Just months after Lebanon set the record for the world’s biggest hummus dish, chefs from the Arab-Israeli village of Abu-Gosh snatched it away with an even greater achievement.

On Friday, fifty cooks mashed up ridiculous quantities of chickpeas, sesame paste, olive oil, lemon juice and garlic and created the world’s largest hummus dish ever, weighing over 4 tons (4,087,5 kg). It was put on display outside the Abu-Gosh Restaurant, on a 20-meter satellite dish, provided by sponsors.

When Guinness official Jack Brookbank acknowledged the new world record and applauded the chefs for not sacrificing quality over quantity,  Jawadat Ibrahim, organizer of the event and owner of the Abu-Gosh Restaurant, shouted that Abu-Gosh is the hummus capital of the world. Clearly taunting words meant for Lebanese chefs, who will most certainly respond with an even bigger hummus dish.

The hummus wars have been raging on between Middle-Eastern countries for a while now, with many of them claiming the tasty dish as a national delicacy. The origins of one of the world’s oldest culinary treats are lost in time, but when has that stopped people from fighting over stuff…

..

A German company created  a series of sausage-inspired rugs that you can actually place around your house.

Flachbild decide to spice up the carpet industry a little and came up with four cold-cuts inspired rugs. These are just the first out of an entire series and represent salami, mortadella, blood sausage and ham (pimento loaf).

The edible-looking rugs are made entirely from wool, range from one to five meters in diameter and have a thickness of approximately 1.8 centimeters. If you want one of these for your home and can speak some “Deutsch”, check out Flachbild’s official site. Just make sure you keep an eye on your kids, they might try to munch on the rugs.

via If It’s Hip, It’s Here

..

Her name is Jana Danae Groller and her love for baking, challenges and giving to people creates true edible masterpieces.

With help from her husband Matt, Jana comes up with all kinds of cake concepts and together think up different ways of actually bringing them to life. Their collaborative work so far is pretty impressive, especially the Jesus Cake and the Elvis Cake. But according to Jana, this is only the beginning, so we can expect a lot more delicious artworks.

If you want an edible Elvis for yourself, you’ll be glad to know Jana takes orders. Just drop by Jana’s Fun Cakes and check out her work.

via UnusualLife

..

A pest in the United States and pretty much everywhere else, Cuitlacoche, or Corn Smut, is considered a delicacy in Mexico.

Cuitlacoche is sold at a higher price than healthy corn and used to make tortillas. The diseases attacks the kernels, turning them into spore-filled tumors that apparently taste way better than healthy corn. The smut-infected corn is picked before it reaches maturity, so the kernels are still moist and taste sweet, savory, woody, and earthy.

After high-profile chefs and government officials tried to convince the American  people to stop regarding Cuitlacoche as a disease and start treating it like food, cans of Cuitlacoche found their way on to store shelves. But people are still reluctant to try it…I wonder why.

..

Invented by a Frenchman who used to make a living fitting kitchens, Snail Caviar is France’s newest gastronomical sensation.

Dominique Pierru, the genius behind Snail Caviar, spent three years perfecting his invention, after abandoning his career as a kitchen fitter. He had to find a way to “convince” his 180,000 snails to lay a large enough quantity of eggs, then soften and condition them. It was a tough-enough task, but now his De Jaeger caviar is one of the most coveted treats in French restaurants.

After selling 200 kg of Snail Caviar in 2008, Pierru estimates he’ll ship 300 kg by the end of the year. And that’s not because it’s cheap, a 30 gram-jar sells for 39 euros, while the 50 gram-one has an 82 euros price tag.

Dominique and his wife decided to invent the bizarre delicacy after reaching the conclusion that traditional snail farming is not a viable business. Now they import snails from Eastern European countries and watch them lay eggs. How’s that for viable?

Snail Caviar is best served on toast or sage leaf, accompanied by a glass of champagne.

via Arbroath

..

Real gold leafs and white truffles make the Golden Kaiser Schnitzel the world’s most expensive schnitzel.

A German restaurant in Dusseldorf decided to laugh at the economic crisis and offer its customers one of the most expensive treats on Earth. The Berger Strasse restaurant has been serving its golden delight for about three years, but only recently began to promote it.

Thomas Huber, the establishment’s manager, said the gold has no taste and therefore ads nothing to the flavour of the schnitzel, but the white Italian Alba truffles are a whole other matter. At 5,000 euros per kilo, these exclusive ingredients set the Golden Kaiser Schnitzel’s price tag at 150,euros ($242).

So far around 100 golden schnitzel’s have been sold.

via The Local

..

I love a good omelet and I’ve been known to gobble down boiled eggs from tme to time, but Century Eggs? No freaking way!

Known also as preserved egg, hundred-year egg, thousand-year egg or thousand-year-old egg, the Century Egg is a Chinese delicacy used in many traditional dishes. Fresh duck, chicken or quail eggs become Century Eggs after weeks, sometimes months of preservation in a mixture of clay, ash, lime, salt and rice. The process of “cooking” Century Eggs is believed to date back 600 years, when someone apparently found some old eggs preserved in a pool of slaked lime. Upon tasting them, he decided to produce some more, but this time with some added salt.

After the preservation is complete, the hull mixture and egg shell are removed to reveal the now dark-brown egg-white and a dark-green, creamy and pungent yolk.  It’s the alkaline that raises the ph of the egg from 9 to 12 or more and gives it a strong smell of ammonia and sulfur.

Century Eggs are consumed either raw, or as ingredients in other Chinese foods. There are those who associate them with smelly cheese, pungent but really delicious. Sadly there are others (myself included) who just can’t get past the disgusting colors and smell.

..

Because puppy, kitty and rat steaks taste so damn good.

During one of my daily internet surfing sessions, I stumbled on one of the weirdest sites I’ve ever seen. It’s called Rat Beef.com and it’s an online rat butchery (doesn’t that sound delightful). Sure, we’ve featured photos of cooked field rats before, but to see them commercialized online struck me as a tad bizarre. RatBeef states their rats are bred and raised in 100% natural conditions and they even offer a few cooking recipes.

While I was browsing the site’s pages, looking for some suiting pics, I found Rat Beef has two sister (to be read siNIster) sites, Puppy Beef and Kitty Beef which sell…well, you can guess. I know these types of meats are very popular in some Asian countries, but to see them sold on websites containing the words puppy and kitty is just ridiculous.

In case you don’t believe this is odd in anyway, at least you know where you can buy your exotic meats from now on.

..

Is this what they mean by brain food?

The disgusting-looking brain cupcakes you see below were baked by a girl named Pamela, back in August, but I just discovered them today and couldn’t help but share with you guys. Delicious red velvet raspberry cake, cream cheese frosting and chocolate brains, created with moulds, make up some of the weirdest deserts I’ve ever seen.

..

Damn, I’m so thirsty, I’d kill for a bottle of Buffalo Wings right now. Whew, thank God for Meat Water, right?

The best way to describe Meat Water drink is “dinner in a bottle”. This high efficiency survival beverage brings you all your favorite foods in liquid form. that’s right why bother cooking Italian meatballs, pizza, fried oysters or whatever else you like, when you can just drink them out of the bottle?

Apparently, Meat Water is perfect for athletes because it allows them to cut down on exercing and eating time and allows them to enjoy themselves. Of course that doesn’t apply to me because, one: I’m not an athlete, and two: I actually enjoy myself when eating.

Read more about Meat Water on their official site

..

On November 25, a yam and taro contest crowned the largest yam of 2009, in South-West China.

As one of the biggest yam and taro supplier in China, Anhe Township held the seventh annual Yam King Contest. Farmers from all around the area brought their biggest harvested yams hoping they’ll snatch the title of yam King 2009.

The winner of the contest was a 1.66 meters-long yam that weighed 38 kilograms. I bet that’s big enough to feed the farmer’s whole family for a long time.

via Xinhua

..

Ed Bing Lee, a talented artist from Philadelphia, has been perfecting his knotting skills for the past 25 years and is now able to create practically anything using basic macrame knots.

His “Delectables” series features some of the most delicious art pieces I’ve ever had the privilege of seeing. They may not be edible, but Ed Bing Lee’s knotted foods sure look good enough to eat. Using as many as 500 half-hitch knots per square inch, the artist managed to transform into a unique art form.

..

Entitled “You Can’t Have Your Cake and Eat It Too”, the chocolate couch was created by Argentinian artist Leandro Erlich for an art-exhibit appropriately named “Let Them Eat Art”.

The chocolaty art-piece was covered in a thick layer of chocolate that not only made it look like a brown leather couch, but also feel like one. All the couch details, including buttons and stitching were made from chocolate.

That chocolate couch looks so real I bet there was someone at the gallery door telling visitors not to sit on it.

via mocoloco

..

Students from a Colombian cooking school presented their unusual “love dessert” at the Gastronomy 2009 culinary show, in Bogota.

The special pudding contains dissolved Viagra, passion-fruit and is garnished with whipped-cream and chocolate. The students, aged between 17 and 23, found a way to safely dissolve the magic blue pill in their dessert and create a new, sweet aphrodisiac. They say their recipe contains detailed instructions on how to dissolve the pill.

Because Viagra is a prescription drug, the Love Dessert can’t yet be sold, but once Colombia’s food and drug institute concludes its analysis of the dessert, you may find it in cafes and restaurants near you. Enjoy and make sure to wear baggy trousers.

Photos by William Fernando Martinez / AP

via IBN Live

..

I’m not a big Star-Wars fan, but I’ve got to say this Imperial Walker looks good enough to eat.

But who could muster the courage to take the first bite and ruin such a culinary masterpiece? I mean look at this thing, it looks almost just like the real thing and it even has that ship wrapping a cable around its legs, just like in the Star-Wars movie. There’s no question this frosting-covered Imperial Walker cake looks bad-ass, but I can’t help wonder what it tastes like? And is there a chance a stormtrooper could get stuck between your teeth? Hmm…

via Geekstir

..