Exotic Food Dishes: The Stuff of Legends

When it comes to exotic dishes, there are many legends, many storied about so-called exotic food dishes that end up being completely false. Interestingly, a great number of the legends surrounding exotic food dishes involve allegedly Chinese food items and dining practices. In fact, many of these legends actually now extend beyond the borders of China and are starting to be attributed to other people and nations as well.

One of the more common legends concerning alleged exotic food dishes in Chine involves live monkey brains. (In fact, this particular legend actually transcends the borders of the People's Republic. There are a number of legends involving the eating of live monkey brains that have been attributed to people in other parts of the world as well.)

As the Chinese themselves retell the tale, people who are fond of exotic food dishes dine on live monkey brains to provide them with power and great health. In the West, when this tale is told, there is no reference to any benefits that might be derived from eating live monkey brains. In truth, despite a great deal of effort being expended in the process of verifying that some people consider eating live monkey brains to be a natural element of exotic food dishes more generally, there is no evidence that anyone in China (or anywhere else in the world) actually dines on the brains of live monkeys.

In looking at other legends surrounding alleged Chinese exotic food dishes, some have told the tale that people in Asia and in other parts of the world enjoy dining on live goose feet. As this legend goes, a live goose is placed on a grill and dances about in the fiery heat until its feet are ... cooked.

A similar story involving a purported addition to the list of Chinese exotic food dishes is that some people in that country (and, again, elsewhere in the world) enjoy feasting on live bear paws ... yes, live bear paws. Improbably, this story maintains that a bear (yes, an entire live bear) is put on a grill, dancing about as his paws cook. The logistics of grilling a dancing bear would seem to be enough to quell this particular legend. Oddly, it persists to this very day.

Finally, some people allege that on the list of Chinese exotic food dishes one can find live rat embryos. This dish even has a name in some quarters: "Three Squeaks." With that said, research has demonstrated that there is no evidence that any sector of Chinese society (or of any identifiable group of people anywhere on the planet) consider live rat embryos to be a delicacy of any sort.