- Ever eaten a dish that’s simply to die for?
Everybody likes good food. There are few things in the world better than tucking into a dish that is to die for.
Sometimes, though, that phrase is terrifyingly literal.
People around the world eat many things that do not want to be eaten. Without careful preparation, these delicacies could make you seriously ill — or even kill you. In fact, you’ll be surprised how many common foods can be fatally dangerous.
Here are nine meals from all over the globe that could well be your last.
1. Cassava
Cassava — also called manioc, yuca, and many other things — is a starchy tuber originally from South America. It has since become the world’s third most consumed source of carbs, and is particularly popular in Africa.
That’s all despite the fact that straight out of the ground, cassava is fatally toxic. The roots contain cyanogenic glycosides that metabolize into cyanide in your stomach.
So, yeah, raw cassava isn’t exactly healthy to eat.
Cassava comes in two varieties, sweet and bitter, with bitter cassava being several times more toxic. However, both need to be cooked very carefully, or you will have a bad time.
2. Stonefish
Stonefish are a family of ugly fish living in the coastal areas of the Indo-Pacific. However, it tastes much better than it looks, and stonefish is a popular delicacy in Japan, China, and elsewhere in East Asia.
The dangerous part about stonefish is catching it — considering it’s the most venomous fish in the world. The fish’s back is lined with up to 30 spines that squirt a cocktail of neurotoxins that, if untreated, rapidly shuts down your lungs.
Fortunately, the protein-based venom breaks down harmlessly when exposed to heat. Cooking the fish makes it both safe and delicious. The Japanese even eat it as raw sashimi, as virtually all the venom is packed in its dorsal fin.
We’d rather not be the chef who has to cut the fin off, though.
3. Ackee
Ackee is a funky-looking fruit from West Africa that has spread to many other places as well. It’s perhaps most famous for making up half of Jamaica’s national food, ackee and saltfish.
However, there’s exactly one part of the ackee fruit that you can eat. That’s the ripe arils, or the spongy, fleshy parts covering the seed, that have a yummy flavor and a soft, buttery texture?
The rest of the fruit? It’s ridden with toxins called hypoglycin, which causes a delightful condition called Jamaican vomiting disease. In addition to causing easily guessable symptoms, hypoglycin stops your liver’s ability to process fatty acids, which can eventually kill you through low blood sugar.
In fact, even the arils are dangerous unless the fruit is perfectly ripe. You can’t help but wonder how many trials and horrible errors there had to be until people learned how to eat ackee safely.
4. Chili Pepper
We can already hear you hotheads scoffing that dying to chili sounds like a problem for babies who can’t handle their spice. And that might be true to a point.
However, modern chili varieties have pushed chilies’ spiciness way beyond that. There are chili varieties that are so spicy that they genuinely can and likely will kill you.
Take, for instance, Pepper X, which is the world’s spiciest pepper at 2.69 million Scoville units. To put that in perspective, that’s stronger than some grades of pepper spray that cops and militaries use.
If you ate a whole pepper, you risk an anaphylactic shock that spells your doom. Even the pepper’s creator (who is one of the only five people to actually eat this horrible thing) said he was in agony for hours.
5. Elderberries
Elderberries are used in both traditional and modern medicine, in addition to serving as flavoring in foods. You shouldn’t eat them off the bush, though.
Much like cassava, elderberries contain compounds that your stomach will break down into cyanide. And we probably don’t need to tell you why eating cyanide is not an excellent idea.
Fortunately, elderberry-containing products you buy at the store will have been prepared in a manner that neutralizes the poison. So, you can enjoy your elderberry syrup, jam, or liqueur without worry.
6. Shark Fin
You’d imagine that the most dangerous part of a shark is where the teeth are. However, its fins can be just as lethal.
Shark fin soup is a traditional delicacy in East Asia, and hundreds of years ago it was probably perfectly safe to eat. Then we started pumping lead, mercury, and other heavy metals into the oceans.
Sharks absorbs the heavy metals, after which their metabolism packs them into their bodies — particularly the fins. Consuming shark fins even semi-regularly is a very efficient way to develop heavy metal poisoning, which might be a cool band name but a very dangerous medical condition.
Add that on top of the cruel methods used to harvest shark fins, and you’re better off just not eating the stuff.
7. Chicken
Chicken is dangerous? Oh yes. We’re sure you’re aware that you shouldn’t eat undercooked or raw chicken because it could carry salmonella.
As anyone who has accidentally gotten this bacterium in their system can tell you, you won’t be leaving the bathroom for a while. In severe cases, salmonella poisoning can lead to fatal dehydration, septic shock, and typhoid fever.
You might have eaten chicken all your life and been perfectly fine. Yet, more people die from salmonella every year than die from…
8. Fugu
…Fugu poisoning. Fugu, or pufferfish, is an expensive, refined Japanese delicacy that often gets the questionable honor of being named the most dangerous food in the world.
That’s because fugu is ridiculously poisonous. Well, the fish itself isn’t, but it eats things that are packed with tetrodotoxin. The poison doesn’t harm the fish, but it builds in its body (just like heavy metals in shark fins).
Most parts of the fish, including its skin and organs, are utterly inedible no matter how you prepare them because… Well, you’ll just die.
In Japan, sushi chefs wanting to serve fugu most complete a rigorous, multi-year training program to receive the proper license. To illustrate just how difficult slicing fugu just right is, only 35% of applicants finish the training successfully.
9. Kidney Beans
Kidney beans are a common food in many parts of the world, including here in the U.S. But they’re also the most dangerous of all beans.
It might surprise you, but beans contain a poison called phytohemagglutinin, and red kidney beans pack the most poisonous punch. Eating just a single raw kidney bean can cause severe gastrointestinal pain and distress, and eating more can very well kill you.
To make kidney beans edible, they require an hours-long process of soaking and boiling. That’s why it’s best to buy canned kidney beans — they’re pre-treated and safe.
Didn’t get your fill of insane dishes? Continue the feast with 7 of the Scariest Foods Around the World (That People Actually Eat).