Recently updated on April 30th, 2024 at 05:49 pm
One of the best parts of travelling is trying out new cuisines – and our globe-trotting Travel Directors have tasted it all. Whether it’s a unique delicacy or a special snack, they love diving into all the weird things to eat around the world – and there’s almost nothing they won’t try at least once! From deep-fried scorpions in Thailand to kangaroo in Australia to mac n’ cheese soft-serve in Canada, here are the weirdest foods our Travel Directors have encountered on their travels.
WAYS TO GO: Food travel
The weirdest foods our Travel Directors have eaten in North America
Mark Roberts
I usually recommend the Rocky Mountain Oysters (breaded, fried, sliced bull testicles) on my Costsaver and Trafalgar trips that go through Cody, Wyoming and Silverton, Colorado, USA. A local regional delicacy. Fun to see who will try them. Handlebars restaurant in Silverton and Irma’s restaurant in Cody. Taste like chicken.
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Ben Hutchinson
The Calgary Stampede in Canada is pretty famous for annual over-the-top foods. This year’s new entrants included cow tongue pizza, Korean squid ink corn dog, deep-fried Oreo mini doughnuts, pop rocks popcorn chicken, garlic and caramelized onion lemonade, honey habanero ice pops, flamin’ Cheeto fries, samosa poutine, glazed donut grilled cheese, deep fried strawberries, meal worm hot dog, mac n’ cheese soft serve ice cream…
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The weirdest foods our Travel Directors have eaten in Europe
Lisa Bottazzo
Boiled pigs trotters and snouts is an interesting food in Naples, Italy. They serve it with fresh lemon wedges, in little refrigerated vans along the main streets of passing walking traffic. Surprisingly popular!
Agnes
Agnes tried fermented shark in Iceland and shared her experience on Instagram!
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Arne Schmidt
Germany: Stuffed pig stomach – actually very good. In German, it’s called “Pfälzer Saumagen”. Former chancellor Helmut Kohl was a big fan of it, coming from the area. He liked to treat foreign statesmen to it with varied reactions.
In Northern Germany, we have a dish called “Labskaus”. We love it – most others wouldn’t touch it – but they are wrong, of course. It’s herring, beef and red beets put through the meat grinder with mashed potatoes.
Roberto Astarita
‘O pere e ‘o musso is a typical Neapolitan dish, with its name meaning “the foot and the muzzle” in Italian, which refers to its main ingredients: pig’s feet and cow snouts. ‘O pere e ‘o musso is usually sold as street food from carts, in the cities in Campania but also in other southern Italian regions. It is a sort of tradition to eat it during the celebrations for the Patron Saint of the different villages. In Sant’Agnello, it’s the 14th of December. Sorry to be “Furio” (the Italians will understand).
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Antonella Fedeli
In Rome, you can still find some restaurants serving fried frog legs and Roman-style tripe.
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The weirdest foods our Travel Directors have eaten in Australia
Christin Niederle
For me, it was shima wasabi from Tasmania. I did not know that the “wasabi” in Australia wasn’t wasabi at all. Check out their website. Very interesting benefits, too.
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The weirdest foods our Travel Directors have eaten in Asia
Allen Gibson
The most unusual food I’ve tried would probably be deep-fried scorpions from a Thai night market stall. They were actually really good. Lots of chilli sauce can do that! The stall had other offerings, some of which were moving, but I had to draw a line somewhere!
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Weirdest dishes our Travel Directors have tried from all over the world
Maria Troiano
Cobra grappa in Vietnam, zebra and giraffe in Kenya, river ray in Argentina, cayman in Florida.
Michael Thomas
Whale in Canada, snake in China, kangaroo in Australia.
Steve Fowler
Cow stomach nerves in Italy and Hákarl – fermented shark – in Iceland. You can taste it for weeks afterwards (not in a pleasant way).
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Do you like to try weird delicacies when you travel? What are the strangest foods you’ve eaten on your trips? Let us know in the comments below!