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Weird Food: From Grilled Spiders to Maggot Stew    by Joanna Emery Amazon.com order for
Weird Food
by Joanna Emery
Order:  USA  Can
Blue Bike Books, 2009 (2009)
Paperback
* * *   Reviewed by Martina Bexte

Emery has collected an absolute plethora of interesting foodie facts about the myriad of stuff humans stuff into their mouths and call a hearty meal. A warning though - if you have a weak stomach you might not want to devour this book in a single sitting but rather ingest it in smaller, more palatable portions.

Emery guides readers through numerous chapters that include chirpy delights like baked flamingo and peacock, or thousand year old eggs, as well as various ways to enjoy ostrich or seagull eggs. If you'd rather sample something more substantial how about these: duck heads and tongues or roast pigeon brains? If that's not to your particular taste then try slithery throat sliders like barbecued rattlesnake or deep-fried gecko. Did you know that some people have a real hankering for road kill? They're the first to stop and make the most of those unfortunate armadillos, skunks, porcupines and racoons that didn't quite make it across the busy highway. How about doing the crunch and munch on hard-shelled delights like chocolate covered grasshoppers, ants or locusts? Some of you might want to actually try out the recipe for Cricket Cookies or consider deep-frying the plentiful and virtually indestructible cockroach!

Had enough? If not there are plenty more Weird Food facts in Emery's 200-plus page tome, as well as numerous Did You Know? anecdotes. Some are downright enlightening while others are hard to swallow or impossible to justify, as it's no secret that humans' gastronomical excesses tend to incorporate irresponsibility, stupidity, and unfortunately, cruelty.

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