Controversial Foods: Fish Head Pie and ‘Devil’s Dung’

Admin January 28, 2023 International Leave a comment 67 Views

(CNN) – This week in travel news, we bring you fish head bags, “devil’s dung”, mummified crocodiles and the Todzilla the cane toad. And we’d love to hear your weird, wild travel stories.

Tell us about your hair growing adventures

We’ve all had trips that didn’t go as planned. Perhaps you were involved in a motorcycle accident that sent you home in stitches and smarting; You might have been robbed, beaten, and scammed — but you still had the best summer ever.

We want to hear your most hair-raising travel stories with happy endings, where you lived to tell the tale and now have a blockbuster novel. Email us a short summary and we may be in touch to turn it into a CNN story to share with the world (unlockingtheworld@cnn.com).

Sophisticated cuisine

If you accidentally leave the Indian ingredient hanging on your hands, no matter how many times you wash them, the pungent smell lingers, earning it the nickname “devil’s dung.” But fans of the wild fennel plant say it’s a base-note flavor that bridges the gap between garlic and onion.

On the other side of the world, Cornwall’s stargazy pie, made in the seaside village of Mousehole, sounds delightfully whimsical — until you realize its centerpiece is bulging-eyed fish heads, staring open-mouthed at the sky from their pastry prison. The taste is said to be like a “custard of sea flavors”.

Reindeer brain custard and fermented rice ice cream with oyster caramel are just some of the sophisticated concoctions on offer at one of the world’s most popular restaurants, Noma, in Copenhagen, which will close to diners next year. It is set to be reborn as a “giant laboratory” in 2025, dubbed Noma 3.0, dedicated to “food innovation”.

In the wild world

A severe cold wave has swept across Northeast Asia with heavy snow and record-breaking subzero temperatures in parts of Japan and South Korea during the Lunar New Year holiday. CNN’s Paula Hancocks has more.

China’s northernmost city — Mohe, near Russian Siberia — recorded its coldest day on Jan. 22: a quarter shy of -63.4 F (-53 C). East Asia is suffering from extreme cold, and climate experts warn that such extreme weather events are the “new norm”. In New Zealand’s southeast, Auckland’s airport was flooded after Friday’s downpour.

California has also been hit by wildfires recently, with some of the state’s beloved parks and forests hit so hard that they still can’t reopen. Los Padres National Forest and El Capitan State Beach are closed. There’s good news in Arizona: The Grand Canyon’s Havasu Falls is reopening to visitors after three years.

A giant cane toad, the largest ever recorded, has been discovered in northeastern Australia. A jacked-up amphibian, clocking up to six pounds without much of a flap, is called a toadzilla.

A giant rare American eel — with its four fleshy legs — has washed up on a Texas beach. For scenes like the deleted scene from “Tremors,” see here.

Egyptian Treasures

A mummy’s little “golden boy” is more precious than previously thought: Computer scans have digitally “unwrapped” the remains of a 2,300-year-old Egyptian youth, revealing 49 exquisite amulets adorning his body. The remains of an unidentified boy were first discovered in 1916 in a cemetery in southern Egypt.

Of course, humans aren’t the only ones who get the drain-and-dry treatment. In 2019, archaeologists discovered 2,000-year-old mummified crocodiles near the city of Aswan. Here’s a look at five ancient reptiles thought to belong to two different species.

Finally, following a two-year joint investigation by US and Egyptian authorities, a 500 kilogram ancient Egyptian sarcophagus lid known as the “Green Sarcophagus” was recovered by Egypt after being looted and smuggled to the US in recent years.

European islands where you can escape the world

Poet W.P. When Yeats was homesick in London, he dreamed of escaping alone to an island cabin in Ireland where he could “have some peace there, for the peace slowly recedes.” Eids didn’t benefit from seeing our guide to Europe’s best islands to get away from almost anyone, but you can read it here.

Bring your own bottle

Gone are the days of wrapping a t-shirt around a bottle of local booze and hoping you’ll get home before your suitcase resembles a glass fight at the brewery. The VinGardeValise Grande Suitcase comes with 12 foam inserts that hold bottles of any shape and keep your purchases safe. Our partners at CNN Underscored, the CNN-owned product reviews and recommendations guide, put it to the test.