Food is a universal language that unites people of various regions and cultures. No matter how advanced we move the shared nature of the cuisine mix always keeps all of us intact. But even after such importance, no one is fully aware of the bizarre foods around the world with a significance that we hardly heard of.

Nevertheless, for all those enthusiasts, we’ve meticulously curated a list of these food items to discover and appreciate their unique flavours and backstories for now.

So, without any further delay let’s explore the 14 best bizarre foods around the world and learn why they are shortlisted for this article:

When the topic is about bizarre foods in the world, Casu Marzu takes one of the top spots. It is an Italian cuisine where the production process and the added ingredients make it unusual. Everything goes fine for cheese lovers as it is made out of traditional Sardinian cheese with sheep milk, till it gets the touch of live maggots or cheese fly eggs all over the recipe.

These insects are fermented and added to make Casu Marzu more juicy and flavoured. Surprisingly, Most of the people love to have it when the insects are alive.

Hákarl the weirdest food is also the national food of Iceland. It is unique for its fermented barking shark usage by burrowing for several days or months during the Viking times. Recently, the air-dried technique has been used for fermentation for several days which helps in releasing toxins like triethylamine oxide and urea which helps in breaking the enzymes and making it safe for consumption.

But most people complain about the strong Ammonia odor which is very pungent. However, people still enjoy this cultural dish served on various occasions.

3. Century Egg/1000 Year Old Egg – China

Century Eggs or 1000-Year-Old Eggs are one of the most bizarre foods around the world indigenous to China. These eggs are preserved for a long period with the egg yolk mixed with salt, quick lime, wood ash, rice husk and clay. This cuisine has reached its wings to other Asian countries like Hongkong, and Taiwan. Not only chicken, eggs of quail and duck are also used for the preparation of century eggs.

During the preparation alkaline atmosphere is created which helps in breaking down fats and proteins. With time the egg white will gain a gelatinous texture and change in dark colour followed by yolk in the colour of dark green colour with a sticky creamy touch.

Balut is also one of the top-rated bizarre foods around the world. Originated in the Philippines and is enjoyed more as a street food. The bizarre thing about this dish is that here fertilized duck embryo is boiled and served directly in the eggshell.

Anyone seeing the ambience of this food may take a step back to have it but there are times people travel especially to have this local taste. The embryo inside is hardly developed for 14-21 days and is partially cooked where you can see the half-grown duckling inside with a weak body. Only vinegar and salt are added with flavouring and hyped for having various health benefits.

Huitlacoche is popularized with other names like Mexican truffle, corn smut or even Live Fungus sometimes. This is one of those best additions to the list of bizarre foods around the world with its delicacy touch of live fungus found in corn.

Basically, it is a disease-causing fungus that makes corn kernels swell which will eventually turn black. Though knowing is a plant disease-causing agent, Huitlacoche has a high price considering its rich flavour and versatile nature to mix in multiple dishes like soups, sauces and quesadillas. People often eat this knowing about its rich nutrients and special taste

Fugu is also one of the weird foods around the world that very less people try. It is basically made up of puffer fish or blowfish famous in Japanese foods. Though this fish is of toxic nature the preparation process makes it eat-friendly. But the real fact is that this fish contains tetrodoxin which causes potential danger for paralysis in humans.

For this reason, Fugu cuisine is only prepared by expert chefs who can effectively remove those toxic parts and prepare this with additions of sashimi or other sauces. If you want to try a cuisine adventure, the Fugu dish is one of those to be marked.

Surströmming is one of those unique foods around the world that is famous for its fermentation technique. Highly reputed and originated in Sweden this cuisine is made of Baltic Sea Herring, which is caught in the spring season, and further rubbed with salt and added to the barrels for many months for fermentation.

The silvery lining of the herring fish undergoes transformation and releases mixed foul odours. However, people are attracted to this delicacy spreading the ousted fermented food onto the bread slices accompanied with potatoes, tomatoes and creamed onions.

Jibachi Senbei AKA wasp crackers is one of the weird foods around the world! These wasps are usually introduced in the rice cracker biscuits in the larvae or fully grown state.

They add crunchiness and tangy flavour to the biscuit and is the one of the most favourite snacks of the Japanese culture. It is well known for its health benefits like high proteins, minerals and nutrients. With time and then the smell turns strong and it becomes a hard task to finish!

It is stated to be one of the unique foods around the world as it includes bulls’ testicles, unlike its name as seafood. It has gained a huge craze these days and sometimes the testicles of pigs, sheep and goats are also traded for better taste.

The process involves frying the testicles grilled with salt and pepper grin and making them as crispier as they can be. This is a special snack in the Union festival and also scores high on the list of bizarre foods around the world with its distinctive flavour and nature.

Sannakji is added to the list of weirdest foods around the world as it includes the raw meat of octopus. Mainly octopus tentacles are chopped into very small pieces and are directly served.

It is weird because tentacles move when you use a chopstick to it providing a very lively cuisine experience. It is also considered healthy as the preparation process involves sesame oil and seeds for flavouring which are good for heart health.

Most Bizarre Foods In The World With Health Benefits

Escamoles also popularized as ant eggs cuisine are another must-try one in the list of bizarre foods around the world. Here you eat edible pupae and larvae of the ants bought from the roots of Maguey or Agave plant roots. It is famous for its fluid and crunchy nature making it famous in Mexico.

Butter is added with the seasoning of the herbs and various spices to get that epitomized taste. The place called Odisha in India is also famous for Ant chutney or Kai chutney and recently bagged GI tag.

Fish eyes are the neglected part to consume, but Japanese cuisine named Tuna Eyes is topped as one of the bizarre foods around the world for its specialized eye highlighting. As tuna fish is rich in antioxidants its eyes are reserved and simmered with various flavours to make it more interesting to eat.

 It is used in soups, and stews and can also be consumed as a separate dish. It tastes similar to squid and octopus but with added crispiness.

Bird’s nest soup is often termed as one of the most bizarre foods around the world! The famous Swiftlet bird native to South Asia builds its nest with its saliva rather than small materials. These nests are collected and soaked in lukewarm water to soften them and further added with various ingredients like chicken, rock sugar and ginge. It has a very gelatinous flavour rich in Magnesium, Calcium and Potassium, known to be favouring in tackling constipation issues this is also served at wedding events.

Haggis is the weirdest food to try in Scotland. This is a national dish with a very broad cultural history. Here, the liver, heart and lungs are plunged out from sheep and cows and seasoned with various spices to make it more uncommon.

This item is mostly used for stuffing breakfast and considering its preparation process and the animals involved this item is widely banned but still holds a strong place in the list of bizarre foods in the world.

When it comes to food people have an intuitive curiosity to try diverse cuisines, but the extent of their guts raises questions about the safety sometimes. While some are daring enough to try the most bizarre foods around the world, it is also very crucial to prioritize safety rather than running behind social media trends. Make sure you stay mindful and vigilant while exploring new bizarre foods that you never had.

14 Bizarre Foods Around The World To Explore In 2024!

Top 4 Bizarre Foods In The World

1. Casu Marzu, Italy

Subscribe to our Newsletter

Looking for a hassle free trip?

India Trips

India Trips

International Trips

International Trips

WanderOn Special

Quick Links

WANDERON EXPERIENCES PVT LTD

Where do you want to go next?