Lift a glass to the ugly

Pull up a chair and welcome to my ugly beer party!


OK, actually those bottles are empty. They're part of my collection of beers with ugly animals on the label. I'm sorry to report that apparently you can no longer buy this wonderful homage to the elephant seal:



But despair not. We've got a warthog, and if you're not a drinker, you can buy a t-shirt of this one instead:


The very best, though, has to be this fantastic wolf eel:

(You can get a t-shirt of that one too, but it's a different, colorful version.)

Doing research for this post, I stumbled across another one that I don't have that I really need: Ugly Pug Black Lager! If anyone happens to see this in the Washington, DC area, please drop me a line.

Cheers,
Wombat

@*^$# -- It's What's For Dinner!

I'm eating pizza right now. I'm happy. So, why, OH WHY, do I post during my lunch break? Why do I post on a photo like this? Take a look at the plate closely. Look closer. I see frogs, tarantulas giant water bugs, and a cricket/grasshopper of some sort. Am I missing something?

Were these all cooked up in one batch? Fried, sauteed, or grilled? Steamed? Roasted? Why am I looking so close, when I've got a delicious lunch right in front of me? I'm self-abusive, that's what I am.

Photo source: Keith Kelly

Let Them Eat Mole-rat Cake

I'm a huge cake fan. My family (extended included) celebrates over 10 birthdays in June, and I tend to put on as many pounds then as I do around the holidays. Maybe serving up cakes like the one below will help keep my appetite in check.

This cake is brought to us by Cake Wrecks, via both Betsy and Theodosia. It's a naked mole-rat, and it's masterful.





















Now that I think about it, when I 'search out my feelings,' I know that I'm just fooling myself. Assuming it tastes decent, I'd eat this cake with as much gusto as a German chocolate or carrot or confetti cake. There really is no curbing my appetite, unless you tell me you've infused the cake with the very hormones that trigger the newly chosen queen mole-rat to grow in size, causing her spine to enlarge. That might work. I like my spine the way it is.

Thanks, Betsy and Theodosia.

Culinary Delights

I think I keep doing food posts as a means on curbing my own appetite. It would've helped today, but I've already had a double cheeseburger for lunch. No fries, though. Perhaps these grasshoppers, spotted in a Saudi Arabian market would have fulfilled my snack cravings, if properly salted.

Photo by Vit Hassan




















As for these last two photos, both taken in Lang Sơn, Vietnam, I can justify eels, since I've had eel fillets (though never in a bucket of froth). But wasps? What happens to the stinger? Does the poison become inert after a time? Are they plucked out in advance of eating? Do you hold the wasp by the stinger, then munch on the rest, like when you hold onto a shrimp's tail? So much to learn!

Spiders, Fried

When next in Cambodia, visit the ladies of Spiderville in Angkor Wat. You can purchase yourself a heap of fried spiders for a midday snack.

As much as this horrifies me, as much as my arachnophobia triggers my fight or flight reflex at seeing this image, my taste buds are telling me something different. They're trying to remember the last time anything fried had tasted bad. They're telling me that maybe they'd overwhelm my base survival instincts (well, cultural bias) and make me eat one of these. Can my taste buds really hold such sway?

If my waistline is any indicator, the answer is yes. Time for some serious introspection. And lunch.

Photo by James and Cesca Bell

Keeping Your Resolutions

This is for all of you who are contemplating losing some weight when the new year comes. Keep this post bookmarked and come back to it when you find your will slipping (unless you are an entomophagist).

Thanks for the photos, Casey.

Photo source: JoeMonster.org

Hen of the Woods

Why the gleam in this young man's eye? He's looking at tonight's dinner. Yup, Carrie and her family were on an outing when, much to their delight, they found a nice crop of Hen of the Woods.

Called Maitake in Japan, and Grifola frondosa to you scientists, this fungus is a very popular food. They're known for their fabulous flavor and texture, for being bug-free, for keeping a long time, and for having good health benefits.

How do you prep and eat Hen of the Woods? Well, Carrie's family likes to marinate and fry them. I must admit, it looks delicious. Here's a recipe for Hen of the Woods Salad. If you come across a good crop of this fungus, go ahead and harvest some. And come back next year: more than likely it will have grown back.

Thanks, Carrie. For the first time in this blog's history, people might leave with their appetite restored.

en-toh-MOFF-uh-jee

I truly hope none of you are reading this an lunchtime, unless you are gifted with some intestinal fortitude or a truly sturdy appetite (one of my talents). But Judy, the forwarder of this article from ScienceNews.org, wanted us Westerners to get a taste...hopefully not literally...of what much of the rest of the world eats.

Allow me to introduce you to a new word: entomophagy (en-toh-MOFF-uh-jee). This is the practice among humans of eating insects. This practice has always been popular in many cultures, and is, if anything, becoming increasingly so. Residents of at least 113 nations include insects in their diet. But before you get disdainful of these folks, understand that most processed foods Westerners eat contain bug parts, even if ground up and in small quantities. For instance, do you thing wine makers are able to clean every grape of the spiders and other creepy crawlies that lived in the vines? No. Your wine contains at least a little bit of spider juice, bird droppings, etc. How about that peanut butter? Or even chocolate? Cereals? Most foods we eat at some point came from the good ol' outdoors, and the outdoors includes bugs.

Enjoy that thought.

But still, that is different from actively seeking out bugs to eat, such as this Thai salad featuring grubs and peppers.

Photo source: ScienceNews.org




















I'm not here to convince you to start eating bugs (though many scientist and entomophagy enthusiasts are). My only purpose is to have you read this article and get grossed out become more aware of this global phenomenon.

An Asian market featuring...everything.


















Thanks Judy. The world just became a bit less appetizing. Or maybe our minds and taste buds a bit more expanded? ... no. My Western-oriented palate says otherwise.

Bug Cuisine

The good folks over at Time.com are doing their part to help with global food shortages. But theirs is an uphill battle, as they are promoting the eating of insects and their kin as opposed to cows and pigs. Check out this video if you want to see cricket pasta, filleted water bug, and battered scorpion.

Thanks for the article, Michelle. You've ruined my appetite.

Food of the (Olympic) Gods

Jade is feeling the Olympic spirit. He can't wait for the summer games to begin (the wrestling especially). In light of this spirit, he wants to make sure that those of you traveling to the Orient to see the games up close and in person are prepared for some of the cuisine.

I picked these photos out of a larger selection (some of the menu items aren't for our more delicate readers). Enjoy. The photos speak for themselves (literally).

Get Your Grub On

I really enjoy a good barbeque, especially shish kabobs. I can smell the steak, the green peppers, the mushrooms, the onion, the pineapple, and the grubs.

The UN is meeting in Thailand to discuss the nutritional possiblities of grubs, and to see what farming possibilities there might be for making them more available in third world countries. As unappetizing as giant, bulbous grubs are to my western palette, I'm all for dining on them. With any luck, they'll find that these grubs are not only a delicacy, but they are also an aphrodisiac, and they will bring you good luck. That'll help preserve a whole bunch of Asian endangered animals.

Photo source: Yahoo! News

Why Oh Why

I've seen enough of the world to know that we humans eat a wide, wide variety of foods (some of which shouldn't technically count as food). I'm not surprised that rat is eaten (and--here's a shocker--it's even a delicacy).

But why, oh why, must the Thai rice farmers that have turned to serving bandicoot rat at roadside stations (making quite a profit!) boil them hair, tail, whiskers, unmentionables, and all? Wouldn't a skinned rat roasting on spit (mmm, with BBQ sauce) be so much more palatable?

Photo source: Reuters via Yahoo

Obligatory Bird Shot

Here's the obligatory Turkey Day turkey photo. To all of those celebrating Thanksgiving by partaking of the traditional menu, look into the face of the beast you're carving.

Here's a small bit of trivia with which to wow your dinner guests: according to the US Census Bureau, there were 256 million turkeys raised in 2003 in the US alone. That makes me wonder: how many hours of American worker productivity were lost due to napping after consuming those birds?

Happy Thanksgiving, all.

Photo source: Scott Moulaison

Tell Me It Isn't True

I am no photoshop expert. But I'm hoping that this is doctored. I don't know if I can live in a world in which butterfly sandwiches are served and eaten. Photo source: Knuttz.net

Dig Deep

Behold the geoduck clam (pronounced gooey-duck). The Chinese call it the 'elephant trunk clam' and you can see from these photos why. 'Geoduck' comes from an American Indian word for 'dig deep' - refering to what people have to do to get to them. I'm proud to say that I have gone clamming for these myself, though I have never pulled one as large as this one from the muck. Look at that thing! How can something so visually disgusting be so very tasty when made into a chowder? This is one of the many mysteries of life.

This clamming party had quite a haul this particular day. I'm truly jealous. It is a very messy and muddy process. But bringing in this many pounds of clam would make it all worth it (otherwise it is just a hazing for in-laws or your sister's new boyfriend).

Thanks for the photos, Emily.

Chinese Take-out

Continuing with the Chinese theme, let's focus on their cuisine. Charlie (self-proclaimed 'white guy in China') has gotten to know some of the food items available for the daring palette ... such as cicadas and scorpions. Oh, yummy.

I forgot to ask what kind of glaze was used.

Rat Tales

Proving that some people will eat just about anything, here is a basket full of Rattails ready for the skillet. These abominably ugly fish were first profiled on Ugly Overload when we were trying to identify a mystery fish. And wouldn't you know it? One of our readers succcessfully identified them for www.caymennetnews.com.

I didn't think these seafaring fish would appear back here as cuisine. It's amazing how many ugly animals are eaten. I guess its better than a lot of cute animals being eaten.




















Photo courtesy: efsc.noaa.gov

Wormilicious

We at Ugly Overload embrace cultural diversity. Except in this case. This photo wasn't taken from the set of Fear Factor, it comes from a marketplace in Madagascar.

That's right. People wander from vendor to vendor, perusing the baskets of worms, looking for the most juicy, ugly, and tasty specimens for that night's dinner.

I can only hope that there is good reason for this. Who knows, maybe they are quite delicious, and taste like chicken. I'll withhold my judgment of the good people in Madagascar for now, but they better start explaining themselves.

Photo courtesy: Shay Antebi.