Chinese street food that contains stir-fried river rocks
We bet you are wondering how you would eat these..
The continent of Asia is known for its extreme foods.
We recently came across a dish in Taiwan that includes an unskinned frog in a bowl of ramen noodles.
And just when we feel like we have heard it all, a Chinese street food that contains stir-fried river rocks pops up.
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The dish is called Suodiu and contains flat river rocks that are stir-fried - but not without some flavour.
The rocks are fried with an array of spices and herbs and are meant to be sucked on for flavour.
"Roughly translated as ‘suck and throw away’, Suodiu is believed to have been invented hundreds of years ago by boatmen who would prepare the dish when they became stranded in the middle of the river with no real food while delivering goods. To trick their stomachs, they would stir-fry some river pebbles with various condiments and then suck the stones dry." (Oddity Central)
Besides the history behind the dish, there is definitely something of a trend and uniqueness when it comes to experiencing Suodiu.
As you don't in fact return the pebbles after eating them, you can keep them and even use them to make your own soup.
"It wasn’t only the peculiarity of the dish that intrigued viewers, but also the steep price of 16 yuan ($2.30) per serving, considering that there is hardly any edible stuff in it." (Oddity Central)
That's R42.45 in our currency. Although this might not sound like a fair trade, the reason river rocks are used is that they are said to "acquire the taste of marine life with time". In essence, you get a taste of fish with the combination of spices.
Image Courtesy of Facebook