Recently I have written about newbie’s food guide to Vietnam and how much I appreciated Vietnamese cuisine. But that foods are for everyone. If you are an adventurist and want to go the extra mile, try these weird foods and tell us your opinion? Truly a culture shock for me.
Dog Meat
Sounds so cruel isn’t it? But, in some parts of Vietnam mostly in northern part, it is believed that consumption of dog meat would bring good luck. In Hanoi dog meat can be found Tay Hoi district. Some of the restaurants in Hanoi serve dog meat as a special delicacy. Dogs are not stolen from the streets or homes, but are produced through breeding. As an Indian, it was not a great feeling to see dog meat, but that is nothing offensive in the local culture.
Woman selling dog meat
Fetal Duck Egg
Fetal Duck Egg, known as Hot Vit Lon in Vietnamese language, is a dish which is made by boiling a half hatched egg when the embryo just starts to grow inside the shell. Its a dish enjoyed by the locals while sipping a glass of Bia Hoi (freshly made beer). Eating this might be a tough experience for a foreigner because when you break the egg all the liquid starts to oozes out of the shell. Such half hatched boiled eggs are also eaten in Philippines and Cambodia.
Fetal Duck Egg
Frogs
Frogs are eaten all over Vietnam. They are fried or steamed or barbecued on a grill. Not a part is wasted from the frogs body, the skin is fried and used as cracker as a supplement with the main dish. Flavoring is done by squeezing a lemon over it and sprinkling salt and pepper.
Skinless frog meat ready to be fried and eaten
Snakes
In fact, a whole village is named as Snake Village (Le Mat near Hanoi). You can choose from a variety of snakes from the seller and eat it how ever you like or you will have the opportunity to drink the blood of the snake like a cocktail. Even the heart is consumed when its still beating and alive. Most men here believe that eating a snake’s heart does miracles to their manhood.
Snake Rice Wine
The more poisonous a snake put into rice wine, the more stronger it becomes. It’s a popular belief here. You can see such bottles being sold every where on the streets with a snake inside it. Not just snake, there is also a scorpion version of rice wine. For the unsatisfied, there is a mixed flavors as well, more than one kind of snake put in rice wine.
A bottle of snake and scorpion rice wine
Other weird foods that I came across are bugs, silk worms, mouse and poop coffee.
A picture of fried crickets is shown below. Can you see how professionally it’s being served?
A picture of barbecued mouse is shown below.
