[CrackMonkey] [Pigdog] Shit-like Maggoty Cheese

[Nick Moffitt]

	Euuuugh.

----- Forwarded message from ESP <evan at bad-people-of-the-future.san-francisco.ca.us> -----

Blar blar blar.

~ESP

---8<---

http://www.portlandmercury.com/2000-09-14/scientific.html

Maggot Eaters of Sardinia
John Dooley


Casu Marzu--Sardinian for Rotten Cheese--is Northern
Italy's answer to eating shit. Maggot shit. 

According to Yaroslav Trefimov of The Wall Street
Journal, Casu Marzu, Sardinia's favorite black market
treat, begins with a local cheese called Pecorino, which
is left out in the sun, so that nearby barn-flies can
deposit their larvae into it, until it becomes
overpopulated with a swarming mass of maggots. The
enzymes "produced" by the maggots cause the cheese
to ferment, which, in turn, decomposes the fats,
creating a living culinary delight. 

Fans of the fetid fondue à la larvae say Casu Marzu's
attributes range from being an aphrodisiac, to
containing psychotropic qualities that give a full body
rush. It also makes a great centerpiece at wedding
banquets and family feasts. 

Trefimov describes the viscous larval bomb as a rotten
tasting, pungent goo that burns the tongue, and can also
affect other parts of the body. Moreover, the lively
maggots are far more entertaining than dull cherries
suspended in Jell-O, as the creatures continuously leap
from the cheese as you eat it. Part of the ritualistic
ceremony involves covering the mess with the hand, to
keep the little buggers from snapping into the eyeballs
with "ballistic precision." 

According to Trefimov, when the brown lump (the size
of a human head) is presented, the maggots spring
from the cheese, and "merrily jump up and down,
cavorting all over the table." 

Although the gluey abomination is banned in the
country, it is considered a rare delicacy and secretly
prized, even among government health department
officials, one of which admitted he thought the crap
was "quite tasty." 

What are the chances of Casu Marzu gracing the
inventory of our local cheese mongers? According to
Robert Harrison, cheese expert at Eurobest Food
Industries located in Tualatin, "Zero. It won't happen.
No way." 

Harrison says it's hard enough getting un-pasteurized
cheese imported into this country, let alone one rife
with larval parasites. 

"Anything that's got squiggling beings in it, is not going
to make an appearance on USA shelves." 

Casu Marzu: a hot new culinary darling, or the 21st
century's gastronomical equivalent of the ant farm?
You be the judge!

-- 
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       ESP <evan at bad-people-of-the-future.san-francisco.ca.us>
 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

----- End forwarded message -----

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