#5.Casu Marzu
From:
Sardinia, Italy.
What is it?
Casu Marzu is a sheep's milk cheese that has been deliberately infested by a Piophila casei, the "cheese fly." The result is a maggot-ridden, weeping stink bomb in an advanced state of decomposition.
Its translucent larvae are able to jump about 6 inches into the air, making this the only cheese that requires eye protection while eating. The taste is strong enough to burn the tongue, and the larvae themselves pass through the stomach undigested, sometimes surviving long enough to breed in the intestine, where they attempt to bore through the walls, causing vomiting and bloody diarrhea.
This cheese is a delicacy in Sardinia, where it is illegal. That's right. It is illegal in the only place where people actually want to eat it. When prodded, it weeps an odorous liquid called lagrima, Sardinian for "tears."
If the maggots are still wriggling, then it's okay to eat. If the maggots aren't wriggling, that means the cheese has become toxic.
Danger of this turning up in America:
Most likely would be illegal here, too, for health reasons.