Having succeeded globally with cars, electronics and even fashion, it was only natural the Japanese turned their hand to trying to surpass the West with one of its favorite culinary delights - ice cream.
Some of the results have been, well, interesting to say the least, as can be discovered at the Ice Cream Exhibition being held through to Sept. 30 at Namco Nanja Town in the Sunshine 60 building in Tokyo's Toshima-ku.
They have developed some very unusual flavors for ice cream:
Fish Ice Cream (Sanma Aisu)
Something must smell fishy about ice cream flavored with saury, a saltwater fish popular in Japan...But there's no worries about that with this offering from Kimura Shoten as the fishy fumes have been drowned out by liberal doses of brandy.
Octopus Ice Cream (Taco Aisu)
Want to tantalize the taste buds with a tentacle? If so, Octopus Ice Cream is the go. Japanese have been able to come up with an amazing variety of uses for octopus, ranging from delicacy to porno movie prop.
Ox Tongue Ice Cream (Gyutan Aisu)
What better to tickle the taste buds than tongues? Though Ox Tongue Ice Cream may not be the first delicacy to come to mind, its taste is nothing to beef about.
Sweet Potato Ice Cream (Yaki-imo)
Sweet potatoes have a reputation in Japan for bringing on flatulence. Mention Sweet Potato Ice Cream, though, and it's more likely to induce nausea. But Kochi Prefecture company Group Farm has managed to produce a surprisingly tasty ice cream using the versatile root.
Crab Ice Cream (Kani Aisu)
Hokkaido, Japan's northernmost prefecture, is renowned for its rich array of seafood, prime amongst the delicacies being crab.
Raw Horseflesh Ice Cream (Basashi Aisu)
We're not horsing around with this one. There mere thought of putting raw horseflesh into ice cream may be enough to produce plenty of neigh ... er, naysayers. And, rightfully so. You can get it straight from the horse's mouth, this would have to vie for the vilest ice cream ever created. The chunks of meat inside it offer ample proof of why horseflesh is usually used in dog food
What I do is kick them in the pants with a diamond buckled shoe!
~~Aileen Mehle~~
