anneleander's User Profile - Atlas Obscura
Ice Wine
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Drinks

Ice Wine

Pressed from frozen grapes, this prized wine was a sweet accident.
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Sourdough Starter
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Ingredients & Condiments

Sourdough Starter

A century-old organism creates some of the world's best bread.
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Koliva
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Koliva

Drooling over this nutty spiced dessert is a heretical move.
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Maggi Seasoning
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Ingredients & Condiments

Maggi Seasoning

This condiment proves that what the world considers delicious is (nearly) universal.
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Durian
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Fruits & Vegetables

Durian

The fruit so pungent it's banned from trains, hotels, and public places.
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Takoyaki
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Prepared Foods

Takoyaki

Osaka's most famous dish is an octopus-stuffed fried dough ball.
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Chitlins
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Prepared Foods

Chitlins

These entrails identified safe venues for Black musicians during the Jim Crow era.
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Bonito Flakes
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Meats & Animal Products

Bonito Flakes

Some fish can dance.
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Stinging Nettles
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Fruits & Vegetables

Stinging Nettles

Boil away this plant's poisonous hairs, and you're left with a tasty, spinach-like leaf.
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Bird's Nest Soup
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Prepared Foods

Bird's Nest Soup

It's expensive, it's gelatinous, it's made from swiftlet spit.
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Kransekake
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Sweets

Kransekake

For special occasions, Norwegians stack 18 rings of cake into a tower.
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Churchkhela
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Sweets

Churchkhela

These delicious strands of juice-coated nuts look like colorful candlesticks.
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Spaghettieis
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Sweets

Spaghettieis

This German sundae masquerades as an Italian dinner.
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Brunost
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Meats & Animal Products

Brunost

This “brown cheese” tastes like caramel.
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Grass Jelly
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Ingredients & Condiments

Grass Jelly

Once a treatment for heat stroke, the herbal gel now flavors desserts.
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Chimney Cake
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Sweets

Chimney Cake

After rotating over hot coals, the Transylvanian treat unravels in a sweet spiral.
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Unicum
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Drinks

Unicum

A bitter liqueur that traces the history of a Hungarian-Jewish family.
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Lutefisk
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Prepared Foods

Lutefisk

The lye-soaked fish recipe created by Vikings is now a holiday favorite at Midwestern church dinners.
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Wattleseed
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Ingredients & Condiments

Wattleseed

This chocolate-flavored superfood falls from the Australian Acacia bush.
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Black Garlic
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Ingredients & Condiments

Black Garlic

These inky cloves have aged like a fine wine.
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Turkish Coffee
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Drinks

Turkish Coffee

Locals joke that you should be able to “float a horseshoe” on the thick brew.
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Rakfisk
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Prepared Foods

Rakfisk

Norway's notorious fermented trout is a tangy Christmas tradition.
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Kitfo
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Prepared Foods

Kitfo

A melt-in-your-mouth mixture of raw beef, butter, and spices.
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Skerpikjøt
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Meats & Animal Products

Skerpikjøt

Without salt or refrigeration, early residents of the Faroe Islands preserved their mutton with the cold wind.
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