Foods made of blood around the world: dishes, recipes and why people eat them, from the protein to the supposed sex boost
- The Chinese eat duck blood ‘tofu’, Indians have a taste for stir-fried lamb’s blood and in Italy you can eat a dessert of chocolate and pig’s blood
- Blood food recipes have been devised by Michelin-starred chefs in Europe for the ingredient’s high protein level and sweet and salty taste
The idea of feasting on blood may conjure visions of vampires for anyone with a delicate stomach, but from China’s consumption of fresh cobra’s blood as an aphrodisiac to the European taste for blood sausages, animal blood is popular around the world.
Both Asian and Western culinary cultures feature blood recipes deeply rooted in local traditions that have become gourmet delicacies or sought-after for supposed medicinal purposes. In China, for instance, deer’s blood is thought to boost longevity.
“My first impulse is to say: ‘Why not consume the blood?’” says Miranda Brown, professor of Chinese studies in the department of Asian languages and cultures at the University of Michigan in the US. “Obviously, there are places that don’t – the Islamic world, for example – but I can’t imagine there is any part of the animal that the Chinese didn’t use, traditionally. Animals can be expensive to raise, and you don’t want things to go to waste.”
According to Brown, consuming blood products isn’t just a matter of getting protein in the diet, improving health or curing specific ills, but also for simple gastronomical satisfaction – the pleasure of eating something exceptionally savoury.
“I suspect that people like the flavour; it tastes good,” she says. “Flavour and texture are important.”
Taiwanese pig’s blood cakes, for example, are popular street food snacks served on a stick in local night markets. Made with sticky rice drenched in pig’s blood, the cake is usually steamed, soaked in a sweet soy broth and covered in peanut flour. It’s chewy, crunchy, very sweet and can be served chopped into cubes.
