Shark Fin
Deliciousness Index: ★★★★★
Danger Index: ★★★
Sharks are being hunted worldwide, the key is that some rogue scientist discovered: "Of all animals in the world, sharks are the only ones that don't get cancer." In our daily worry about whether our bodies have cancer, shark fin has become a lifesaver on a dangerous dinner table.
Shark oil is made into expensive health supplements in Norway; shark fin at banquets represents a display of wealth in China. There are hundreds of shark attacks on humans every year, making headlines in the newspapers, but humans eat sharks every day, consuming 800,000 tons of sharks annually. Another study says that taking large doses of shark liver oil for a long time can lead to poisoning.
Goose Liver
Deliciousness Index: ★★★★★
Danger Index: ★★★
It is a noble delicacy, with a fragrant and mellow taste, paired with 1870 red wine, it becomes a luxurious feast. Little do people know that such a fatty liver is from a goose that has developed liver disease. Our time-honored traditional cuisine does not include goose liver, but the French came up with a method of intensive feeding for four weeks with a mixture of wheat, corn, fat, and salt to induce "liver disease" in geese.
A large size, heavy weight, and pure color are signs of the best quality. Besides its maddening tenderness and rich aroma, it is also rich in lecithin.
Mushrooms
Deliciousness Index: ★★★★
Danger Index: ★★★★
Every year, people die because of their own choices, a recurring event that includes suicide, swimming, and picking mushrooms. Foraging for mushrooms in the mountains for a picnic and cooking seems to be a hobby for many gourmands, so mushroom poisoning incidents happen every year. Perhaps the charm of more than 300 types of edible mushrooms, which are antiviral, delicious, nourishing, and uniquely fresh, is greater than the poison of more than 100 types of poisonous mushrooms. People are not afraid of death!
Japanese young people are even more crazy. A drug called "magic mushrooms," made from several types of mushrooms containing anesthetic components, described as "non-addictive but causes hallucinations," has recently become popular as their psychedelic drug.
Pufferfish Deliciousness Index: ★★★★★ Danger Index: ★★★★★ 1 gram of pufferfish toxin can kill 500 people, but "no poison, no deliciousness." The deliciousness of pufferfish has become the "Diaochan" of the Chinese culinary world; the more dangerous it is, the more people crave it. The poet Mei Yaochen of the Song Dynasty wrote in his poem "Pufferfish": "In spring, water plants grow, and spring willows fly. When it's pufferfish season, its value surpasses that of fish and shrimp." Pufferfish diners thus add a "heroic spirit" to themselves, but before they pick up their chopsticks, they always ask the waiter to taste it first. Only when the waiter doesn't fall do they feast heartily. Diners in the East also have this spirit. They have already figured out safe ways to eat pufferfish. The Chinese folk method is pufferfish meat + radish. Every spring, some people always fall, but in China, there will always be successors. American Beef Deliciousness Index: ★★★ Danger Index: ★★★★★ To date, more than 100 people worldwide have died from eating beef infected with mad cow disease, and it is estimated that more than 2 million people have been infected with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (the human form of mad cow disease). The incubation period for this disease is 10-30 years, and the danger still lurks in the body. "If a person eats the meat, brain, or blood of a cow with mad cow disease, they may contract the fatal Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease. The human brain will also become spongy like a cow's brain, eventually leading to neurological disorders and death." Such a description is certainly terrifying. Fortunately, although Western food is becoming more and more popular, Chinese people are still not a nation that loves beef. So, we are more worried about a "mad chicken disease" happening one day. Salmon Deliciousness Index: ★★★★ Danger Index: ★★★ Its lovely pink color originally comes from the coloring in its feed, its richness and thickness come from the antibiotics added during artificial farming, and the residual chemical toxins in its body are now enough to destroy the human immune and reproductive systems. Of course, its delicate and delicious taste still makes it the most popular fish for sashimi. It is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential for the brain, retina, and nervous system, enhancing brain function, preventing stroke and heart disease, and preventing vision loss. It is truly a "treasure in the water." Given the current level of pollution, it is not enough to make people give up eating it. Civet Cat Deliciousness Index: ★★★★ Danger Index: ★★★★★ As a representative dish of the wild food faction, the deliciousness of civet cat is fading from the taste buds of Chinese people, although it is still a terrestrial wild animal with mature captive breeding technology and is allowed on people's dining tables. But "coincidentally," the SARS-like virus found on civet cats is surprisingly identical to the SARS virus that infects humans. It is also rumored that among the first batch of people infected with SARS in China, there was a chef from a wild animal restaurant. The panic of SARS lasted for more than a year, and civet cats had to temporarily retreat from the "world." But Chinese people's interest in wild food has not changed. Without civet cats, they will just find "fox cats." Dog Meat Deliciousness Index: ★★★★ Danger Index: ★★★ Humans cannot outrun dogs—unless they poison them. As the smartest animal around humans, dogs never expected that Chinese people would not abide by the rules of fair play and would use cyanide to hunt and slaughter them. A news report from the World Cuisine Network: When South Korea hosted the 2002 World Cup, they were boycotted by foreigners for their dog-eating habits. "Dog meat boiled three times, even a god can't stand it," but Chinese people, who are not gods, hide behind their own doors, risking the wrath of animal lovers, the risk of nosebleeds, and the chance of toxic cyanide, all for the inner desire that dog meat is an aphrodisiac. Oyster Deliciousness Index: ★★★★ Danger Index: ★★★ The "aphrodisiac" oyster is also the lifelong love of the great lover Casanova. The secret to his ability to be with dozens of beautiful women a day may be attributed to his daily consumption of 40 raw oysters. The beauty of an oyster lies in its freshness, so the advice to "cook for at least 5 minutes before eating" is basically an impractical "safety fallacy" that doesn't understand true deliciousness. The best oysters in the world come from Europe, North America, and Japan. If you don't have enough money to eat in these reliable and hygienic places, you will have to suffer from diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea. There is no other reason; our farming environment and oceans are suffering from industrial pollution, and the oyster, like its body, is a recycling station. Crab Deliciousness Index: ★★★★ Danger Index: ★★★ The first person in China to eat a crab has long been gone. In the golden autumn season, holding a crab and drinking wine is one of the great joys of life for Chinese people. But this scavenger is also a diarrhea-causing food that harms the digestive system. Especially, it cannot be eaten with persimmons; the two together immediately cause food poisoning. Other foods that cause similar reactions include: pears, peanuts, eggplant, muskmelons, and even ice and tea. To eat one crab, you have to avoid so many things, but can you really avoid them all? You will always be caught off guard. In addition, there are rumors of hormones used in crab farming, the severity of "red tides," and the trick of feeding birth control pills when crabs lay eggs. As the signature dish of numerous seafood restaurants across the country, crab has inevitably become a high-risk food.