Anathema's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
Castoreum
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Ingredients & Condiments

Castoreum

Early 20th-century chefs used beaver musk to give sweets a vanilla-raspberry flavor.
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Harðfiskur
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Prepared Foods

Harðfiskur

The pungent, wind-dried white fish is a traditional Icelandic food.
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Hákarl
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Prepared Foods

Hákarl

Iceland's fermented, dried shark smells like urine and can taste like strong cheese.
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Hverabrauð
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Prepared Foods

Hverabrauð

Iceland's thick, chewy "hot spring bread" is just like regular rye bread, with one big difference.
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Smoked Puffin
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Prepared Foods

Smoked Puffin

This controversial meat is ingrained in ancient Nordic culture.
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Boiled Green Peanuts
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Prepared Foods

Boiled Green Peanuts

Roadside vendors in the Deep South soften fresh goobers with bubbling brine.
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Boston Baked Beans
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Sweets

Boston Baked Beans

In the 1920s, confectioners thought the public wanted candy that looked like legumes—and they were right.
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Peppermint Pig
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Sweets

Peppermint Pig

Smashing this pink candy pig with a tiny hammer is a Christmas tradition in Saratoga Springs.
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Pueblo Bread
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Prepared Foods

Pueblo Bread

Baked in traditional adobe hornos, this bread is a staple of the American Southwest's Native Pueblo people.
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Roman Candy
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Sweets

Roman Candy

This century-old New Orleans treat is still sold from a mule-drawn cart.
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Brunost
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Meats & Animal Products

Brunost

This “brown cheese” tastes like caramel.
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Shit on a Shingle
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Prepared Foods

Shit on a Shingle

This is what happens when soldiers pick a new name for meat on bread.
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Doberge Cake
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Sweets

Doberge Cake

This towering treat is a slice of New Orleans immigrant history.
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Lapis Legit
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Sweets

Lapis Legit

This Dutch-Indonesian cake contains up to 30 layers.
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Poke Cake
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Sweets

Poke Cake

In the 1970s, housewives stabbed their cakes and filled the holes with Jell-O.
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Sfogliatella
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Sweets

Sfogliatella

This layered pastry from Italy's Amalfi Coast may have origins in a 17th-century convent.
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Brennivín
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Drinks

Brennivín

Anyone for a shot of “Black Death”?
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Clootie Dumpling
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Sweets

Clootie Dumpling

This sweet Scottish pudding gets boiled in a bag for special occasions.
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Pylsur
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Prepared Foods

Pylsur

Icelanders make a very, very good dog.
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British Burrito
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Prepared Foods

British Burrito

England's take on the Mexican meal wraps a Yorkshire pudding around meaty fillings.
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Heather Honey
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Ingredients & Condiments

Heather Honey

A fragrant, difficult-to-harvest delicacy from the Scottish moorlands.
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Irn-Bru
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Drinks

Irn-Bru

A citrusy cream soda with a hint of rust outsells Coca-Cola in Scotland.
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Eccles Cake
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Sweets

Eccles Cake

The traditional sweet currant cake has an incendiary reputation.
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Beef Dripping
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Ingredients & Condiments

Beef Dripping

You can roast your potatoes in this rendered fat, or just spread it on bread and eat it cold.
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