Lala

1 – Birds Nest Soup, China

You wouldn’t necessarily think a birds nest would be edible, but the Chinese use Swifts’ nests to make this soup, known as the ‘Caviar of the East’. Right now you’reprobably imagining a nest made out of twigs and leaves, but Swiftlets make their nests predominantly out of saliva.
It’s something in the saliva of the bird that makes it have this unique gelatinous,rubbery texture and it’s one of the most expensive animal products consumed by humans. It’s expensive because the swiftlets build the nests during breeding season over a period of 35 days and nests canonly be harvested around three times a year. The nests are typically built in coastal caves and collecting them is a treacherous process involving climbing and nimble skill, which adds to the heftyprice tag.
With an increase in demand for birds nest soup however, manmade nesting sites are often constructed. Hong Kong and the US are the largest importers of birds’ nests and a bowl of soup cancost around $30 to $100 per bowl, whilst a kilo of nest can cost between $2,000 and $10,000. The soup has been a tradition for centuries and is believed to be nutritious in proteins and minerals and haveaphrodisiac qualities.

2 – Fried tarantulas, Cambodia
Eensy weensy spider, climbing up the spout…if you suffer from arachnophobia you probably don’t want to try eating these eight leggedmonsters. They’re not tiny little house spiders, they’re great big tarantulas and you can buy them in the streets of Skuon, Cambodia.
They’re fried whole – legs, fangs and all. They were first discovered bystarving Cambodians in the bloody, brutal days of the Khmer Rouge rule and have gone from being the vital sustenance of these people to a delicacy tourists come far and wide to try.
The black hairyarachnids found in the jungle around the market town of Skuon have become a source of fame and fortune for the region as bus loads of people stop to try them on their way to other places. They cost...