We’ve been lucky enough to travel to some incredible places around the world. One of things we love to do when we travel is to immerse ourselves in the country’s culinary scene. That means we’ve also been able to try some of the weirdest foods around the world. Here are our top picks:

Hákarl (Fermented shark) in Iceland

Easily at the top of the list is Iceland’s famous fermented shark. We didn’t like anything about this dish. From the pungent fishy smell to the rubbery texture and potent taste, it’s definitely not something you’ll find in our shopping baskets! The dried shark variety they sell in packets at grocery stores isn’t that much better either. Picture a fishy chewing gum. Yep, it’s that’s bad.

Pickled herring in Scandinavia

Still in Scandinavia and running with the marine theme is pickled herring which we sampled all over Scandinavia. We’re not big seafood people so liking this dish was always going to be a stretch. Needless to say, it’s never going to make it to our breakfast table.

Reindeer burgers in Sweden

Coming from Australia, you know we like a good burger. Reindeer burgers however, are not one of them. Reindeer itself wasn’t the issue. In fact, we quite enjoyed the reindeer we ate in Swedish and Finnish Lapland. As a burger though, it just didn’t work. The meat was far too chewy.

Takoyaki in Japan

Takoyaki is a ball-shaped Japanese snack which is essentially a fried octopus ball. Again, not we’re big on the seafood. Neither of us were a big fan, especially considering there were so many other delicious Japanese foods to try! While we’re on the topic of Japan, we can definitely get on board with the Spaghetti Bolognese for breakfast!

Moose in Norway

Another of the Scandinavian countries had us excited about trying something different when we were served a steak of elk (moose) topped with cloud berries and lingonberries. It was very gamey, more so than kangaroo, but not bad.

Egg waffles in Hong Kong

While it probably doesn’t seem too weird with crazy desserts taking the world by storm, but egg waffles were something we’d never imagine lining up for. The famous Hong Kong egg waffles are rolled into a cone and filled with ice cream and toppings of your choice. It’s as sweet and delicious as it is messy.

Invisible food in Germany

Ok, so the food wasn’t invisible per se, but it certainly wasn’t visible! We dined at Unsicht-Bar Berlin in Germany, a restaurant where you dine in complete darkness. To make things more interesting, our menu was written in riddles. We had some idea of what we were eating but not completely. To this day it’s still one of the best dining experiences we’ve ever had!

Special mentions

Special mention goes to escargot in France. Although quite tasty, was very, VERY weird. As too were many of the desserts we’ve eaten throughout Asia.

Trying different foods on holiday is one of our favourite things to do when we travel. You just never really know when you’re going to like something. However, trying new foods now can be a bit of a painful experience. Diagnosed with IBS, gluten intolerance and lactose intolerance, it can be difficult for Ash to try foods without getting extremely ill. For gluten free recipes, dairy free recipes and low FODMAP recipes, visit the new section of our blog, I’m Allergic to That.

What are the weirdest foods you’ve eaten? Let us know in the comments below!

Ash and Dave

xx