DailyDirt: Strange Foods

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Wed, Dec 15th 2010 5:00pm — Michael Ho

With the holidays approaching, there are lots of recipes and cooking ideas floating around online. But it's way more interesting to us to read up on weird foods that are out there (not turduckens). We're making a list. We're not checking it twice. Most of these foods are not nice at all, and some are just gross. Bon appetit!

A 2,400-year-old old soup has been discovered in China. I wonder how long modern soup cans will last? Mmm. Mmm. Good. [url]
Russians are working on mice that can produce milk with human breast milk proteins. And eventually, these human milk genes will be commercially available in rabbits, goats and cows. [url]
Until other mammals start making human milk, though, there's always milk trading groups on Facebook. But the FDA doesn't recommend this process, either. [url]
Maybe people should be eating more insects. It's not just for reality TV shows. [url]
If the thought of eating insects isn't appealing, it's a lot more appetizing to eat meat from animals that feel no pain. It's just a couple steps away from the restaurant at the end of the universe. [url]
For the holidays, Estonians are singled out for their blood-sausage-eating tradition on Christmas. Some Taiwanese pig blood popsicles sound good to me, too. [url]

We'd love to hear about some more weird foods in the comments, too.

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Filed Under: christmas, food, milk, traditions

24 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 15 Dec 2010 @ 6:53pm

Neo-Vegan
I only want to eat insects that feel no pain...
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Darryl, 15 Dec 2010 @ 6:57pm

bad link --- and PLEASE fix you web site - - it really sucks,, big time..
the insects not feeling pain link does not appear to go to the article in question.. I was wondering how they determined that insects do not feel pain. The feeling of pain, is actually the touch, when you feel something, it is a form of pain, allthough it does not hurt until a certain level. I would expect insects to be able to sense touch, and would be able to determine what that 'touch' is higher enough to 'hurt'.. Pain is just a part of being sensitive to your environment, it would I expect be a fundamental precept to all life.. Yes, even plants, all though plants obviously do not think, they are most certainly 'aware' of their environment, and can take specific action (decisions ?) regarding their development. Flowers know when its summer, and trees know when it is winter to drop their leaves. How could this be possible with some level of "intelligence", not conciousness, but heat, light, pain, up / down, ground, sky and many other things plants and insects and people needs awareness off. If a forest of trees is attacked by a beatle, or a bug of some kind, the trees that have not attacked yet, will somehow 'detect' that their friend trees are under attack, and they will react to that threat by changing to chemical composition of its sap, to something hopefully the bugs will not like to eat.. How do they do that ?? are the trees communicating with each other ? its interesting though.. Mike you HAVE to fix your web site, its so packed with adds its a nightmere, its slow, clunky, and unreliable.. Is that what you want to present to people.. Its probably just one add gone rogue, whatever it is, IT SUCKS, and fucks up your web site big time.. Have a bit of pride Mike, its not all about how money money you can get out of google.. With your web page open, (lots of others as well, but only when yours is open).. my CPU usage sits over 90% SOLID.. Not to mention the MASSIVE delays in your sites response time, that cant take 5 seconds or more, to do what ? ENTER A SINGLE CHARACTER IN A BLOG REPLY.. It feels like im using a 1200 baud modem, on an ancient web site, is not maintained, on a 286 based CPU box as your "server". Ok after an hour trying to type just a few words, that will do.. fix your crappy ass web site mike.. I dont know why you are not ashamed of it in its present state.. sorry but its really bad, and you are the ONLY one that is a pig.
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Michael Ho (profile), 15 Dec 2010 @ 7:13pm

Re: bad link --- and PLEASE fix you web site - - it really sucks,, big time..
Wow. Darryl, sorry our website performance is that bad for you. Can you give us a bit more information about the system/browser you're using? That would help us de-bug things.

As for the "insect pain" link... the link is not about insects that feel no pain... it's about larger mammals (like cows) that are engineered to feel no pain. So I think the link is correct, but maybe my description of it is misleading. Apologies!
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Narcuru (profile), 15 Dec 2010 @ 7:19pm

Re: bad link --- and PLEASE fix you web site - - it really sucks,, big time..
Ignoring the horrible wall of text...

The link's description actually says "If the thought of eating insects isn't appealing, it's a lot more appetizing to eat meat from animals that feel no pain." That is they aren't talking about insects but animals, in this case cows that don't feel pain. Perhaps a reading lesson would help.

And off-topic: the site works perfectly for me and my connection, and other people have responded to you in the past with the same. Perhaps, just perhaps the issue is on your end? You know since you are the only one (that is known) that is having issues?
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someone (profile), 15 Dec 2010 @ 7:50pm

Re: Re: bad link --- and PLEASE fix you web site - - it really sucks,, big time..
"Wow. Darryl, sorry our website performance is that bad for you. Can you give us a bit more information about the system/browser you're using? That would help us de-bug things."

Works great for me, keep up the great work!

Darryl, if this site truly "SUCKS" maybe you should stop visiting it.
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someone (profile), 15 Dec 2010 @ 7:55pm

I wonder how long modern soup cans will last?
Modern cans have expiration dates on them so it is pretty easy to determine how long they last.....
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Lawrence D'Oliveiro, 15 Dec 2010 @ 7:57pm

Re: ENTER A SINGLE CHARACTER IN A BLOG REPLY.
As far as I�m aware, single characters in the blog reply form are not making the round trip between your PC and the Techdirt server. Certainly I don�t notice any slowdown in that regard.

So the cause is most likely PEBKAC.
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victor, 15 Dec 2010 @ 9:49pm

Re: I wonder how long modern soup cans will last?
cans are labeled to the guaranteed date of freshness (some have 2 years after manufacture). Same with bottled water and medicines.
They typically last longer than the listed expire date, i.e. some drugs are still potent 10 years after they "expire."
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Dec 2010 @ 10:40pm

People eat worms already when they have a cheeseburger, that is why people are making money selling those to meat processor in Europe, Asia and the USA.

People eat mold when they get some kinds of cheese.

Ethanol I believe is bacteria pee in a sense.
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Anonymous Coward, 15 Dec 2010 @ 10:44pm

"ENTER A SINGLE CHARACTER IN A BLOG REPLY.. It feels like im using a 1200 baud modem, on an ancient web site, is not maintained, on a 286 based CPU box as your "server""

That is the dumbest thing I have ever read this year LoL

Solution: Stop wanking, close all those PornTube tabs and things will get to normal also try to not let the browser open for hours, most of them have memory leaks and slowdown after a while but surely you the guy with all the knowledge on the universe knew that right?
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Dec 2010 @ 12:00am

Re: Re: bad link --- and PLEASE fix you web site - - it really sucks,, big time..
Maybe he just wants us to know he's TRAWLING.

In order to be a good TRAWLER you usually have to go to deeper waters. Often places like as Lake Superior, Lake Chelan or Lake P0we11 (But don't go to Lake P0we11 because Trawling at Lake P0we11 is illegal).

See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trawling
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Dec 2010 @ 12:01am

Re: Re: bad link --- and PLEASE fix you web site - - it really sucks,, big time..
Okay, don't use the words "Lake P0we11" or else you gets the Moderated Lovin'.
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teka, 16 Dec 2010 @ 12:58am

Re: Re: I wonder how long modern soup cans will last?
and in fact i have heard that modern canned foods do not have a very strict upper shelf life.

After a certain (long) amount of time there may be a loss of proper texture, some nutrients may eventually degrade, but for most things there is no guideline of "after x-days this is now poison"

I myself once consumed a can of pears that were taken from the back of an elderly grandparents pantry. No recognizable date on that can, but if it fit with the 'strata' nearby it may have been 20 years old or more*. Was perfectly normal, i did not die, etc.

*date taken from a small sealed glass jar of a mysterious chipped beef shaved dry meat.. stuff? even in the name of science, i was not going to open that. i wouldnt open it if it was new either.
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pegr, 16 Dec 2010 @ 4:21am

Sucks? I'll tell you what sucks!
OK, I'm just tweaking Darryl. But what sucks is the use of a bit.ly link. From an IT security perspective, never click a bit.ly link.

Mike, the whole idea of bit.ly (and their ilk) is to shorten the URL for the ease of users. Since your links are bound to a description (and not just a text link), you have no REASON to use a URL shortener. bit.ly links can point to any web service anywhere, so they are inherently untrustable.

PLEASE don't use URL shorteners, especially when you have no reason to! The security-smart users won't click them.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Dec 2010 @ 5:27am

O'Rat on a stick os the best.
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Anonymous Coward, 16 Dec 2010 @ 5:48am

Re: bad link --- and PLEASE fix you web site - - it really sucks,, big time..
Whatever thing you're on?

Quit it.
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pjhenry1216 (profile), 16 Dec 2010 @ 7:12am

Re: bad link --- and PLEASE fix you web site - - it really sucks,, big time..
pain is a different sense than touch. pain is caused by a different set of nerve cells. i believe there are people who can feel, but can't sense hot/cold nor pain.
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Hephaestus (profile), 16 Dec 2010 @ 7:48am

Re: Re: bad link --- and PLEASE fix you web site - - it really sucks,, big time..
"Wow. Darryl, sorry our website performance is that bad for you. Can you give us a bit more information about the system/browser you're using? That would help us de-bug things."

He probably has caught something, or installed way to much crap, or the registry is screwed up, or the windows auto update system screwed up, or iexplore.exe is screwed up due to last months update, or some combo. I had the same problem with on one of my machines.

The solution, re-install the OS from scratch. Time 1.5 hours.
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Killer_Tofu (profile), 16 Dec 2010 @ 7:51am

Pigturducken
Post subject says it all. That's some crazy food right there.
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Hephaestus (profile), 16 Dec 2010 @ 8:03am

Re: Sucks? I'll tell you what sucks!
He is more than likely a heavy twitter user.
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Narcuru (profile), 16 Dec 2010 @ 8:41am

Re: Re: Sucks? I'll tell you what sucks!
The reason why (or so was said before) is because they want to keep tabs on how many people click the link, and it was easier this way then some other way. If pegr isn't trustworthy of Techdirt giving the right url in the bit.ly link then they can always click at the link at the end of each topic which has the same url the bit.ly link goes to but isn't obfuscated.
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Ron Rezendes (profile), 16 Dec 2010 @ 9:54am

Re: Re: Re: bad link --- and PLEASE fix you web site - - it really sucks,, big time..
Or try using Google Chrome instead of IE!
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Michael Ho (profile), 16 Dec 2010 @ 10:56am

Re: Re: Re: Sucks? I'll tell you what sucks!
Thanks, Narcuru!

The original URLs are included at the end of each blurb, so you can click on the [url] link if you don't want to use the bitly links. There's also a Firefox extension that lets you preview the links before clicking through:
http://blog.bit.ly/post/68979274/expand-urls-and-get-traffic-summaries-before

FYI, the only reason why we're using bitly urls is to get some clickthru feedback for these links. Bitly provides free and public traffic data -- just add a "+" to the end of any of its shortened links, and you'll see.
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Gene Cavanaugh (profile), 16 Dec 2010 @ 12:43pm

Weird foods
I don't agree these are "weird", but different strokes for different folks:
For those who haven't tried them, fried bamboo worms are both nutritious and tasty. Ditto for bee grubs.
Also, donkey meat is very lean, but otherwise tastes like beef veal.
Fried grasshoppers, and chocolate-covered ants didn't taste all that good.
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