Wormy Cheese?!
 

I read an article in Paris Update today that mentioned people eating cheese with live worms in. I had heard that rumor before, but always thought it just another old wives tale. I looked it up, however, and found this reference for Casu Marzu from Sardinia on Wikipedia. The article also mentions similar German and French cheeses that utilize insects.

I love cheese and am adventurous in my search for new taste sensations, but there are limits! This will be one of mine.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu

Eeeuw..

I've eaten stinky rotten cheese (wonderful!) but I have not yet ever eaten wormy cheese. Cheese with live worms (or insects) could certainly never be sold legally in the EU, which of course does not mean that they do not exist.

I have heard that Mimolette is filled with mites that burrow into the crust and roam around, allowing the cheese to "breathe" and making it softer.

But who eats Mimolette anyway?

I'm with kerouac on this one!

I would think you correct about it not being legal in the EU, Kerouac, but perhaps you did not see this section of the article:

"Currently, the EU ban has been circumvented by means of another EU regulation. Casu marzu has been declared a "traditional" food (it has been made in the same manner for more than 25 years, and the recipe is thousands of years old) and it is therefore exempt from ordinary food hygiene regulations. The traditional method of making the cheese is explained by an official paper of the local government."

Still --- YUCK!!

I saw an episode of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" where he visited his wife's family in Sardinia and ate some of the wormy cheese. It was the first episode I'd ever seen and almost put me off the show altogether! LOL

I don't wanna try that cheese.. but not much more yuck than to suck a living crustacean out of its shell and dump it half-dead in a pool of stomach acid...

I knew someone who would not eat cheese because it was rotted milk, but he would refrain from the infantile YUCK reaction.

If the cheese contains larvae of the cheese <u>fly</u>, then calling them worms seems to be a euphemism. Sounds like maggots to me. Uh, no thanks.

Well, Michael, I'm sorry if my "Yuck" sounded infantile to you, but if live maggots literally jumping six inches off something you are about to pop into your mouth does not qualify for some sort of expletive, I don't know what would do so.

Are you really that blase?

I might react strongly in the actual situation, but not from a distance, and discussing the qualities of a cheese on a forum implies distance.

My wife and I were eating at Greens in SF when something started crawling on her plate. We called the waiter over, pointed to the caterpillar and said that we thought Greens was a vegetarian restaurant. They did not even comp us the extra dessert we ordered. I guess we should have acted more outraged.

Well you can add my 'Eeeuw..' to nuke's Yuck. Infantile? Possibly. Appropriate? Oh yeah.

Is this the time to tell the story about the stuffing we bought thirty years ago at a convenience store in Ithaca, New York? It was the only place open on Thanksgiving, and we found a dusty package of stuffing at the back of a shelf. Went back to my friend's old house and put the stuffing mix in a bowl, added hot water, and watched the stuffing start to move.

I told that story at my friend's funeral.

Anybody who has been to the Southeast US knows why most people keep their flour in the refrigerator. Nevertheless, one can still regularly get "weevil surprise" in soup packages or salad dressing mixes that have been around a bit too long.

<i>Nevertheless, one can still regularly get "weevil surprise" in soup packages or salad dressing mixes that have been around a bit too long.</i>

Spontaneous generation has been disproved in the 18th century, so either the packages contained the eggs of the weevils when sold or they were opened and not properly resealed.

Did you know about the worms often found in swordfish and other fish?

I've eaten weevils. It seems they are fond of Weetabix. My breakfast was extra crunchy one day.

According to Stephen Fry, cheese is just 'milk gone off big-time-styley'.

It's pretty repulsive stuff if you actually think about it. But I still love to eat it (sans maggots. Or blue mould)

I've lost the name of the author but he wrote that the processing of cheese removes the lactose so lactose intolerant folks can eat cheese?