#OddlyBugging: Shockingly Disgusting Food For Thought

An Unpleasant Shock To The Palate

A collection of food on display in Sweden is throwing up some nasty surprises, according to a report.

The dead mouse in the Chinese wine sure looks nasty, and the maggots in the cheese tend to put people off. But nothing is more horrible to an unaccustomed palate than the Icelandic fermented shark. It’s the worst. Or so says the expert, says a Reuters report.

“It tastes like chewing on a urine-infested mattress,” said Samuel West, who, as curator of the Disgusting Food Museum, knows a thing or two about unpleasant victuals.

“It’s a fermented sort of rotten Icelandic shark,” he says. “Anthony Bourdain, the late TV personality, called it the single most disgusting thing he’d ever eaten, and I totally agree with him. From spicy rabbit heads to fruit bat soup, the collection, now on display in the Swedish city of Malmo, aims to challenge perceptions of taste and help visitors contemplate why one culture’s abomination is another’s delicacy.

Some visitors have a hard time of it.

“Has anyone thrown up here at the museum? Yes twice,” West said. But, “it’s okay to vomit because our entry tickets are not really tickets — they’re printed on vomit bags.”

Bedbugs Back In Courtroom

Bedbugs seem to love familiar surroundings, if a story from a US courtroom is to be believed, says a report.

A South Carolina courthouse has been evacuated after bedbugs were found there for the second time in just over two weeks, says an AP report.

Clerk of Court David Hamilton said specially trained dogs found evidence of bedbugs in both courtrooms of the criminal court building as well as in offices on both floors.

Hamilton said officials decided to close the entire building for safety as a stronger chemical treatment is applied. Bedbugs were found in parts of the building earlier.

Hamilton says the areas were treated then with heat, and testing afterward found no bugs.

Albino Python Springs A Surprise

A man sorting clothes in the US got a nasty surprise when he spotted an albino python near the bin, according to a report.

The Goodwill worker was collecting clothes and other items at a Texas sorting centre. The python was huddled in a pile of clothes when the worker discovered it at the centre in Fort Worth, according to an AP report.

Manager James Murphy says it’s not clear if the snake slithered away from its owner and was accidentally dropped off or if its donation was intentional.

The python had a serpentine journey: It arrived at one of nearly 40 Goodwill donation drop-offs in the area before being transported to the Fort Worth sorting centre.

Goodwill staffers will care for the python until the owner claims it or a permanent home is found.

Escaped llama Found Before Park Closure

A pack llama that escaped from a guided hike in southern Yellowstone National Park in August was rescued by a Montana outfitter, just days before most of the park’s entrances were to close for winter preparations, says a report.

“I just had to help him,” Susi Huelsmeyer-Sinay with Yellowstone Llamas in Bozeman, Montana, said. “He was abandoned.”

Wilderness Ridge Trail Llamas owner Kirstin Baty of Idaho Falls, Idaho, said that Ike ran off after guides loosened his halter because it irritated the spot of a previously abscessed tooth, says an AP report.

Ike slipped out of the halter completely,” Baty said, “Because he’s sneaky, and he knows he can.” It was the second time he’d escaped in the park, but the first foray was less than a couple of weeks in duration, Baty said.

After his August escape, the 12- to 15-year-old, 350-pound llama evaded capture attempts for about a month, including special treats and efforts to lure him in with other llamas.

Flatulent Man Gives A Rotten Time

A flatulent man in the US gave a rotten time to police who were questioning him, says a report.

The man whose excessive flatulence forced a police detective to cut shot an interrogation later pleaded guilty to federal gun and drug charges, says an AP report.

The Kansas City Star reported that 25-year-old Sean Sykes Jr entered the plea.

The charges stem from a police traffic stop in Kansas City, Missouri, in which officers found a backpack with drugs and guns. Sykes was a passenger in the vehicle.

A detective reported that when asked for his address, Sykes “leaned to one side of his chair and released a loud fart before answering.” Court documents say Sykes “continued to be flatulent” and the detective was forced to quickly end the interview.

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