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Sign up with Google Sign up with FacebookQ: Bird's nest soup...is it an actual bird's nest in there?
Question from an obvious newbie, but I had to sample one of these (as my Chinese bosses were quite adamant I try it) and while it didn't taste all that bad, what the hell was it?
And if it really is a bird's nest, how on earth is it clean or safe to eat??
What you ate is not a nest made of straws, twigs or small branches, feathers, etc, but an authentic bird nest made by a bird in SE Asia who makes his nest out of his dried saliva.
Authentic bird's nest soup is made using the nests of the Swiftlet, a tiny bird found throughout southeast Asia. The Swiftlet lives in dark caves, using a method of echolocation similar to the bat to get around. Instead of twigs and straw, the Swiftlet makes its nest from strands of its own gummy saliva, which hardens when exposed to air. Humans who harvest the Swiftlet nests often come from families that have made their living this way for generations. Prying the nests from the cave walls is extremely dangerous, and many harvesters die each year.
Once the nests are harvested, they are cleaned and sold to restaurants, where they are served simmered in chicken broth. While I have never tried authentic bird's nest soup, apparently it is an acquired taste - many westerners think it tastes quite rubbery the first time they try it. However it is quite popular throughout Asia, perhaps because it has the reputation of being an aphrodisiac. It is also costly; many western restaurants serve a less expensive version consisting of soup with noodles shaped to resemble a bird's nest.
HappyExPat is right, what you ate is basically bird spit.
Well, to even put clean and safe in the same sentence is redundant here. But yes, you ate bird spit. I've tried it unknowingly, a bit tasteless, but after I was told what it was, I about cried. Not like the donkey meat I tried and still eat today, but come on bird spit ahhhhhh. Of course I could introduce a good home cooked lot of mountain oysters for the Chinese
not exactly, actually it is the dejecta of swallows, only because their dejecta usually stays in their nest.