The delicacies of Sweden's Disgusting Food Museum
Maggot cheese and mouse wine are just some of the 80 foods on display. While many come for a shock, the museum's director tells DW he hopes visitors will realize that disgust is in the eye — or stomach — of the beholder.
Prepare your palate for the Disgusting Food Museum
The Disgusting Food Museum in Malmo Sweden contains 80 different food items from around the world. The jar pictured above contains mouse wine from China. The rice wine is infused with dead baby mice that were just a few days old. It's used as a health tonic rather than an evening drink with dinner.
Sheep eyeball juice
Dubbed a Mongolian Bloody Mary, the concoction pictured above is made with pickled sheep eyeballs and tomato juice. Despite the unsettling appearance of the foods on display at the museum, the curators hope the exhibits will break down cultural barriers.
Cuy — roasted guinea pig
While kept as pets in some countries, guinea pigs are a delicacy in Ecuador and Peru. The guinea pigs are bred to be particularly large and meaty and are then baked, roasted or fried. Traditionally, they are served with their claws and teeth attached, but restaurants have begun cutting up the meat.
Casu Marzu — maggot cheese
The island of Sardinia is known for its peculiar cheeses, but perhaps none is so infamous as casu marzu, or maggot cheese. This traditional sheep-milk cheese contains live maggots. As they eat, the acids in the maggots' digestive tracts break down the cheese, making it soft. But beware — you'll want to cover your eyes when eating as the maggots are known to jump.
Another way of looking at pork
Some visitors might raise their eyebrows at the prospect of pork being included in the museum. But museum director Andreas Ahrens tells DW that it's not the taste of the meat that's repulsive, but rather the way the way it is produced. The treatment of pigs in factory farms and the overuse of antibiotics is "disgusting" and potentially dangerous, he says.
Fruit-bat soup
Fruit bats are eaten in several Asian countries and in the Pacific Rim, including Guam, Thailand and Indonesia. According to the museum, the bats smell strongly like urine when being cooked, but the resulting meat is sweet.
China's century eggs
These preserved eggs are eaten as a comfort food in China. To make them, the egg is placed in a vat containing black tea, salt, lime and wood ashes. They soak in the solution for seven weeks to five months. When they emerge, the egg takes on a brown-green hue.
Kale Pache — boiled sheep or cow
This particular dish is made from boiling the heads and feet of sheep or cows. While it may be unsettling to have your food look at you, it's a traditional dish in several countries, including Iran and Afghanistan. In Iran, the dish is frequently eaten for breakfast.
Natto — Japanese fermented soybeans
This sticky, stinky dish is a traditional Japanese food eaten frequently at breakfast. The soybeans are fermented using a bacteria found in the soil as well as in humans. Natto is topped off with mustard and contains high levels of fiber.
Jell-O salad
While it may seem unthinkable to some now, the Jell-O salad once dominated many a Thanksgiving table in the United States. The flavored gelatin dish rose to popularity in the early 1900s, with many recipes calling for pieces of vegetables to be thrown into the mix. Nowadays, the dish lives on as a colorful dessert — but without the floating veggies.