With global cuisine now available in a wide variety of forms, there are several unusual ingredients and preparations that any adventurous eater needs to try before they die. If you’re putting together a list of must-try foods, add these five items.
Durian is one of the most popular fruits of Southeast Asia, with a uniquely creamy texture and deep, complex flavor. The main reason you don’t see it much in the United States is because of its odor, which is incredibly pungent. It’s certainly off-putting, but if you can get past it the flavor is amazing.
Miracle fruit is another very interesting plant, hailing from Africa. This odd little berry packs a potent dose of an enzyme that briefly changes the way you taste other foods, removing the tongue’s ability to taste sour and bitter flavors. So eating a lemon after a miracle fruit just gives you an unusual citrus sweetness.
Escargot is one of the most revered dishes in French cuisine. And yes, it’s snails, served in their shells. But once you get over the yuck factor, they’re amazing, buttery packages of rich flavor.
Fugu, the Japanese puffer fish, needs to be prepared by an expert before it is served, as the poison glands inside the fish’s body can paralyze or kill a human being. The flesh itself is light and delicate.
If you’ve never sampled caviar, widely known as one of the world’s most decadent foods, you owe it to yourself to set out a simple brunch of the powerful, flavorful fish eggs atop blinis or small toasts.
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