Customer Reviews

It's Disgusting and We Ate It! True Food Facts from Around the World and Throughout History

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Anyone for some soup made with birds' nests?? How about "1,000 year old eggs" aged in mud?? Live maggots?? I've got it, seaweed!! What?! You want to eat HAMBURGER?!? HOW REVOLTING!! :)

Food cuisine from around the world and the strange things people have found to be delicacies is the topic of this fun book. While most American children wouldn't eat cooked spiders for a million dollars, they may be interested to find that spiders, grubs and other insects are considered not only cruncy delights in other countries, but pound-per-pound they have more nutritional value than most snack foods we eat in the states!

"It's Disgusting" is a well researched, well illustrated book that I would file in the `expand your horizions' section. We easily forget that not everyone is like us or likes the same things we do. Hindis would be revolted, shocked and offended if we ate hamburger in front of them. Asian cultures find soup made from birds' nests a delicy (the nest itself is largely made of the birds spit) as well as sun dried jellyfish. Closer to home, at one point in history in the US turkey was once considered a food that would make you stupid and tomatoes were once considered poisionous. The passenger pigeons of yesteryear who used to blacken the sky by the millions were made extinct in part because of people's desire to eat them.

Meanwhile, today many food thickeners are made from seaweed or the hooves of animals (carageenan and gelatin, respectively), and some colorings are made from the carapaces (exoskeletons) of insects. However, no one seems to be worrying about horse hooves and bug juice in their yoghurt these days...

The book is written well so that even intermediate readers will be able to make their way through and become enligtened about the foods other cultures fancy. The authors strive to keep any bias out of their writing and simply state the facts: while WE may find this food gross, other people find it a delicacy and vice-versa--there's stuff WE regularly eat that other cultures would quickly push aside. Peppered with fun poems and bright illustrations (including some fun bar charts of the nutritional value of various foods, like bugs), this book may get a chorus of "ewwww!!"'s, but it will also expand the horizons of it's readers!

Now, pass the chocolate covered ants...

If you thought that after watching the tribe members on "Survivor" trying to eat local insects and assorted delicacies the past few years there was nothing left to turn your stomach at the dinning table, then this book will quickly set you straight. "It's Disgusting and We Ate It!: True Food Facts from Around the World and Throughout History" has author James Solheim and artist Eric Brace giving young readers a taste of what can be done with seaweed, squirrels, spiders, earthworms, maggots, birds' nests, violets, and even mammoths (Hey, it could happen: remember the episode of "Northern Exposure"?).

The book is divided, like Gaul, into three parts. The first looks at the exotic tastes found around the world, the second looks at some of the more interesting dishes in history, and the third is an eye-opening look at some of the facts behind contemporary American favorites, such as the hot dog. There are a few recipes, mostly having to do with things you could actually cook today with some effort and parental guidance, along with poems, charts, tables, stories, and a map. The big question is whether or not the idea that something "tastes like chicken" (e.g., grilled guinea pig) is a universal goal. I mean, if it tastes like steak or lobster, would that be a bad thing?

"It's Disgusting and We Ate It!" is also educational (spiders having more protein than beef made my day though why the giant ones from New Guinea taste like peanut butter is beyond me), even if you decide never to try python in vinegar, horse blood, or cicadas fat with eggs (even if Aristotle did recommend it as an after school snack). But mostly it is just involves the fun of thinking that in another time or another place people actually ate these things, which will just make the information go down easier.

I've got to meet this author! He's got a wonderful sense of humor and is able to capture the "just gross enough" aspect of human nature. If you have a child who loves to pretend he's eating real worms in front of his little sister just to gross her out, you NEED this book. I love it, cover to cover.

An excellent little book with sensational illustrations. This book explores some of the foods from around the world which different cultures enjoy, but which may seem disgusting to us. Everything thing eaten is not in here but there is a good selection. What was eaten throughout history around the world is also included.

My favourite section is part three - Strange Stories from your own Kitchen which explains what cows eat and how that food gets turned into the milk which we drink. There is also similar information on how bees make honey.

There's also a few recipes and 19 poems as well. I am not really into poems so they didn't do much for me but if you are into poetry then this may well be a bonus for you. The illustrations in this book are sensational though, and worth the price alone.

I laughed so hard while reading this book. The information is presented in a humorous way through anecdotes, poems, and illustrations. My favorite section of the book gave homage to those three famous words "tastes like chicken." It was also interesting to read about what food items make a medieval feast successful, and you may never want to eat a hot dog again after you read the truth about hot dogs. This book is a thematic teacher's dream. It has so many cross-curricular, and multicultural connections. This book has a strong math connections in that it contains many graphs, tables, and recipes. This is an excellent resource for social studies teachers. It presents foods that are currently eaten throughout the world, and throughout history

Kids will love this book. It is humorous and best of all the kids you know will be discussing these things at lunch to gross each other out. I predict it will be a popular checkout in your libraries. You will have trouble keeping it on your library shelves.

My family and I truly enjoyed reading this book. My kids found it to be thoroughly disgusting and, as such, a great deal of fun. They like to discuss it with their friends and gross each other out. I found it to be very interesting. I was impressed with the author's research and, seemingly, first hand experience on the subject (I hope this isn't true for his sake). As a foreigner, I thougth he approached the subject with a great deal of sensitivity to other cultures, while expanding his readers minds to accepting the unique perspectives that different and very glorious cultures give. He did all to this with simplicity and humor, making reading the book a great familty activity. Please let me know if there are other books that can also entertain, educate and give cultural sensititivity to my children.

My daughter absolutely loves this book. She checked it out from the school library and cried everytime it came due, checking it out over and over till we finally bought one. This book looks at things that kids love - gross and disgusting things from everyday life. I only wish Mr. Solheim would write a sequel.

This is a very neat book, a little gross for me but the boy that I'm gave it to loves it (11 yr. old).

My daughter needed to do some non-fiction book reports and this was great. She became very interested in the different facts about eating habits from around the world (past and present). Gross stuff always grabs their attention and of course they love to share....Would be great for boys but girls enjoy gross stuff too! Good for 8 thru 10ish.

My 9 y.o. daughter asked for this book for a gift. She read it right away, laughing and exclaiming. It is fun, pretty easy to read, and could be a good way to work in some science or cultural discussions! Ex: People ate what was available(plentiful) or sensible to prepare where they lived. See some of what American's ate in 1776 on page 25. It can also serve to stimulate more indepth study of different cultures around the world or in history. There are lots of funny poems and artwork included.