Bizarre Foods Asia

Asia is the continent of islands: at its southern limit alone there are some 30,000 islands dashed across the watery surface of the world. On these islands, freed from the certainties of continental life and powered by the magic of islands, species multiply and diversify.

The central characters of Island Magic are the leopard, a top predator; the monitor lizard, an opportunistic scavenger which could become a top predator; and the ubiquitous fig tree.

The story begins on the island of Java which, until the thaw that ended the last ice age, was part of the Asian continent. Island life is difficult for the mammals from the continent; elephants and tigers are already extinct while the Javan rhino teeters on the verge. On Java it is the leopard that writes the rules which shape the lives of the creatures lower down the food chain. A more benevolent but no less powerful influence is that of the Fig tree the tree of life in this part of Asia. Our animal characters gather at a fruiting fig tree; the leopard to find its favourite food young piglets and the monitor lizard to find what it can. Meanwhile, high in the tree, bats devour the figs.

It was fruit bats that carried fig seeds to one of Asia s newest islands, Anak Krakatoa, which erupted from the sea some forty kilometres west of Java in l930. Anak Krakatoa, like all the islands, is populated by an eccentric cast of chance arrivals. The first monitor lizard arrived on the island within 6 years of the eruption. With the leopard left behind on Java, the monitor has become the undisputed top predator, but with only 70 years of isolation, there has been little time for island magic to weave its spell.

North of Java is the island of Sulawesi which has been isolated for 30 million years. From the handful of mammals that have managed to breach its isolation, Sulawesi has produced more than a hundred new species, making it one of the world s most remarkable species factories. Most extraordinary of all are the seven distinct species of macaques which Sulawesi has created from the single founding species which rafted its way from Continental Asia millions of years ago.

If the Fig is the tree of life on Java and Anak Krakatoa, on Sulawesi it is the forest of life. Here there is a greater diversity of fig trees than anywhere else on earth, and the fig has played a part in fashioning the community of exotic creatures that inhabit the island.

The monitor lizard has found its way to Sulawesi and, here too, it is the island s top predator. But because it has always been able to come and go to other islands, has never been fully isolated and island magic has had no chance to work.

But on isolated islands at the edge of Asia one to the east of Sulawesi and the other to the south isolation and island magic have fashioned from the humble monitor lizard two remarkable creatures. On one, a tiny tree-living vegetarian lizard. On the other, the komodo dragon, the top predator and the leopard of its island. Such is the power of Island Magic.

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Bizarre <b>Asian Food</b> in Austin – 10 Ways to Eat the Weird |

It’s no secret that I’m a fan of eating bizarre foods, and I’ll go out of my way to eat something just to say that I’ve had a taste of the weird. I’ve eaten strange stuff like crickets here in Texas, snake meat / venom / blood in Taiwan, and donkey in China. I ate blood sausage and beaver carpaccio in Argentina, and turtle in Cambodia. While I’m not quite as adventurous (or rich) as Andrew Zimmerman, I can hold my own when it comes to eating Bizarre Foods.

Most savvy Austinites know where to find Mexican bizarre foods like menudo, beef tongue, and deep fried pork intestines (check out El Taquito) so I’ll skip over those and focus on weird Asian delights, where I have some expertise.

While this isn’t a complete list of Asian delicacies – you probably can’t easily find any stinky fermented tofu, giant fish eyeballs, duck tongue, or scorpion (all things I’ve had) here in Austin – here’s a list of some crazy Asian foods from Austin restaurants that you probably haven’t had before.

Silk Worms (Beon degi) at Together Restaurant, Little Tokyo, and Han Yang Market
This Korean delicacy consists of stir fried silk worm pupae mixed with assorted veggies (pictured in the first photo of this post). You can also buy these in can form at the Han Yang market (ironically? in the SPAM aisle) on Lamar Blvd next to Austin Karaoke. These probably aren’t for the amateur bizarre food eater because they kind of explode in your mouth with juiciness. Supposedly they are much better in Korea where they are made fresh instead of from a can.

Pig Ears at Rice Bowl Cafe
These gelatinous yet firm delicacies are boiled then pickled with vinegar and seasoned with soy sauce. They are quite delicious and are a pretty accessible bizarre food, as far as taste goes. They are meaty in flavor, and yet, the texture is slightly off putting for some non-adventurous eaters. Rice Bowl Cafe serves up other slightly weird, tasty Taiwanese Treats such as pork knuckle, which is a bone in pig leg full of sinewy goodness.

Dimsum Chicken Feet @ Fortune & Shanghai
I consider chicken feet to be gateway drug of bizarre Asian foods. It’s easy to find at any dimsum joint around town and it doesn’t taste that weird. Again though, it does have that gelatinous texture that some find odd, a lot of bones, and it does sort of look like your food is giving your mouth a high five… errr high four.

Thousand Year Egg – MT Market or in rice porridge at dimsum
Thousand year egg is a black, fermented, slightly stinky egg that has been soaking in lime for months at a time. Although it doesn’t look that great, it is absolutely delicious. As with many other delicacies in this list, it does have an interesting jello-like consistency. These eggs can be eaten as is, or mixed in a rice porridge that you can get at any dimsum restaurant in Austin (see the picture of Fortune above in the left corner). Also called “century eggs“, these tasty treats have been around for more than a thousand years in Chinese cuisine.

Sea Squirts at ChoSun Galbi and Han Yang Market
Sea Squirts can be found frozen at the Han Yang market on North Lamar Blvd or in a prepared dish at Cho Sun Galbi called Agujjim, which is a saucy, slightly spicy bean sprout dish. Sea squirt is kind of bizarre – I would give it a 7 out of 10 on the weirdness scale. They are tough on the outside, but they pop in your mouth when you bite into them, suddenly sending a brine-y mixture of flavor juice into your mouth – sort of like fish eyeballs. You might have seen sea squirts in science class as a kid, they are a sac like filter feeder. According to Wikipedia, they are also called “sea pineapple” presumably so they sound a bit more edible.

Blood cake + intestines @ Mandarin House
Perhaps the stinkiest bizarre food on this list, the stewed pork Blood Cake with intestine dish at Mandarin House is borderline edible even for me. It’s hard for chefs to get rid of that distinctive intestine “gaminess” – and I’m not a big fan of it. Congealed blood cake comes from a pig and looks kind of like black tofu that tastes a bit like marrow. If you want blood cake without the intestine nastiness, order the hot and sour soup at Mandarin House on North Lamar.

Jelly Fish – Pao’s Mandarin House
Chinese people eat jellyfish that has been brined and mixed with vinegar. A slightly acquired taste, but you probably wouldn’t know it’s jellyfish unless someone told you. It kind of just looks and tastes like seasoned, pickled, crunchy radish. I would give this a 4 out of 10 on the weirdness scale in regards to taste. You do get a lot of bang for your buck on this one, as it does sound quite exotic to say you’ve eaten jellyfish. You most likely have to request a Chinese menu at Pao’s to find this dish.

Beef Tendons – Pao’s Mandarin House
Beef tendon is connective tissue that isn’t considered very edible by everyone. This dish is cooked then chilled and served cold with spicy oil drizzled over it. I think it’s only available on the semi-secret Chinese Menu at Pao’s. It tastes pretty much like beef, but has a firm jelly texture to it like so many other things on this list. I would recommend this as a slightly less weird bizarre food.

Beef Tripe – any Vietnamese Pho Restaurant or some Dimsum restaurants
Get the combination pho with everything in it to get a taste of tripe, or cow stomach. Tripe is from the Omassum stomach of the cow, which is generally less stinky than the honeycomb stomach found in menudo. Tripe is available at some Dimsum restaurants, but it’s a little bit less popular than other dishes. While I don’t guarantee you will find it there, I’ve seen it served at Shanghai before.

Weird offal awesomeness – My Thanh MT Supermarket
Just walk through the aisles near the meat counter for a culinary adventure. If you are a promoter of nose to tail eating, this is the place for you. While I’m a big fan of exploring supermarkets, there’s some stuff that I won’t even touch at MT such as rectum, kidneys, and various animal brains, but it’s always fun just to stroll through and window shop.

I hope you learned something new by reading this post, and are now inspired to try some of the bizarre foods in Austin on this list.

Happy Tasting,
Peter

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