Yuck or Yum? 5 Surprising Delicacies Around the World

These edible spiders are fried in oil and contain gooey insides with a crunchy exterior.
These edible spiders are fried in oil and contain gooey insides with a crunchy exterior.

In the field of adventurous eating, those seeking flavor-packed thrills are often ready and willing to sample the world's most exotic cultural delicacies and outrageous ingredients.

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However, there are some foods out there that push those with even the most fearless palates to the outer limits of their culinary comfort zones. Considered delicacies in some parts of the world, these dishes prey on the phobias of the squeamish and even make some courageous eaters cringe.

The Daily Meal's list of the world's most out-there foods, which includes insects, rotten fish, rodents, genitals, venom, placenta, and semen, will leave both apprehensive and audacious eaters alike chewing over the same question: you eat what?

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"Some of the craziest food in the world is so arcane or so seldom seen that it's almost like a cult of people who have eaten them," said Andrew Zimmern, host of the Travel Channel series Bizarre Foods America, in an interview with The Daily Meal.

With a dose of culinary courage, however, many of these disturbing delights can be appreciated by anyone with a preference for acquired tastes.

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Those prepared to shatter the boundary between savory and sickening have been warned. Dine only if you dare.

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Casu Marzu

Most people enjoy aged cheese, but casu marzu tests the palates of all dairy connoisseurs. Coming from Sardinia in Italy, casu marzu is rotten sheep's milk cheese decomposed within the pecorino rind. The kicker? The cheese contains live insect larvae.

The larvae are added to the cheese to aid in the fermentation process, and the result is a cheese with a very soft, sometimes liquified, texture that can contain thousands of hungry maggots.

Caution should be taken when ingesting casu marzu, as the larvae are notorious for launching up to 6 inches into the air when disturbed.

As a result of health and hygiene regulations, the selling of casu marzu was made illegal in the European Union, though it's still available on the black market.

Fried Tarantula (pictured above)

A delicacy of Cambodia, fried tarantulas are consumed primarily in towns such as Skuon, where they are sold in stalls at food markets. Crispy tarantulas with lime and kampot black pepper dip is served at Friends in Phnom Penh.

Locals began eating the eight-legged creatures in order to stave off famine during the reign of Khmer Rouge in the 1970s. These edible spiders are fried in oil and contain gooey insides with a crunchy exterior.

Squirrel Brains

Squirrel brains are a regional delicacy in Appalachian regions in Kentucky. Popular recipes include scrambling squirrel brains with eggs or including the meat in a stew known as burgoo.

In recent years, however, doctors have warned against squirrel consumption because of the possibility that squirrels carry a variant of fatal mad cow disease.

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Pani Ca' Meusa

Spleen sandwiches are a savory favorite for diners circuiting the Sicilian street food scene. This sandwich is stuffed with lemon, caciocavallo cheese, and veal spleen meat that has been deep-fried in lard.

The flavor is said to taste similar to calf liver with a chewier texture. You can taste pani ca' meusa for yourself at Pani Ca' Meusa Porta Carbone in Palermo, Sicily.

Bat Paste

Capture a bat, chuck it live into a vat of boiling water, season it with spices, and mash it into paste to create this potentially harmful dish (bats often carry many diseases). Andrew Zimmern of Travel Channel's Bizarre Food America tried the hard-to-locate treat in the hills outside Chang Mai in the heart of the golden triangle in Thailand.

Click here to see more Unexpected Delicacies from Around the World

-Clare Sheehan, The Daily Meal