Top 10 Most Disgusting Dishes from the Past

In many ways, the modern age seems to be the pinnacle of civilization – technology controls our lives and we have more insight than ever into how our bodies work and what we put into them. So, when it comes it food, it’s possible that a modern person might be somewhat reluctant to sample the delights of yesteryear, with the dubious concoctions and unorthodox cuts of meat. Discover the gruesome treats of history in our Top 10 Most Disgusting Dishes from the Past. Warning:may contain unappetizing and downright disgusting images.

10. Roast Tongue

Let’s not mess about – there are going to be a lot of body parts in this countdown. So we’re starting with one of the least obvious things that you might fancy eating – a cow’s tongue. It was a favorite among the Tudor nobles, along with boar meat and venison (the Tudors were very keen on their meat – the poorer people largely subsisted on a thin brew known as pottage). But the disturbing thing is that this particular delicacy is still popular in many places around the world, thanks to its “velvety” and “subtle” texture. If you buy a authentic Mexican taco, check the ingredients and you may well find a bit of tongue in there.  Appetizing!

9. Blancmange

A dessert still made today, the original version of blancmange was slightly more nausea-inducing.  It was made with the milk and sugar of the modern version, but with an added twist – chicken! That’s right, it was a sort of meat-y pudding affair and you can recreate it today, if you think it sounds like a crowd-pleasing dish. The word “blancmange” comes from the French phrase “blanc mangier“, meaning “white dish”, although there is some speculation that was it actually “bland mangier“, meaning “bland dish”, referring to the blancmange’s unappealing and unexciting white wobbliness. So it might be bland, it might be white, it might be a dessert, it might contain chicken or even fish. Now wonder it’s never been ultra-popular or fashionable – it’s a weird combination that appeals to pretty much no-one. But apparently it’s good for people who are sick. Because wobbly chicken sweets have never made anyone sicker, of course…

8. Colonial Squirrel Pie

When the first settlers came to America, they had to eat whatever they could find. And so the humble squirrel became a key ingredient, featuring in the tasty-sounding Colonial Squirrel Pie. Apparently, the authorities in Pennsylvania offered hunters 3 pence per squirrel for killing them and squirrel meat became known as the “Chicken of the trees“. Squirrel may also have featured in the original version of the Kentucky state dish – the Kentucky Burgoo – which was a kind of stew that included “whatever walked or flew” in a kind of multi-critter pile up. It is now also affectionately known as roadkill stew, as you can put in any animals that happen to just be lying around by the side of the road.  The exact recipe for Colonial Squirrel Pie is lost in the mists of time, but I’m sure the early settlers would approve of the “whatever walked or flew” school of cookery.

7. Iris bulbs in Vinegar

And for a bit of light relief, here’s a dish that’s not meat-based but still bizarre. This one comes from Ancient Greece, a hotbed of learning and culture apparently fueled by the delicious-sounding iris bulbs in vinegar. The iris is a wonderful plant and it can be used medicinally – traditionally to treat dropsy. It’s also used in perfumes. But as a foodstuff? That requires some serious out-of-the-box thinking which, luckily, the Ancient Greeks were very good at. All you need to do is apply a little vinegar and ta-da! An inedible root turns into a tasty treat. Other Ancient Greek favorites included peacock eggs and roasted hare, as well as octopus. Not all just pitta bread and olives then!

6. Sweetbreads

Now, sweetmeats sound fairly revolting, don’t they? A blancmange-like blend of sugar and meat maybe? But actually, they are inoffensive sweet confections not dissimilar to our modern day candies. The often-confused sweetbreads, however, are pretty revolting. There’s no delicate way of putting this – they are animal innards. Glands, pancreases, tubes etc – they all fall into the “sweetbreads” category. Nowadays, we’d largely dismiss random animal parts as offal, but certain parts are still considered to be a delicacy in haute cuisine circles. In case you’re confused by the name, it comes from the Old English brǣd, meaning “meat”. The term first appeared around the 16th century, when sweetbreads were considered the height of fine dining, and the sweetness refers to the taste, which is apparently much sweeter than other, more muscly parts of the animal. I’ll take their word for it…

5. Spam

A more modern dish now, and one which emerged out of necessity  during the Second World War. It was actually invented in 1937, a few years before the outbreak of war, but its low-cost meaty goodness really soared throughout the war years and the shortages directly afterwards. It was particularly popular in the late 1940s, when the Hormel Girls traveled from coast to coast, promoting the meat through song and dance.
The problem with spam lies in its mystery. Unlike other meaty dishes, which are all too identifiable as “bits of animal”, spam could really be anything. It’s a blend of pork shoulder and ham, blended into a delicious, gelatinous blob. Little wonder that it’s been a recurring target for comedians, pondering on what exactly goes into it. The British tradition of deep-frying it to make spam fritters hardly makes it more palatable either. On the upside, it has had a lasting legacy in that it gave its name to all kinds of junk e-mail. Long after mystery meat stops being consumed, the word “spam” will live in, as a catch-all term for virtual salesmen and teens with webcams. Thank you spam!

4. Jello Salad

And there’s more wobbly mystery in our next dish, from the same era as spam. Feel like your salad is just too unruly and falling all over the place? Here’s a solution – encase it in Jell-o! No longer will salad leaves fall out uncontrollably. As with the most food trends, it’s a bit of a mystery where this idea came from, but it was a hit with the housewives of the 1950s and 60s, with Jell-o even introducing a special savory range of flavors to complement the crunchy salad-ness of it all. Again, it has clung on to existence in some parts, with a recent article claiming it’s still a Thanksgiving favorite. Just chuck in any spare bits you have in the fridge, fill up the Jell-o mold and ta-da, a wibbly savory treat! If there was ever a dish that deserved oblivion, surely it was the congealed salad? Here’s a handy hint – if it has “congealed” in the name of the dish, it’s probably not going to appeal to everyone. Just a hint there…

3. Mock Turtle Soup

There’s a fair amount of ickiness going on in this dish. First, the inspiration for it is green turtle soup – a Chinese delicacy made with the innards of an aquatic animal you wouldn’t normally consider taking a bite out of. But it’s the imitation version, popular in 18th Century England, that’s really disgusting. Finding themselves somewhat short of green turtles, cooks reproduced the taste using cow brains. One recipe starts like this: “Take a large calf’s head. Scald off the hair. Boil it until the horn is tender, then cut it into slices about the size of your finger, with as little lean as possible”.
Call me unadventurous, but any recipe that starts with scalding hair off something just doesn’t make my taste buds perk up. Still, it did lend its name to a character in “Alice in Wonderland”, with the Mock Turtle re-imagined as a real animal, half cow and half turtle. The 18th Century cooks can be proud of themselves for that.

2. Suckling Pig

There’s more head-eating in this next recipe, the delightful French medieval dish of Pourcelet farci, or Stuffed Suckling Pig. Basically, you take the whole pig, scoop some bits out and refill it with cheese and chestnuts before sewing it back up to cook. Somehow, the sewing involved is the most revolting part of this whole experience. But the bit where the whole piglet is served up for consumption, complete with snout, ears and tail makes you feel slightly queasy too. Again, it’s not so much disappeared as evolved, into the hog roast…but nowadays, at least the head is discarded rather than eaten!

1. Rat Stew

And for the final dish on our list, here’s one that combines practical thinking with sheer revoltingness. Sailors in the 17th and 18th centuries were often at sea for weeks on end, and supplies were precious. So, an invasion of rats on board ship could be disastrous, as they ate supplies and left droppings all over the place. The rats needed to go, and meat was scarce so why not solve two problems at once and cook up the rats in a stew? Never mind that they tended to be full of disease – when you’re miles away from the nearest meat source you can’t be too fussy. A deserving winner of our most disgusting historical dish.