At their last gathering in New York they ate balut, which is a Philippine snack of boiled fertilised duck egg.

”There’s a reason why people eat this stuff,” Calleo said. ”In many cases, cultures have had hundreds of years to make the food palatable or even exquisite.”

While no one is forced to eat anything, he said the goal is to ”try to try”, which reflects the group’s spirit of culinary adventure. [...]

At the October Gastronauts dinner at a Yemeni restaurant Bab Al Yemen in New York, Nicole Murray, an assistant editor at an education company, extracted a piece of eyeball from a cooked lamb skull and brought it toward her mouth as those seated around her cheered.

”It’s kind of jelly-like,” she said, during her first Gastronauts dinner.

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?

Link | Official Website | Photo: Gastronauts

Being the first in the world to produce snail caviar shell-less and unpasteurized, the farm – founded by two former snail farmers – spent nearly four years perfecting the production and harvesting process, resulting in tiny, smooth cream-colored pearls that reportedly burst on the tongue with subtle autumn and woody flavors.

Being a food hipster ain’t cheap: 50 gram (1.8 oz) of snail caviar retails for $115.

Link – via The Cellar

Previously on Neatorama: 10 Weird Gourmet Food

I was at the grocery store and I got the urge to eat something new. I looked around and I didn’t really see much until I found a food that could look back. It was only a hundred yen, which is less than a buck, so I figured I’d give it a whirl. It had a sticker on it that said that it should be cooked, but I didn’t really know how to cook it. I tried to find stuff online, but there aren’t a lot of English webpages devoted to eating fish eyes, so I just decided to boil it.

If you’re squeamish, this isn’t for you: Link – via J-Walk Blog

Previously on Neatorama: 10 Weird Gourmet Foods

Have you ever been scared yet deeply intrigued by something at the same time? Well, I’m like that with this Bacon Gumballs at the Web’s strangest store, Archie McPhee. I’m not sure if it’ll taste good, but how can you not try bacon gumball? Link – via Everlasting Blort

On Monday, the Southern Metropolis Daily — a Guangdong paper famous for its exposes and aggressive reporting — ran a story that said about 1,000 cats were transported by train to Guangdong each day.

The animals came from Nanjing, a major trading hub for cats, the newspaper said. They were brought to market by dealers on motorcycles, crammed into wooden crates and sent to Guangdong on trains. A photo showed a cat with green eyes peering from a crowded crate.

Some people in Nanjing spend their days "fishing for cats," often stealing pets, the report said. One cat owner in Guanghzou said people are afraid to let their pets leave the house for fear they will get nabbed.

And what are the cats for?

"There’s a famous soup called ‘Dragon, Tiger and Phoenix,’" Zhu said. "It involves cooking snake, cat and chicken together. In winter more people eat cats as they believe it’s extra nutritious."

Link