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1. Chicken’s Feet – East Asia, Caribbean, South America and South Africa
Considering how many places it’s eaten, perhaps it’s unfair to deem this weird. Still, it’s made mostly of skin making it a little gelatinous in texture. They’re pretty tasty when flavoured properly, but the bones get on your nerves after a while.
2. Haggis – Scotland
A sheep’s heart, liver and lungs minced and mixed with onions, oatmeal, suet and seasoned with salt and spices cooked inside the animal’s stomach. If that doesn’t sound appealing, I just don’t know what will.
3. Tripe – All Over the World
The stomach lining of various animals with a sponge-like honeycomb texture. Looks like some weird kind of sea plant life and has a peculiar and not entirely appetising rubbery texture. Served up with various sauces to add flavour or simply with an accompaniment like onions.
4. Khash – Middle East, East Europe and Turkey
A pretty gruesome little dish made up of stewed cows feet and head. It was once a winter comfort food but is now considered a delicacy. I’m sure it’s fine, so long as you don’t mind that grinning skull staring at you through its cold dead eyes.
5. Tuna Eyeballs – Japan
Although it sounds nasty, apparently it’s rather tame, tasting pretty similar to squid or octopus. None of the gunk you’d normally associate with slicing up eyeballs then?
6. Black Pudding (Blood Sausage) – Africa, Americas, Asia, Europe
Pretty widely available, really. Still, there are a large number of people who find the idea revolting. And silly people they are as the finished product is tasty. Congealed blood cooked up with various natural flavourings, thickening agents like suet and breadcrumbs and stuffed into a sausage skin – lush!
7. Turtle Soup – China, Singapore and United States
Made using the meat, skin and innards of the soft-shell turtle in East Asia or the snapping turtle in the United States, this is considered something of a Chinese delicacy. However, after seeing turtles slaughtered in the Hong Kong wet markets I vowed I’d never eat this dish. That and the fact Shredder always threatened to turn the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles into turtle soup, the bastard.
8. Cobra Heart – Vietnam
So, they slit the struggling poor creature open right in front of you and place its still beating heart into a shot glass of its own blood. You sink it while it still pumps away… enticed?
9. Shiokara – Japan
Now this really does sound bad. A dish made of pieces of meat taken from a selection of sea creatures, served in a brown, viscous paste of their own salted and fermented viscera. Oh, I forgot to say, it’s all served raw. You enjoy, I’m going to grab a bucket.
10. Jing Leed (Grasshoppers) – Thailand
So, yes, this is a big old grasshopper seasoned with salt, pepper power and chilli and fried in a big wok. Tastes a little like hollow popcorn skin… except a little juice squirts out when you bite into it… nice.
11. Wasp Crackers – Japan
Yep, you guessed it, it’s a biscuit filled with wasps. Think chocolate chip cookies, only the insects replace the choccy chips. Apparently the digger wasp, which the biscuit contains, has a pretty mean sting. I wish your tongue good luck.
12. Fried Spider – Cambodia
Fried spider is a regional delicacy popular in the Cambodian town of Skuon, prepared by marinating it in MSG, sugar and salt and then frying it in garlic. Apparently it has more meat on it than a grasshopper, but also has brown sludge in the abdomen, which consists of mainly innards, eggs and excrement. Yum.
13. Witchetty Grub – Australia
Part of the Australian ‘bushmeat’ family, this was another staple of Indigenous Australians in the desert. These can either be eaten raw, when it tastes like almonds, or lightly cooked, where its skin crisps like roast chicken and its insides take on the look and consistency of scrambled egg.
14. Stink Bugs – Africa
Used to flavour stews or eaten on their own, stinkbugs are said to have a crunch to them and taste a little like apple. Prepared by boiling, the bugs release defensive pheromones in a last ditch attempt to survive, and while it hurts the eyes it’s no more successful than the onion’s weak survival attempt.
15. Bird’s Nest Soup – Southeast Asia
This Asian delicacy is made from the nest of the swiftlet bird, who instead of collecting twigs for its bed, builds it out of its own gummy saliva, which goes hard when exposed to air. Usually the built high up on cliff faces, harvesting them is a dangerous business and many people die each year. Whether its ‘rubbery taste’ is worth this human sacrifice, I’ve yet to find out.
16. Frog Legs – France, Southeast Asia and other
What’s there to say? Basically the back end and back legs of a frog, grilled, baked, fried or stewed. With the texture of chicken with a very faint taste of fish, it’s one of my favourite kind of meats. Try it with chilli as part of Cantonese cuisine or roasted and served with a garlic and cream sauce – beautiful!
17. Kangaroo – Australia
Historically the staple meat for indigenous Australians, kangaroo is high in protein and low in fat, making it a pretty healthy choice. It’s gamey in flavour and served in multiple ways, from a simple steak to sausages or burgers. Although some animal groups are against the hunting and harvesting of kangaroos for meat, many ecologists see farming native animals as much better for the fragile Australian rangelands than cattle and say it could massively reduce greenhouse emissions.
18. Crocodile – Australia, Southeast Asia and Africa
Not only harvested for shoes (one for all you Jimmy Nail fans out there), crocodile meat is considered a delicacy in many places around the world, supposedly tasting like a cross between chicken and crab. Although crocodiles are protected in many parts of the world, crocodile meat is usually farmed, so is sustainable if not particularly kind or natural.
19. Balut – Philippines
A developing duck embryo that’s boiled alive in its shell. As well as sounding incredibly harsh, it looks incredibly unappetising. Still, it’s a common street food and is usually served with beers. Can’t say I have the stomach for it.
20. Dog – Korea, China and Vietnam
Yeah, so call me a bleeding heart westerner and a hypocrite, but this always breaks my heart. As someone who had a dog growing up, who was part of the family and treated as a little four legged sister, it’s tough to see dog carcasses roasted beyond recognition or locked in those tight little cages, waiting for the slaughter. But then I eat all the animals we deem fit for farming over here, so this one is going to turn into a long argument. While not widely consumed in Korea these days, dog meat is big money in Vietnam, leading to a massive increase in the stealing of family pets.
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About the game:
USA as a world power? In E-Sim it is possible!
In E-Sim we have a huge, living world, which is a mirror copy of the Earth. Well, maybe not completely mirrored, because the balance of power in this virtual world looks a bit different than in real life. In E-Sim, USA does not have to be a world superpower, It can be efficiently managed as a much smaller country that has entrepreneurial citizens that support it's foundation. Everything depends on the players themselves and how they decide to shape the political map of the game.
Work for the good of your country and see it rise to an empire.
Activities in this game are divided into several modules. First is the economy as a citizen in a country of your choice you must work to earn money, which you will get to spend for example, on food or purchase of weapons which are critical for your progress as a fighter. You will work in either private companies which are owned by players or government companies which are owned by the state. After progressing in the game you will finally get the opportunity to set up your own business and hire other players. If it prospers, we can even change it into a joint-stock company and enter the stock market and get even more money in this way.
In E-Sim, international wars are nothing out of the ordinary.
Become an influential politician.
The second module is a politics. Just like in real life politics in E-Sim are an extremely powerful tool that can be used for your own purposes. From time to time there are elections in the game in which you will not only vote, but also have the ability to run for the head of the party you're in. You can also apply for congress, where once elected you will be given the right to vote on laws proposed by your fellow congress members or your president and propose laws yourself. Voting on laws is important for your country as it can shape the lives of those around you. You can also try to become the head of a given party, and even take part in presidential elections and decide on the shape of the foreign policy of a given state (for example, who to declare war on). Career in politics is obviously not easy and in order to succeed in it, you have to have a good plan and compete for the votes of voters.
You can go bankrupt or become a rich man while playing the stock market.
The international war.
The last and probably the most important module is military. In E-Sim, countries are constantly fighting each other for control over territories which in return grant them access to more valuable raw materials. For this purpose, they form alliances, they fight international wars, but they also have to deal with, for example, uprisings in conquered countries or civil wars, which may explode on their territory. You can also take part in these clashes, although you are also given the opportunity to lead a life as a pacifist who focuses on other activities in the game (for example, running a successful newspaper or selling products).
At the auction you can sell or buy your dream inventory.
E-Sim is a unique browser game. It's creators ensured realistic representation of the mechanisms present in the real world and gave all power to the players who shape the image of the virtual Earth according to their own. So come and join them and help your country achieve its full potential.
Invest, produce and sell - be an entrepreneur in E-Sim.
Take part in numerous events for the E-Sim community.