Europe is not the first continent you think of when you talk about the worst dishes on the planet.
However, in Europe, you can still find strange dishes, but you’ll see that soon enough.

 

Testis of bulls (Spain)

Let’s start this culinary journey with Spain. How about eating bulls’ testicles? Because in Spain to change traditional dishes such as patatas bravas or tortillas, you can eat criadillas. This typical dish from the south of Spain consists of frying bull’s testicles fillets with garlic, oregano, and parsley.

 

 

Fermented shark (Iceland)

How would you like to eat shark buried in the soil then that has been left to ferment in urine? Because in Iceland this is possible even if only the elderly eat it and nowadays nobody urinates on the shark before fermentation. This dish, which cheese lovers might love, was prepared for several centuries before the current culinary techniques for preserving food appeared.

 

Eels in jelly (England)

If you’re a food lover, don’t go to England. We already knew that the English were not the kings of gastronomy and the jellied eel confirms it. This dish dates from the 18th century and consists of cooking eels in a spiced broth and then chopping them. Eat this dish cold after the eels have created jelly. Just thinking about the texture makes me shiver.

 

                                     Sheep’s head (Albania-Norway)

The first dishes presented did not look appetizing, but this dish looks even less appetizing. In Norway, sheep’s head is often served before Christmas meals. What a beautiful Christmas it must be in Norway! The sheep’s head is cut in half to remove the brain, which is often fried. However, Norwegians are quite nice because in Albania the head is served for breakfast without removing the brain or eyes. Yes, that’s what we all dream about for breakfast. Have a nice gastronomic trip to Albania!

 

Fermented seabird (Denmark: Greenland)

As Greenland is an autonomous territory of the Kingdom of Denmark, we include one of its beautiful specialities in our blog. Kiviak is a food made by leaving small birds fermented in the skin of a seal. Its preparation is quite simple, you just have to put about 500 birds in a dead seal, sew it up and then add seal blubber and bury it under stones. Don’t thank me for giving you meal ideas.

 

                                                   Flies cheese (Italy)

In Italy, they have found a dish for cheese and insect lovers. This cheese is made from a sheep’s milk cheese that is cut in half and then left to rest outside for the cheese flies to incorporate it. The flies lay their eggs then the cheese is left to rest in a dark, cool place for the worms to hatch. Especially when you taste this superb cheese be careful to chew the maggots as they can survive in the intestine. I let you imagine that it is not very pleasant.

 

We could have talked about many other European dishes, here is a small selection: fried brain (Romania), heart sausage (Greece, Cyprus), beaver stew (Lithuania).