Have a Bloody Halloween!

If you have been keeping track of my blog posts, almost all of them are bizarre foods from Asia. But... this post is going to be a little different, or to be exact, a little more global!

Eating (or drinking) blood has been a common culinary experience in many countries. Places including but not limited to China, Philippines, Masai in Africa, Sweden or even Norway have their own recipe of cooking and consuming blood in their cultures. Interesting enough though, most of them use pork and sheep blood instead of cow, chicken or other cattle and weird animals' blood. I am in no expert position to explain the reason behind this, but I can certainly introduce you to the world of blood fest!

Growing up in Hong Kong, pork blood is no stranger to me. Literally translated as "the red in pig," pork blood is usually in bouncy pudding form, that almost looks like they are red tofu. Local Cantonese loves to have it with rice congee because of its salty flavor. It is sometimes consumed with other parts of the pig, such as different organs and sometimes ears, but it is believed that pork blood can compensate the loss of iron in human body.

In Trinidad, people do pretty much the same thing - pork blood is steamed into pudding and is served with breadcrumbs and rice.

Interestingly, one of the most "blood thirsty" continents is not Asia, but Europe, our Western counterpart! Germany, for example, has their famous blood sausage, Blutwaust, in which pork blood is mixed into different types of meat (traditionally including horse meat and ox tongue). Blood sausage is readily available in regular grocery stores and butchers almost everywhere in Europe. I certainly can't imagine eating blood sausage in the morning, but apparently this is an extremely choice of food for European. In Hungary, pork blood is prepared like cheese in your scramble eggs. According to Weird Foods From Around the World:

it is a big deal to kill the first pig of the season. So there I was in the morning watching some of my co-working chasing a pig around in the back yard, they caught it. Then slit it's neck and colleted the blood in a frying pan and then beat some eggs and cooked it, It had a brain like look.

In Sweden, there is blood dumplings; blóðmör in Sweden; beuling in Belgium and Netherlands... whatever it is called. Europeans are one big group of blood thirsty eaters!

If I do not forget, this is the first post I've written about bizarre food in not only the exotic Asia, but also the civilized Europe and America! What exactly makes a local dish bizarre? And as time passes, how has bizarre food becomes regular everyday food? Maybe Europe and America are more advanced technology wise, but as a country, they do have their own local dishes too. Be prepared to see more Western bizarre food in here next time. In the meantime, have a very happy bloody halloween!