Daily Dirt: Steve will pass on the big-butt ants, plus a lot of other things

Let’s just call this disgusting food day. (PUBLISHER’S NOTE: You mean ANOTHER disgusting food day? JRG) I apologize in advance … Welcome to today’s three thoughts that make up Vol. 265 of The Daily Dirt.

1. Back by popular demand is our list of disgusting medal-winning dishes from around the globe. Sit back, enjoy … and pass the Pepto.

Gold medal: They are commonly referred to as big-butt ants of Colombia, and at some point someone somewhere decided they would be good to eat. Araioflight.com tells us, “(The) hormigas culonas (literally, big-butt ants) are a regional delicacy in the Santander region of Colombia. They are pregnant leaf-cutter ants that are collected by hand during the spring mating season. They are then roasted and lightly salted to make a tasty snack.”The “tasty snack” thing is their words, not mine. Reportedly, the big-butt ants are “nice and crunchy, they have a sort of earthy, irony taste.” The big-butt ants are actually packed with protein, and locals praise them for having aphrodisiac qualities. Obviously, these people are nuts.The big-butt ants have been described as “bacon bits, but with legs.” And they also taste a little bit like dirt, I have read. Yummy. Just yummy.

Silver medal: Cod sperm, a delicacy in Japan. For those wondering, this dish apparently resembles eating a plate of human brains. 

Bronze medal: Coconut worms, which are sold in Vietnamese markets. “If you’ve not seen coconut worms before, they’re a form of beetle larvae which look like huge maggots,” according to araioflight.com. “Beetles lay their eggs inside coconuts and the larvae grow inside. They ruin the coconut but the worms are a delicacy to the Vietnamese who eat them in a number of ways. The worms are becoming more popular with tourists )once more, their words, not mine) and sometimes they’re fried, sometimes fermented in a stew and sometimes eaten raw.”Or … not eaten at all.

2. Here are five of the strangest milkshake flavors I came across on a recent culinary expedition across the internet:

• Sweet potato, candied cashew and bourbon-flavored shake at Chef Thomas Dunkin’s B&O Brasserie in Baltimore, Md.
• The breakfast-in-bed shake, loaded with coffee ice cream, Irish cream and coffee liqueurs, a shot of espresso and a packet of hot chocolate mix … then decked out with whipped cream, mini-pancakes, mini-donuts, homemade hot fudge, cereal and bacon — with a drizzle of maple syrup to top it all off. This was first created by famous “food stylist” Shannon Roum
• Chocolate avocado shakes are popular in Asia.
• Maple bacon shakes can be found at Skater’s 50/50, a small burger chain in southern California.
• The “Go Fish! Shake” consists of a creation topped by a pair of fried coconut shrimp and is considered by tasteofhome.com as a “healthy alternative to a classic milkshake”. This epic shake is a pineapple, papaya and spinach smoothie, plus the addition of milk and crushed ice and garnished with whipped cream, toasted coconut, the aforementioned coconut shrimp and a maraschino cherry. Supposedly, this is “tropical getaway in a glass” is only 220 calories.

3. Completing our day devoted to strange foods is arguably the worst soup in the world: Kiburu, which comes to us from the Chagga tribe that lives at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania.

The tribe depends on agriculture for its livelihood and its no-frills life gets you a no-frills soup. The soup is made of sweet bananas, beans and dirt — yes, DIRT — or “earth” as the Chaggas call it. Essentially, the ingredients are all mixed together to form the soup, including bits of twigs. The dirt supposedly gives the soup a saltiness and earthiness flavor.

It’s dirt. It gives the soup a dirt flavor. If I were living with the Chaggas, I’d be heading to the nearest McDonald’s. (Hey!! Wait, this dirt soup could be the official soup of The Daily Dirt!!)

Steve Thought O’ The Day — Steve will pass on all the above items except the coconut shrimp.

Steve Eighinger writes daily for Muddy River News. If he’s going to write about this kind of food, he should at least have to sample each one.