I'm in Hong Kong at the moment, teaching. As I'm far too lazy to make my own lunch I join the teachers in the cafeteria. So far I've had cold pig's ears, chicken feet and the stomach of a squid. Chicken feet really aren't half bad if you don't mind meat on the bone- they are a bit kunckelly. Pig's ears are really best left for the dogs, though! The squid stomach looked like spongey seaweed (which is why I ate first and asked later) and just tasted like the sauce it was served in. If you are ever unsure about what's on your plate it's probably safest to eat it before you ask, unless you want to go hungry!

Jenny, Tuen Mun, Hong Kong,

Have tried both kangaroo and alligator both of which were not half bad. Icelandic Hakarl has to take the top spot for me, an assault on your senses of taste and smell. It tastes somthing like fermented plastic (I imagine!).

Paul, Bicester, UK

Give um a traditional British dish. And in Asia, I find you just can't beat the good old rice pudding. Strangely, the notion of rice with milk and sugar is something that is hard for Asians to get their heads around.

Andrew Milner, Karuizawa, Japan

Well, when you live by the motto 'try everything once' you certainly end up with some gastronomic tales to tell...

I've eaten and very much enjoyed, amongst other things, freshly caught native eel, gutted and smoked by hand in New Zealand (a childhood favourite of mine), along with kangaroo kebabs (too chewy for my liking but not bad), ostrich, huhu grubs (NZ witchety grubs...), crocodile (yum), snake (tastes like chicken), possum...

Then in Thailand there was the late-night snack of 'crisps' - that is, a big bag of freshly fried locusts and night crawler worms. Surprisingly, they were really really nice and I happily polished them off - the first locust is the worst, watching the legs come towards your mouth... Then of course there were all the delights whose names I can't remember, plus the dreaded durian fruit (the one that smells like vomit) that I became addicted to. I drew the line at a broth of freshly stewed whole ducks feet. A little too Roald Dahl for my liking...

Erin Young, Chichester, West Sussex, England

I once at dolphin carpaccio in the company of a wonderful Icelandic actress in Reykjavik. She was eating guillemot and was sad because her cat had died, so I thought it would cheer her up a bit if I joined her in some local food. What did it taste like? Greasy and somewhere between fish and beef. I think about it sometimes and am very cross with myself for eating Flipper.

I did have puffin a few weeks later, and have to say that it was the most horrible greasy oily chickeny-fishy taste that I've ever had in my mouth.

Oh. there I've forgotten that I also at Hakarl in Iceland, the putrified and buried rotten shark meat, at the Kolaportid market. Now there's a taste that stays in your mouth all day.

Basically, if you want to put on a brilliant food challenge for the weekend, try all these and finish off with some boiled sheeps head. Fab.

Laura Dixon, Bristol, UK

I haven't seen a comment here yet about the beautiful islands of Vanuatu, where I spent a few great days on vacation this year. Ruled previously as a condominium between Britain and France. The local specialty there is flying fox, or fruit bat, this I have never eaten or seen served anywhere else. Thank God then that it was served in French restaurant, deliciously drenched in a red wine sauce, so it tasted like pheasant. Mercifully they had the decency, for my sensitivities, to remove the wings before serving. I doubt it would have fitted on the plate. It's little feet were still intact though.

Bryan Chen, Sydney, Australia

If God turns out to be a conservationist and hell turns out to be having what you've inflicted on other animals done to you, you guys are all in big trouble...or should i say hot water...

Ella, Oxford, UK

Horse sashimi in Japan washed down with a sweet red wine is about as adventurous as I have been save for the smoked Rattlesnake and some very un-pc but DELICIOUS whale sashimi.

R Stevens, Spokane, Washington State, USA

I'll have to scroll up and down the list, because I realise that I have eaten a lot more than I thought I had: I was hungry and as a diabetic, couldn't let the cute factor get in the way. Recent visit to Viet Nam and Cambodia: by the time we had changed planes it was AM back in Blighty: we were on fast-fading National Treasure, Thai airways. We were served a dinner. I didn't care what it was, I fell face forward into it! It was delicious - totally delicious! It could have been the puffer fish: so what!. Later on that day, it was snake tasting. OK i was jet lagged but i stepped up first to taste pickled snake in whiskey, so partner would. I had a delicious time on that trip! My abiding memory is the food and i want more! Maybe I won't get it, buti I can try. Years ago I tasted fried sparrow in Spain. Our tutor took me out (I was 20). I had seen Gigi, but I didn't know what it was. It was the best thing I ever curled my lip around! Ice cream in Russia is the best! Hey! I'm a foodie!!

Carlyle and Len Braden, Croydon, England

I really enjoyed this article. Loved the sense of humor. I had a taste of fried spider leg in Cambodia last year and I have to say I liked it. Just have to distance yourself from the thought of what it is you are eating.

Guido, La Linea,

Whilst in Vietnam I tried Anteater and porcupine. Anteater tasted like a pirelli P6000 tyre with a hint of chicken!!Plus a shot of Snake wine to wash it down. They also did stomach of porcupine, bird wine and a few others that were on offer. I don't really remember much after that shot of snake wine!!

Richard Smith, bedford, uk

Where: Xian, China.

My Japanese friends took me out for a "going away" dinner. I ate a lot of strange things in those 5 months in China, but the 8 oz. cup of rice liquor and sea snake blood was the strangest. The coolest part was, when you drank it all the way to the bottom, the sea snakes gall bladder was the special surprise. The waiter said it would give me vitality. It didn't.

Danny, Portland, OR

i tried to send you the winning photo of an insect gourmet meal,
but it was impossible to send. u dont make it easy.
i was gonna win the bug hamper................

zac ribak, potters bar, herts

We used to have exotic food tasting oarties when I lived in Flagler beach, Florida. Everyone had to bring a dish of something that they had found an actual recipe for. Each person then took an anonymous taste of every dish. Afterward, the ingredients of the meal were revealed...I ate dog, horse, snake, choco-covered ants/roaches/waterbugs, fried scorpions, pickled eel, turtle, gator, bar-b-qued iguana, cat, sheeps eyes, meal worm pancakes, baked bat, praelined locust and cicada, lute fish, fried whole minnows, among other things over the year we did this exotic dinner party. I still collect bizzare and extreme ethnic dishes from around the world. Eating kangaroo, emu, ostrich, buffalo, turtle, ratlesnake and the like I do all the time! Bring on the weird, Bring on my Gift basket! (I can taste those crickets already!)

al rush, Conowingo, Maryland

I just threw up reading this. i would make a horrible diplomat because my stomach doesnt know that its quite rude to gag at someones local customs and delicacies.

Ashley Thorndyke-Smythe, Pleasant Hill , USA, CA

I was travelling through Ecuador this past summer and I stopped at a restaurant in Latacunga. I had heard about cuy from Spanish classes in high school and decided to try it. A couple minutes later, it arrives at my table. A fried guinea pig, complete with organs, it's head, and some fur left. It tasted quite good actually. but the whole time I was eating, I couldn't help but think of my childhood friend's pet guinea pig. I even at the brain, and on a dare, bit off the ear. Overall, it was delicious. When I mention the idea of bringing some guinea pigs to a barbeque, they give me odd looks, but it's quite humourous regardless.

Michael Romenesko, Elkhorn, USA, WI

Snake is a reptile like crocodile, so what's the big fuss? By the way, the texture of snake meat should be like fish (comes apart in small flakes) and not like pieces chicken. Matt, you might have been fooled into eating pork or chicken instead of snake. I hope you weren't charged for it.

Has anyone tried armadillo?

Jamie Howlett, London,

I have lived in Hong Kong for over 30 years and have traveled in China extensively. Snake is beginners stuff! Civet cat, pangolin, dog, bear, porcupine, corn buntings (similar to Ortolan), wild boar, barking deer, various turtles, 'game birds', raptors, owls and more have all been proffered over the years. Mopani worms in Africa, silk worms in China, Baloot - duck eggs cooked after being incubated for seven to 10 days are a Philippine favourite, too. And to wash it down? How about 'chicken testicle wine', '50 snake-penis wine' (the bottle has the 50 penises in it...) or 'baby mouse wine' - yup, there in there too!
The reason that most of these things are eaten? 'Good for health!'

Charles Mitchell, Hong Kong,

Some of these foods are exotic (spiders, fugu, ortolan) but I have eaten snake and alligator not ten blocks from my central Denver home - at the Buckhorn Exchange. They also serve all manner of game that you don't often find in restaurants - quail, pheasant, prairie chicken, elk, ostrich, emu, yak. Yak, BTW, is incredibly delicious - better than the best beef.

whitecat, Denver,

My wife and I were at the annual Sámi Festival in Jokkmokk in Sweden, way north of the Arctic Circle, in the dead of winter. With temperatures in the region of minus twenty degrees we were looking forward to what our hotel had billed as a Celebratory Gala Dinner, in honour of the festival. We sat there expectantly until the main and only course was served: two, nearly entire reindeer carried into the room on poles by four hefty waiters. Delicious! Fortunately for my vegetarian wife the huge plate of meat came with croquette potatoes; she had two. The following night we went out for a pizza.

Mike Williams, Ystradfellte, Wales

I find it impossible to enter the weekly Wherewas I competition online. Why do you make it so impenetrable?

David ELLIS, BURNLEY, Lancs

In Shiga, Japan there is a delicacy here called Funazushi. It is prepared by catching a live cruician carp from the local lake, gutting and scaling it, and then stuffing it full of rice and salt. It is then buried for 3 monhts in more salt. After the 3 month period is finished, it is unpacked, repacked with fresh salt and rice and buried for an additional 3 years.
They call it the cheese of Japan. Unfortunately, it tastes nothing like cheese. More like vinegary, salty, fishy fish.

David , Kinomoto, Shiga, Japan

During nearly three years in China, nothing I ate surpassed the dreaded 'thousand year eggs'. My friends told me they were made by marinating duck eggs in horse urine, which is easy to believe when you smell them. Allthough I don't know what urine tastes like I am willing to accept it is something like this, especially after several months on a warm windowsill where the concoction is left to 'mature'. Even the colour is offputting; instinct tells you that translucent blue albumen just has to be poisonous. Their one redeeming feature is that they are exceptionally hard to pick up with chopsticks, so when surrounded by expectant, grinning Chinese faces they can very plausibly be dropped on the floor.

Adrian Lamont, Patumahoe, New Zealand

ON Reunion Island wasp larva is the local "caviar".
My son's teacher kindly got rid of a wasp's nest in our garden and showed us how to prepare them.After extracting them with tweezers,he seasoned and fried them.

They had a nutty,wild mushroom taste.

I only ate 3,carefully choosing the larva that least resembled a wasp:--)
My husband and younger son devoured them.
I think they might have been more appetising if only I hadn't witnessed the preparation stage !

Sheila Georges-Skelly, Sainte Clotilde, Reunion Island

I've been in Japan a couple of times, and am willing to try almost anything once. One day, I found myself in an underground shopping mall in Kyoto and went to a conveyor-belt sushi shop (you are charged by the number and colors of plates you choose). There I am, munching my way through whatever looks interesting when I grab a new plate: squila. It looks a bit like a shrimp, or a really long crayfish tail... I like both of those, how bad could it be? I still shiver a bit when I think about it. It tasted more insect-like than any kind of meat had any right to be. I found out later that they're also called "thumb splitter shrimp," for rather literal reasons. Ew. Really strange flavour and really creepy look.

By the way, chicken feet are really quite good- they even taste like chicken (but better).

David, Blacksburg, Virginia

Some locals on the Perfume River in Vietnam invited me to share with them a strong 'medicinal' drink. It was made from dead crows, honey bees, snake, gecko, spiders and large moths. It didn't really taste of anything the nearest comparison would be perhaps a very strong rice wine. The biggest surprise was the fact the crows were completely whole with feathers/beaks still attached.

Not wanting to upset anyone I wobbled away a tad tipsy some hours later.

Phil Farmer, Chesterfield, Derbyshire

France, the culinary capital of the world, or so they say...
My brother and I are always trying to out do one another, so it came as little surprise to my partner that upon opening the menu in a nice little restaurant in Sancerre that the options of snails, pig trotters and calfs head would raise our competitive spirits!
I opted for the snails, a safe choice, not too offensive, but which threw down the gauntlet for 'our kid'. So in he dives for the combination of pigs trotter and snails, something served up as a mush of blubbery fattiness; like a cartoon car crash between a pig and a snail. Round one to him.
My only chance of winning was to take the calf's head. Steak in france...nice! Ros boeuf...nice! Steak tartare...nice! Calf's head...hmm, maybe not next time.
I dont know whether it was the blubbery cheeks floating on some stock, or maybe the hair I removed from my mouth after attempting the fully formed tongue. All i can say is...what a load of bull...

Rob Swinscoe, London, England

Fancy a snack? Thailand always has plenty of snacks on offer, ranging from the normal stuff like frogs and silk worm, to slightly more grotesque stuff like dung beetles and pigs intestines. Last week, at a night market, I noticed a tray of-could it be? Bloody hell it is!-baby birds. Yes, lots of baby birds, beaks open in a squawk of agony as a result of being deep fried. I wouldn’t have thought there would be a lot of meat on a baby bird. I am informed that the beaks, eyes, and claws are actually what make it so delicious. Still feeling a bit peckish?

So when I later found a tray of deep fried black scorpions, I decided to investigate. They were identical to the one I found in the bathroom months before-little did I know a tasty snack had kept me out the bathroom all night. A friend had informed me that the black scorpion is an aphrodisiac, hence their popularity as an evening snack.

Two beady eyes are fixed on me, and big fat claws point towards me. The scorpion is the length of my middle finger, not including its tail which is curled back over a big fat body. How the hell am I meant to eat it? I am informed that it is not a poisonous scorpion, and that first you eat the tail, then the claws, and finally the head. Anything which is soft enough to chew, basically. I open up the tail to find quite a lot of dark brown meat. I take a bite-the skin is really hard, and the meat tastes a little bit like liver, with the consistency of pate. Maybe I’ll try the baby birds next.

Aliwyn Cole, Scarborough, North Yorkshire

In China...Canton I think it was. Yep had the snake. Had it again another time it was that good. However and I kind of regret this now... There were baby bees still in a bee hive type thing. Well the honeycomb stuff. They pluck the baby bees out and deep fry them. I don't think they have stings in them and they are incredibly sweet to eat but the guilt.... weighs on me man.

Simon, Brooklyn, NY

A few years ago, I had the pleasure of eating live prawns in Thailand. As they were uncooked, they were not the usual healthy pink colour, more a dull grey. A large quantity were inside a clay pot, on a bed of salad. The lid was kept on to stop them jumping out. On lifting the lid, the prawns sprang all over the place by flicking their tails. It was neccessary to lift the lid with your left hand, grab a prawn, before quickly replacing the lid. The sight of several prawn leaping over the rim of the pot gave the dish it's name, which translated to 'dancing prawns'. I was nervous of trying the first one. But I managed to capture one and popped it into my mouth, head, legs, feelers and all! Slightly crunchy, but with little taste as I remember, but not unpleasant. After the first I had several more. Occasionally one would escape your grasp, and provide entertainment trying to recapture it! Regards, Grudfuttle.

Arthur C. Grudfuttle, Lutterworth, Leicestershire, UK

In the mid 1990's on a business trip to Hong Kong we were taken out for a meal by our hosts which commenced with bottles of whisky and was accompanied throughout by karaoke. My colleague had visited earlier in the year and chose to keep quiet about what to expect and I was surprised when he announced that he did not eat seafood. However after being served jellyfish as part of one course, the texture of which I can only describe as akin to a used Marygold glove that had been attacked by a cheesegrater, I began to understand his logic. I was even more delighted when a whole and particularly large fish was placed in the table centre and as guest of honour I received the entire head - all eyeballs,teeth and lips (apparently the cheeks are the delicacy) while everyone else tucked into the flesh from the body. Imagine my releif when I was told that the next course was chicken soup - yep, a terrine of water with a whole chicken in it with its feet sticking up in the air!!

steve cottier, solihull, UK

My most delectable food experience was whilst sitting on a boat moored out at sea just off a beautiful Greek Island. Dangling my feet over the side, I ate freshly caught sea urchin that had been cracked open, sprinkled with lemon juice, salt and pepper. A piece of bread with olive oil accompanied it with the obligatory glass of white wine. Heaven!

Maggi, Surrey,

Fancy a snack? Thailand always has plenty of snacks on offer, ranging from normal stuff like deep fried frogs, ranging to more revolting stuff like dung beetles and pigs intestines. Yum!

The sight of deep fried creatures had become normal for me after many an evening spent searching for some tucker at the many night markets. However, one sight which stopped me in my tracks was a tray of-deep fried baby birds. Yes, lots of baby birds, their last moments captured in a posture of beaks wide open in the agony of being plunged into a pan of hot oil.

I wouldn’t have thought there would be a lot of meat on a baby bird. Actually, I am informed, it is the beaks, eyes, and claws which make it such a delicious snack.

This made me curious as to what it actually did taste like. So when I paid my equivalent of 5 pence for this skinny hairy chick, I took it to my room, set it on a plate, and then considered eating it, trying to squash my overriding pangs of guilt at eating the poor little bugger. Still, a life not wasted….

I am disappointed-the skin tastes like a scrawny version of KFC; the eyes are like bitter liver pate, and the beak and claws are like the consistency of fingernails and taste like plastic. Still feeling a bit peckish?

Aliwyn Cole, Scarborough, North Yorkshire

I ate a cobra in Zhu Hai, China. The host dissected the thing right in front of us. This included pouring the blood into one glass of rice wine and then squeezing the gall bladder into another. The snake was absolutely delicious. When people ask me what it tasted like I say that it compares to chicken as lamb compares to beef. The snake blood in the rice wine was *interesting* and only consumed after several bottles of beer. As soon as the waitress put it on the table next to the bottle of beer I knew I was going to end up drinking it. My friend had the gall bladder rice wine.

Craig, Denver, USA

Try deep fried chicken intestines which were offered up to me once in Malaysia because the chefs assumed that I would want eveything I'd paid for. According to my uncle I was missing a treat!

Other treats I missed on the same trip included duck brains and fish eyes. Hmmmmm.

Jessica, Horsham, West Sussex

One of the foulest smelling foods is an Asian delicacy called Nam Prik. Lao and Thai people especially like to eat it with celery. It smells like something you found dead on the beach. Eat at your own risk and if you do, brush your teeth afterwards so you will not be accused of having a "potty mouth." Here is one of the many variations you may find:
Nam Prik Makham Piag
1 c Makham piag (sour tamarind) paste, peeled, seeds and fibers discarded
1/4 c Kung haeng (dried shrimp)
1/4 c Hom daeng (shallots), chopped
2 tb Kratiem (garlic), chopped
2 tb Nam pla (fish sauce)
1 tb Prik ki nu haeng daeng (dried red chilis)
1 ts Kapi (fermented shrimp paste)
1 ts Nam tan paep (palm sugar)
Pound the shrimp in a mortar and pestle, dry fry the chilis until aromatic, then crush. Place the shallots and garlic, unskinned, under the grill or
broiler, and toast until aromatic and the skins begin to discolor, then peel and chop.
Fry the shrimp paste in a very small amount of oil until aromatic then combine with the other ingredients (except tamarind paste) and grind to a smooth paste in a mortar and pestle (or food processor). Finally, fold in the tamarind paste.

Phil Gorman, Van Buren, AR

Some years ago I regularly travelled to West Africa visiting plants making my company's product under licence.

In Cote D'Ivoire, the French plant manager was always amused by my Anglo Saxon disgust at some of the things eaten locally. Having worked late one evening, he was driving me back to my hotel when he stopped outside a local restaurant, saying that since it was late and we were hungry we could get something to eat there. He reassured me that they did a very good stew which he could recommend.

Indeed, it was delicious and all went well until I was half way through it when my fork dredged from the bottom of the bowl what appeared to be a small, pink and perfectly formed baby's hand.

Neddless to say, he was highly amused at my shock and disgust as I pushed the plate away and looked very pale. It transpired that the stew was indeed a local delicacy - porcupine. Needless to say, I wasn't at all reassured at being told that their feet do resemble small human hands.

Nick Woodgates, Chalfont St Peter, UK

*** Win a bug hamper***
Whilst camping some 40 years ago with the 8th Sheppey Scouts, my patrol produced, at the time, the most disgusting but 'secret' pudding for the rest of the scout troop.
Each patrol had to take turns and cook for the rest of the group every third day. Trying to win brownie points, the evening before our turn at 'cooking' we went and picked a lot of wild brambles/blackberries and put then in water to soak overnight.
Upon our inspection of the fruit, just before they were to be dished up, we saw that lots of tiny yellow maggots has emerged from the soaking fruit.
With nothing else to serve, we made custard, dished it all up and made our apologies for the custard being a bit lumpy.
It didn't taste bad.

Michael Thomas, Sheerness, Kent

With regards to the first comment, the hundred or thousand year egg is just a preserved chicken or duck egg, which is relatively common -- it's sold in Chinatowns throughout the U.S. and actually, the last one I had was served at the buffet in the Wynn Las Vegas...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Century_egg

Diane, San Francisco, California

I didn't get to try this on my ast trip to China, but they serve snake and chicken together.... which doesn't sound odd until you know how. A deadly snake (I think a cobra) is placed with a live checken. The snake strikes the chicken, which is then killed and cleaned. both are then cooked and served together. it is said to make the meat extremely tender and sweet.
For th erecord 100 year eggs are VERY common in Asia, though I've only had them in vegtable dishes... weren't bad.
Jellyfish, sea cucmber, frog milk, bird's nest... I've enjoyed all of these. Frog's milk comes from the oviducts of frogs. And also have tried a jellied goo made from turtles (after tutle soup is made). Cantonese will eat all most everything. Grest place to go for some great food.... but be willing to be adventurous.

Hotdogs.... those are strange :P But good with the works.... 'kruat, onions, mustard, relish, ketchup, jalapenos, chiili and chese sauce... and heartburn is well on it's way

OSU student, corvallis, OR

Once in the Taiwanese mountains I was served a dish called a one hundred year old egg. At least, that's what I was told it was. A boiled egg, brown where it should be white, and green where it should be yellow. My friends and I each got a peice. We gulped them down with smiles, afraid of offending our hosts. Soon after the meal, our guide turned to us with eyes as big as saucers. In broken English he said, "How on earth did you eat that?" I nearly cried...

hana, St. Joseph, MO

I hope I'm not too late for this competition... I hope I have a banker here. Mine is not so much officical gastronomy, more opportunism: I grew up as a toddler in Queensland, Australia. I could often be found pulling tree frogs off the walls and stuffing them into my mouth. There must have been something really awful about looking at your own flesh and blood with parts of frog twitching around in their mouth.

Nick Boyle, London, England

No need to travel that far. Hedgehogs, found all over Europe, make a very tasty meal. As Scouts we used to coat them in clay and put them in a pit under the fire for four to six hours. The skin and spines all come off with the clay and you are left with a delicious soft meat to be served with vegetables to taste.

Dr. Lionel Mann, Corfu, Greece

Surprisingly something I thought I would never eat turned out to be something that I now crave late at night when all my friends head off for post-club food. Served late at night, anticucho is the Bolivian answer to the great british kebab. Basically, it is skewered heart meat cooked on a barbeque in the street served with spicey cacahuate (peanut) sauce and yuca. Just the thought of chicken heart or cow heart put me off at first, but it is deliciously tender meat.
However, going to the city's meat market and seeing my housemate buy a whole heart and various other parts of intensines for her barbeque still made my stomach turn!

Jessica Toale, London,

Going back about 50 years to the Malay jungle and a meal that I shall always remember:– Curried snake (Pit Viper), monkey and rice boiled with a handful of grubs - delicious!! Well we were exhausted and half-starved ! The worst part was skinning and cleaning the monkey, it was too humanoid in appearance. Tim Andrews

Tim Andrews, East Bergholt, Colchester, Essex CO7 6TU

On a business trip to Seoul I sat down to a 'sumptuous' banquet with my Saudi colleague. Now Mohamed had a reputation for eating absolutely anything, anywhere, without any qualms. After the meal I asked him if he knew what the main ingredients of the dessert had been. Don't ask was his response with a rather pale look on his face. That retort has resonated with me for over twenty years; and no I never did find out.
No suggestions please!

colin miller, cairo, egypt

When dining in Hanoi, such delicacies as roast Dog meat, Chicken Smashed to Pieces, Stomachs Orifice and a selection of freshly skinned snake can be had, washed down maybe with a glass of snake bile and a nibble at the still beating heart, In laos, salad with live baby shrimp, can tickle the palate, or maybe some barbecued Pigs entrails.
Thailand can offer a selection of freshly fried grasshoppers, crickets and other crunchy delights - you will never starve in SE Asia ?

PETER STANDEN, Vientiane, Laos

There's a famous cantonese saying which goes that the Cantonese eats anything that flies except an aeroplane, anything that swims except a submarine and anything that moves on land except a car. To prove the point, there's a famous stew called the Dragon Phoenix and Tiger stew. The snake is the Dragon, the chicken is the Phoenix and the cat is the Tiger. The stew consists of all 3 animals cooked together and is eaten in the belief that it is good for health and the libido. Its suppose to be especially good for warming up the body on a cold day.

K L Chew, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

In the Philippines, where I have lived for 12 years, one of the most popular snacks is "balut". This is a boiled duck egg with the almost fully developed embryo of a duckling inside. Close investigation, which I do not recommend, reveals a tiny beak and some feathers. Available from street stalls and perambulating vendors crying "baaalu" it easily available. To eat you crack open the top pour the fluid inside into your mouth and eat the remainder, preferably with your eyes closed, and then spit out the tiny breast bone and any feather remnants. Trouble is I like it occasionally from a good seller. In the northern part of the country, dog is popular too, viciously slaughtered with a baseball bat. Not for me that one.

Anthony Lee, Muntinlupa, Philippines

Snake is not restricted to China. In parts of the desert Southwest United States, rattlesnake (Western Diamondback) is considered good food. I haven't had any, but from what I've heard it tastes like a gamier version of chicken. Several online suppliers of exotic meats sell rattlesnake, making it easier to get that by hunting the poisonous snakes in person. The skin of the snakes is kept for tanning for use in making boots and some small leather items.

John Dunkelburg, La Grande, Oregon

Once in China the owner of a restaurant cut the head of a live snake right in front of me, poured blood from the body into a wine glass, and gave it to me to drink. Apparently it does wonders for virility. Bit tough on the snake, however.

John Waters, Crowborough, Sussex

Traveling in Ghana there were signs for a dish called "grass cutter" which is the local name for the greater cane rat. These can weigh around 19 pounds. Speaking of rat, here in the Southern United States some people eat nutria (another kind of giant rat of similar size to the grass cutter), opossum, and alligator (which is delicious by the way).

Lee, Auburn, Alabama, United States

On a trip to Peru once I was informed that the Guinea Pig was the height of haute cuisine in the Andes. Some fellow backpackers and I decided to sample the local flavour (so to speak) and dutifully ordered the "cuy" named after the squeaky noise they make. I was asked to follow the waiter to the kitchen where I picked out my choice ('The black one there"), which was then unceremoniously slit across the throat by the cook. 30 minutes later the whole little fried beast was brought out on a silver tray in a running position with brocoli "trees" and lettuce "shrubberies" acting as garnishments to suggest a rather pastoral scene. Undoubtedly the greasiest, gamiest meat ever. Not very tasty to be true.

Afterwards off to the main cathedral where the local version of "The Last Supper" had the King of Kings ready to tuck into....you guessed it, a small fried rodent on a platter.

Jake Stamp, San Francisco, California

One of my finest dining experiences was "Giant Vole". This gastronomic extravaganza occurred whilst travelling with Karen hill tribesmen in Eastern Burma.

I would dearly love to know what this animal looks like while running around in its natural habitat. I have this vision of it being the sort of thing that would be a star attraction in a children's zoo.

I would like to give you some clue as to whether this is a form of meat that top chefs should track down to put on their menus, delicately flavoured with select spices and herbs and cooked to perfection. Sadly, all meat tastes the same if your idea of cooking it is to boil it until it desintegrates. It tasted exactly the same as the wild cat that I ate later on the same trip.

Matthew Blakeway-Phillips, New York City, USA

I'd been living in Tokyo for about 3 years and thought I'd seen it all. Then a friend took me to an especially fancy restaurant for a special treat. I worked my way through a meal of sashimi so fresh it wriggled on the plate and other unusual delicacies without the merest hint of hesitation. I'd seen it all before. It wasn't until my friend produced the finale of the evening that I paused. The waiter arrived at the table with bottle of sake and a set of small glasses. He poured the glasses full and then performed some legerdemain which was out of my field of view. When the glass was presented to me there was a very small live fish swimming around in the sake. I was urged to drink it quickly before the fish succumbed to the alcohol. What could I do? I downed the shot in one quick motion. I could feel the little fellow wriggling all the way down.

Kenn McDonald, Santa Clarita, California United States

I've scoffed at a few birds, but luckily avoided scarfing them.

Bronson Radish, NYC, NY,

During initial training at the Ranger Regiment K 4 in Arvidsjaur, Sweden in the early 80 :ies, We had the dubious pleasure of drinking raw warm reindeer blood, tapped from the reindeer during the killing/bleeding. Imagine congealing , very strong tasting blood. You have to quickly swallow it before it goes jelly like. Most of us threw up afterwards.

Jan Pultr, Georgetown, Grand Cayman

Although not vegetarian, I was advised to avoid meat in rural China, which could be anything from rotten rat to family dog. In one café, you chose your meal from the caged furry animals snuffling outside the door, to prove its freshness. The few menus that were translated into English included such stomach-turning delicacies as fried chickens' feet with lambs’ blood curd and sea blubber skin. One night, feeling queasy after witnessing some unsettling sights in the local meat market, I ordered the only item on the menu that seemed vegetarian: sea cucumber. I had naive delusions of fresh salad. However, what arrived was certainly not a vegetable. It resembled the fat black carnivorous slugs that lurk in dark crevices of my garden, except this fellow was about 6 inches long, oozing softly off my plate. I sliced up the slimy mass, gagging as I tasted the gelatinous gunge. Later, snorkelling in Australia, I discovered that I'd eaten sea slug that lives in the coral reefs. Horrendous!

Jane Mitchell, Dublin, Ireland

So there I was, 18 years old, working as an au pair in the south of France, idyllic! Ah, but there was a catch – the lovely people that I was working for were not the worlds best money managers! We would regularly run out of funds, even my pay, which I used to hold back for emergencies. When things got really desperate we had to be resourceful. The father, a very good looking chap in an athletic sort of way, would drag us out to the beach to catch sand crabs, catch fish or collect sea urchins, take them home and boil them up, or eat raw. If the forecast was for rain, we would build wire mesh pens over herbs in the garden, then gout in the rain to collect snails then wait for them to eat up and dry off, boil and serve with a garlic mayonnaise. I learnt which herbs could provide food, fennel, dandelion; which fruit to collect and when, figs, grapes, apples, pears, almonds, hazel and walnuts. If snake had been served I would have eaten that too! Everything that was served up was eaten, nothing was ever wasted.
When my children say “yuck, I’m not eating that”, I mean it when I tell them “well, you’re just not that hungry then!”

Fiona McLauchlin, Northwich, England

Travelling in northern Thailand, I tasted the delights of boiled water beetle. This inch long, centimetre thick beetle, with all appendages and hair, was by far the worst tasting, most unpleasant edible experience if my life.

Neither grilled snake, nor fried scorpion, could compare to this demonic looking edible beetle. Upon placing this black hairy beetle into the mouth the first thing to observe is the thick armoured shell that flexes under the teeth, but refuses to initially break. Further trepid biting causes the carapace to pop releasing a flood of rotten prawn juices into the mouth. After the initial immediate gag response, and swallow, the intrepid taster has to deal with the now empty but rather thick exoskeleton. This is best described as similar to attempting to chew through an extra thick toe nail, with a hint of prawn. A warning to all, it is as bad as it sounds!

Michael Rhys Williams, Leamington Spa, England