing clam in the entire world this is the pacific geoduck a clam prized for its gigantic siphon meaty texture and salty flavor the thing is when they're fresh out of the sea they're still full of water that means that if they're not prepared properly as so excellently demonstrated by this lady they can turn into an unexpected squirty surprise talk about taking one for the team which of these foods did you think was the most unusual have any of you guys chowed down on anything as bizarre as these unconventional menu items let me know in the comments below and thanks for [Music] watching

Channel: BE AMAZED

Views: 693,191

Rating: 4.7047896 out of 5

Keywords: beamazed, be amazed, top 10, street food, unusual foods, strange food, weird food, unusual food, street food tour, food travel, best street food, only exist in china, chinese culture, exotic chinese food, in china, strangest snacks, chinese traditions, facts about china, videos about china

Id: qsQ1rJkrPgI

Length: 24min 0sec (1440 seconds)

Published: Sun Nov 29 2020