Title: It’s Disgusting and We ate it!

Author: James Solheim

Publisher: Aladdin

Number of pages: 48

Type of Book: Non- Fiction

Age: 6-12

Available here: http://www.amazon.com/Disgusting-Facts-Around-Throughout-History/dp/0689843933

Price: $9.99

MY SUMMARY

What would you rather eat for lunch? A steaming piece of pizza, a bowl of bugs, a live oyster or a fish’s head? You might be surprised to learn that many people in the world will not answer ‘PIZZA”.

This book features the silliest, strangest, sickest meals the world has ever known from frog legs in China, to roasted giant spiders, raw long white earthworms dug from rotten logs in Australia, raw fish, raw squid and seaweed sushi in Japan to minced rattle snake meat made in the US. Divided into three parts, it looks at exotic foods around the world today (like earthworm soup eaten by the Chinese); exotic dishes in history (rat stew eaten by sailors) and a rather scary behind the scenes look at the contents of the food items in our fridge today! (Like the bacteria and fungi that make up cheese and mushrooms).

I distinctly remember eating roasted crickets (abuzu) and fried termites (aku) as a child. While I thought they were delicious, the average American kid would probably throw up while watching me eat them, esp. during the rather noisy sucking of the delicious, soft, white, juicy liquid in the aku’s stomach.

The ‘delicacies’ in this book give a whole new meaning to the line “One man’s meat is another man’s poison”!

THUMBS UP AND DOWN

UP: Everything!! It’s a well-researched, beautifully illustrated book that entertains while educating. It has lots of facts delivered in the most interesting way possible!

For example, did you know that roasted giant spiders are a greater source of protein than beef? One ton of beef has 394 pounds of protein whereas one ton of spiders has 1268 pounds of protein! Did you also know that the world’s costliest spice comes from flowers? A pound of this spice, Saffron, used to make rice, etc., costs up to $4,000 (Over N1m!)

The dishes made of reptiles like snakes, insects like termites, crickets and grasshoppers and other animals like fishes, spiders, earthworms, even flowers will keep you either horrifically horrified or smacking your lips!

The book also features a bibliography at the end for kids who want to do some more digging on true food facts around the world! A must have in any curious mind’s library!

DOWN: None

RATING

5 Stars

TRIVIA

1. What is cheese? Milk curdled by bacteria.
2. The world’s costliest spice is made from? Saffron
3. One of the world’s most edible fungi? Mushrooms!
4. Process of milk production? Cows chew grass and weed, swallow them into the first two stomachs, burp the grass up, chew more grass, mush them all up and send the mush up through the last two stomachs. Then the milk comes out through the udder, a giant sweat gland! Anyone for a glass of fresh milk?
5. Some delicacies eaten in Africa mentioned in the book? Fried termites, roasted crickets and grasshoppers.
6. What is sushi? A Japanese rice dish made up of raw fish, raw squid, seaweeds and rice.

For some truly disgusting recipes from around the world: http://www.jamessolheim.com/worlds-weirdest-recipes.html#.VoKIkbT6La4

CHALLENGE: It’s Disgusting and We ate it!

CREATE (WRITE a Story/Poem OR DRAW)

1. List 2 truly disgusting animals/insects/plants eaten in the Northern, Eastern, Western and Southern Parts of Nigeria? (6-8 year olds)

OR

2. Write a recipe for the most disgusting meal you have ever eaten. Include a picture of the meal. (9-12 year olds)

OR

3. Write a poem on ‘One man’s meat is another man’s poison’. (9-12 year olds)

Send your answers to ugochinyelu.anidi@gmail.com

Entry requirements: Entrants must be within the 6-12 age range. The first correct entry will be announced on this page and will win a copy of this book.  

Answers must be submitted before 12:00am on Sunday, January 2^nd 2016

Next Book of the Week:

DIDI KANU AND THE SINGING DWARVES OF THE NORTH by Jude Idada