delicacy news stories on Newser

The Tuna on Your Plate May Be Endangered

Harry Kimball — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 16:27:26 CST

You might suspect a sushi restaurant that doesn’t specify what sort of tuna you’re eating of trying to pawn off an inferior species. Not so. Researchers using novel DNA barcoding technology found that though nearly a third of tuna sold in 31 US restaurants was the prized—and endangered—bluefin....

Blowfish Testicles Poison 7 Diners in Japan

Tue, 27 Jan 2009 16:39:44 CST

World travelers, take note. Blowfish testicles prepared by an unauthorized chef have sickened seven diners in northern Japan, three of whom remain hospitalized. The owner of the Tsuruoka restaurant had no license to serve blowfish and was being questioned on suspicion of professional negligence. Blowfish poison, called tetrodotoxin, is nearly...

Wagyu: 'the Hummer of Beef'

Michael Foreman — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 19:41:00 CDT

Wagyu beef, a Japanese tradition catching on in the US, uses cows “bred so that fat corrupts the striations of every muscle,” Tom Junod writes in Esquire . After sampling some at $130 per pound, Junod ponders how Americans can be attracted to such excess. Despite America's ecological awakening, "we respond...

Dear Lobster, I Hardly Knew Ye

Laurel Jorgensen — Wed, 11 Jun 2008 12:25:32 CDT

Francis Lam eases his guilt about chowing down on a certain tasty crustacean by creating an unlikely enemy on his dinner plate, writing an open-ended letter to “Lobster” in Gourmet. He's not sorry for chowing down, "for your meat was like butter and nuts," but his conscience is uneasy: “I...

At Testicle Fest, Visitors Go Nuts

Matt Cantor — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:09:52 CDT

Attendees were urged to “have a ball” this weekend at the annual Testicle Festival in southwestern Wyoming, the Salt Lake Tribune reports. The two-day event raises $30,000 for charity as it salutes cowboy traditions, offering guests the chance to munch on “Rocky Mountain Oysters”—known in veterinary circles as...

Japanese Fight Over Detoxed Delicacy

Matt Cantor — Sun, 04 May 2008 07:14:53 CDT

One of Japan's prized delicacies is having an identity crisis: fugu, the pricey puffer fish that's poisonous unless prepared correctly, now has a farmed cousin that's harmless, the New York Times reports. But gourmands looking forward to eating fugu liver—the most delicious and potentially deadly part of the fish—...

$600 Coffee 'Processed' by Civets

Dustin Lushing — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 05:49:21 CDT

Move over, Starbucks. Hyper coffee connoisseurs are coughing up $600 for a pound of the world's priciest coffee, a blend plucked from the droppings of a civet, a small Indonesian mammal that forages for fresh coffee beans. Fans describe the taste of kopi luwak as earthy, with a note of...