Strange Foods 2

It never occurred to me that this would be on my strange foods list, but I guess the majority of the people I know have never tried birds nest soup. Don't be confused with a regular nest. This nest is not made of leaves and twigs, rather, the bird's saliva. Yes, saliva. Certain species of swiftlets from Southeast Asia build their nests high inside caves, and collectors climb up dangerous bamboo scaffolds and pick them off the walls. Many Asians believe these nests provide many health benefits, "such as aiding digestion, raising libido, improving the voice, alleviating asthma, increasing concentration, and an overall benefit to the immune system." Because of the high demand for these birds nests which unavoidably causes the swiftlet population to dramatically decrease, the government has tried to enforce regulations on harvesting these, but I guess this is difficult to enforce. With all the effort and danger involved, these nests don't come cheap. A pound of white birds nest can can set you back more than $2000! (Red ones are cheaper.)

Anyway! I had a nice big bowl of white bird nest soup tonight. Very generous amounts of birds nest was steamed with some dried dates, raw sugar, and water to create a wonderful dessert. You're probably thinking, "Hmmm... I've always wanted to know how does bird spit taste like?" I can certainly answer that question! Yummy!! It tastes like tasteless, slippery, gelatinous chunks, some parts kinda stringy, most parts in chunks of varying degrees. It's sort of weird. I can't think of any food in the American culture that is comparable. Sorry.

Here's a pic of the nest before the preparation takes place. "Borrowed" this from a site. Too bad I didn't take a pic of my bowl of soup. Oh well. Next time.