A Look at 10 of the Most Toxic Delicacies on the Dining Table
Can you believe it? Some of these well-known delicacies on the dining table are actually poisonous. Be careful when eating them, and don't overindulge at the expense of your health.
1. Mushrooms: Beware of poisonous mushrooms.
For many gourmands, foraging for wild mushrooms in the mountains and cooking them for a picnic has become a pastime, leading to cases of mushroom poisoning every year. Perhaps the charm of the more than 300 species of edible mushrooms, which are antiviral, delicious, nourishing, and uniquely savory, is greater than the toxicity of the over 100 species of poisonous mushrooms. People are fearless! Young people in Japan are even more extreme; a "magic mushroom" drug, made from several mushrooms containing narcotic components and marketed as "non-addictive but causes hallucinations," has rapidly become popular in recent years.
2. Foie Gras: It's the diseased liver of a goose that becomes large.
It is a noble and exquisite delicacy with a fragrant and mellow taste, paired with a 1870 Bordeaux for a grand feast. Little do people know that this fatty delicacy is actually the liver of a goose with liver disease. While our time-honored traditional cuisine does not include foie gras, the French came up with a method of force-feeding geese for four weeks with a mixture of wheat, corn, fat, and salt to induce "liver disease." A large size, heavy weight, and pure color are considered superior.
3. Shark Fin and Shark Liver Oil: Do not take in excess.
Sharks are now hunted worldwide, largely because some "rogue" scientist discovered that "of all animals in the world, sharks are the only ones that do not get cancer." At a time when we daily worry about whether our bodies are developing cancer, sharks have become a lifesaver on a dangerous dining table. Shark liver oil is made into expensive health supplements in Norway; shark fin at banquets in China represents a form of炫耀 (showing off). There are hundreds of shark attacks on humans every year, making headlines in the press, but humans eat sharks every day, consuming 800,000 tons of sharks annually. Furthermore, studies indicate that taking large doses of shark liver oil over a long period can lead to poisoning.
4. Pufferfish: A deadly delicacy.
1 gram of tetrodotoxin from a pufferfish can kill 500 people, yet "the more poisonous, the more delicious." The exquisite taste of pufferfish has become a "Diao Chan" (a famous beauty from the Three Kingdoms period) in Chinese cuisine—the more dangerous, the more it is craved. The Song Dynasty poet Mei Yachen wrote in his poem "Pufferfish": "In spring, duckweed buds grow, and spring shores are filled with flying catkins. When pufferfish are in season, their price is beyond that of fish and shrimp." Pufferfish diners thus adopt a "heroic" spirit, reminiscent of "the cold wind at Yishui," always having the waiter taste the dish first before they dig in. Japanese diners also share this spirit; they have developed safe methods for preparing pufferfish. The Chinese folk method is pufferfish meat plus radish. Every spring, several people fall ill, but there are always successors in China.
5. Salmon: It may contain artificial coloring.
That lovely pink color originally comes from artificial coloring in their feed, and their rich, firm texture comes from antibiotics added during artificial farming. The residual chemical toxins in their bodies are now sufficient to damage the human immune and reproductive systems. Of course, its delicate and delicious meat still makes it the most popular fish for sashimi. It is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, an essential substance for the brain, retina, and nervous system, enhancing brain function, preventing stroke and heart disease, and preventing vision loss. It is truly a "treasure from the water." Given the current level of pollution, it is not enough to make everyone give up eating it entirely.
6. Civet Cat: It carries viruses.
As a representative dish of the "wild game" cuisine, the deliciousness of civet cats is fading from the Chinese palate, although it is still a terrestrial wild animal with mature captive breeding techniques and is allowed on people's dining tables. However, "coincidentally," the SARS-like virus found on civet cats is surprisingly similar to the SARS virus that infects humans. It is also rumored that among the first people infected with SARS in China was a chef from a wild game restaurant. The SARS panic lasted for over a year, and civet cats had to temporarily retire. However, Chinese people's interest in wild game has not diminished; without civet cats, they just find "civet foxes."
7. Oysters: Concerns about hygiene conditions.
The aphrodisiac oyster is also the lifelong love of the great Casanova. His secret for being able to be with so many beautiful women in a day may be attributed to swallowing 40 oysters raw daily. The beauty of oysters lies in their freshness, so the suggestion to "cook them for at least 5 minutes before eating" is essentially a "safety fallacy" that doesn't understand true delicacy and is impractical. 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'll have to suffer from diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea. The current farming environments and oceans are suffering from industrial pollution, and oysters, like their bodies, are pollution recycling stations.
8. Crab: They may be "fed drugs."
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 life's great pleasures for the Chinese people. However, this scavenger is also a diarrhea-inducing food that harms the stomach and intestines. It should especially not be eaten with persimmons, as the combination immediately causes food poisoning. Other foods with 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? Furthermore, with rumors of hormones used in crab farming, the severity of "red tides," and the tactic of feeding birth control pills during crab spawning, crab, as a signature dish in numerous seafood restaurants across the country, has inevitably become a high-risk food item.
9. Soft-Shelled Turtle: Hormone-ripened.
The proverb "A soft-shelled turtle eats a soft-shelled turtle, and it doesn't recognize its own relatives" may speak to the absurdity of these creatures, but they are indeed delicious. However, the problem lies in this: if it's a wild soft-shelled turtle, it is a multi-year animal, and its large number of internal parasites must be guarded against. If it's farm-raised, it has been exposed to the use of sex hormones to accelerate growth; a 7-year growth period is hyper-compressed into just 7 months, which is terrifying. Doctors also warn: "Patients with hepatitis should not eat soft-shelled turtles. Its rich protein will加重 (add to) the burden on the liver, and in severe cases, it can rapidly worsen the condition, induce hepatic coma, and even lead to death."
10. Dried Bean Curd Sheets: Processed with toxic chemical additives.
Originally a healthy delicacy, for better color, longer shelf life, and increased production, some unscrupulous individuals use toxic chemical additives such as formaldehyde, sodium borate, and "sodium hydrosulfite" (a bleaching agent) in the production of dried bean curd sheets. Ingesting 0.2-0.5 grams of sodium hydrosulfite can cause poisoning in adults, and 3 grams can be fatal. Formaldehyde is a known carcinogen. After consuming a certain amount of sodium borate, it can lead to loss of appetite, indigestion, inhibited nutrient absorption, promoted fat breakdown, and weight loss. Poisoning symptoms include vomiting, diarrhea, erythema, circulatory system disorders, shock, and coma. The lethal dose for an adult is about 20 grams, and for a child, about 5 grams.