Delicious but dangerous Vietnamese dishes

Types of insects

Dishes made from insects have long been familiar to the people of the mountainous regions. When processed into rustic dishes, insects are quite picky eaters but attractive to the villagers and diners who love to explore new flavors.

Insects such as crickets, cicadas, durian pupae, coconut worms... have long been considered delicious and attractive dishes. However, these insects can be infected with parasitic fungi, causing digestive disorders, coma and death to those who eat them.

Furthermore, wild-caught insects are not as clean as many people think. Many insects contain poisonous fungi, roundworms, fleas, lice, ticks, etc. Therefore, when used as food, if not handled properly, it can lead to poisoning, or even death.

Baby taro porridge

The main ingredient to make Au Tau porridge is Au Tau root - a hard, rough, thorny root that only grows on the top of Tay Con Linh. Normally, Au Tau is soaked in wine to massage bones and joints. But with the processing skills of ethnic people, Au Tau root has been processed into an effective cold remedy.

Rat meat

When it comes to rats, many people will just shudder, but few people think that this is a famous specialty of the West. When the harvest season ends, the rat hunting season officially begins. Rat meat always has an attractive flavor and is a favorite dish of drinkers.

People use rustic ways to prepare rats such as grilling, deep-frying... Some localities have methods to prepare rats into "specialties" such as fake dog-dog rats, sweet and sour stir-fried rats, fried rats, rats with tomato sauce, rats dipped in vinegar... The feasts of some localities such as Tu Son (Bac Ninh), Thach That (Hanoi)... cannot lack rat meat.

However, in rats, especially in their urine, kidneys and other organs, there are many dangerous pathogens such as plague, paratyphoid, streptococcus, tuberculosis... Among them, the most dangerous is the plague virus.

There is currently no research that proves that eating rat meat can cause plague. However, if rats carry the bacteria that cause plague, the person who butchers them can be infected through skin wounds during the process of contacting and butchering rats. Therefore, we should not be subjective or underestimate it.

In addition, the living environment of rats is also heavily polluted. Rats can be poisoned and contaminated with chemicals. Because field rats often live and feed in rice fields and crops, these rats are also at high risk of being contaminated with pesticides. The toxins will gradually accumulate in the bodies of users, increasing the risk of dangerous diseases such as liver disease, kidney disease, and cancer.

Blood pudding

Blood pudding is a unique rustic dish that can only be found in Vietnam. Blood pudding enthusiasts confirm that with just a little chopped intestines, basil, peanuts and a squeeze of lemon, this “blood pudding” is as delicious as Japanese raw salad.

Blood pudding is essentially raw blood, so it contains many pathogens. If the animal is sick, the blood source will certainly contain pathogens. Common diseases when eating blood pudding are streptococcus suis, bacteremia, meningococcus, worms, flukes... Therefore, before enjoying this dish, you should choose carefully.

Nem chua

Nem chua is one of the dishes that many people love because of its unique taste. Not only famous in Thanh Hoa, Nem chua specialties in regions such as Ninh Binh, Binh Dinh, ... are also known by many people.

Nem chua only includes shredded pork skin, lean pork butt, rice bran, wrapped with galangal leaves or guava leaves and typical spices. To create a delicious nem chua, it requires a special family secret.

However, because it is a dish made from pork and rice bran, the main mechanism is to ferment and ripen naturally, without being processed by fire, so nem chua can be contaminated with mold and pathogenic bacteria. Therefore, it is best to discard nem chua that has expired, or nem because the quality is not guaranteed.

Jellyfish

From North to South, there are jellyfish in every coastal area. Jellyfish can be processed into many delicious dishes such as jellyfish salad, jellyfish noodles, but the most elaborate and unique way of processing is Hanoi red jellyfish salad and Hue vermicelli with vinegar.

Jellyfish are a type of seafood with many tentacles, a transparent gelatinous body, containing a lot of water, living floating on the sea, most abundant in calm seas. However, eating jellyfish during the breeding season is very dangerous. Spring and summer are the breeding seasons of jellyfish, so they often accumulate many toxins that can cause food poisoning, affecting human health.

Jellyfish must be soaked three times in salt and alum water, the jellyfish meat will turn light red or light yellow. Only then can it be processed into food.