The tiny spikes on this fish should be enough to tell you not to put it in your mouth. But for some reason, you still did. And now you’re having trouble breathing. You just ate one of the deadliest foods on Earth, and there’s plenty more where that came from. Today’s culinary tour will have you dodging maggots and ripping tentacles off your face.
Bon Appétit.
Your body needs food to keep you alive but some foods might do just the opposite. Today, we’ll be counting down the top five deadliest foods. For each entry, we’ll tell you what you can do to stop it from becoming your last supper. Which dish is so dangerous one country has made it illegal? How could this Korean food rip off your skin?
What makes pufferfish more than 1,000 times stronger than cyanide?
Number 5. Elderberry
Your wholesome hobby of making your own jam could end up poisoning your family if you use this fruit. The elderberry bush’s leaves, twigs and seeds contain dangerous levels of cyanogenic glycoside, which can produce cyanide. If you eat a large amount of them, the poisoning can cause seizures, coma and death.
The fruit of the elderberry bush is safe to eat as long as it is ripened and cooked properly. Harvest them by hand and avoid picking any of their seeds, leaves and bark. If you ingest raw or unripe elderberries by accident, get to a hospital immediately. You’ll need to get treated for cyanide poisoning as soon as possible.
Number 4. Hakarl
This national dish of Iceland can kill you if you eat it fresh. It is made from Greenland sharks, which filter their waste through their skin and flesh. That packs it with dangerous toxins that act as a natural antifreeze for the shark, but if you ingest it, you’ll experience intestinal distress, convulsions and potentially death. Traditionally, hakarl is made by burying a shark in the ground for months to ferment. After this, it is dug up and cut into strips that then hang for several more months until everything is essentially rotten.
Number 3. Maggot Cheese
What can go wrong with eating larvae-infested cheese?Apparently a lot, because this cheese has been illegal in Italy since 1962. This Sardinian specialty is made when thousands of maggots laid by skipper flies eat a hard wheel of pecorino cheese, digest it and produce an acid that softens the cheese. Unfortunately, another thing they can bring to the cheese is a yummy little bacteria called salmonella. And if that doesn’t turn you off, this will.
When you scoop out the creamy-mealy cheese, you’ll need to cover your eyes and nose. The maggots will try to protect themselves by coiling up and jumping onto your face. The maggots must still be alive when you’re enjoying the cheese because if they’re dead, it means that the cheese has gone bad. You’re already dealing with the 2009 Guinness World Record for the world’s most dangerous cheese, so don’t increase the risk.
Number 2. Sannakji
Killing your food before eating it is a common practice, but not when you’re having a baby octopus for dinner. To make sannakji, the chef cuts the live mollusk’s tentacles into pieces. These are seasoned and served immediately while everything is still writhing and the suction pads are functioning. The key to eating this Korean dish and not choking to death trying is to simply chew thoroughly. Chew on the tentacles until you’ve broken apart the suction cups so they won’t stick to the roof of your mouth or your throat. Did we mention those same suction cups are so powerful they can stick to your skin and rip it off?
Number 1. Fugu
Fish can be one of the healthiest items on the restaurant menu but not this one. Fugu is the Japanese word for pufferfish. This is an extremely toxic fish since its ovaries, intestines and liver contain tetrodotoxin, a neurotoxin 1,200 times stronger than cyanide.
To safely prepare fugu, Japanese chefs go through years of training and require a license to serve it. So, if you find yourself ordering this dish, you might want to double-check if the chef has all their paperwork because ingesting even a minuscule amount of toxic pufferfish can be lethal. Did that hit the spot? You survived, somehow. Maybe you should play it safe for a little while with some cream of mushroom soup.
But wait, where did you find those mushrooms? If you picked the wrong kind, you might not have long to live.
Sources
- “Sardinia’S Rotten Cheese Is Illegal, But Here’S How You Can Taste It“. 2022. Matador Network.
- “Puffer Fish Sushi: How Fugu Kills You“. 2022. Delishably.
- “The Secret Resistance Behind The World’S Most Dangerous Cheese“. 2022. The Outline.
- “8 Of The World’S Most Dangerous Foods“. 2019. Canadian Institute Of Food Safety.
