Category: Society & Culture

If you’ve ever watched the Food Network, you know that presentation is key. As those painfully wealthy chefs say, “We eat with our eyes first.”

And that’s why this list of well-loved delicacies is a little bit confusing. We don’t think twice about chowing down on scallops, passionfruit, and chili dogs, but perhaps if we spent more time looking at them before stuffing our faces, we’d be a little more critical.

1. Blue crab

Wikimedia Commons

Nothing like digging into a pile of legs that appear to have been pulled from a giant, alien-faced insect!

2. Rambutan

Wikimedia Commons

It looks awful before you crack it open, and even worse after.

3. Scallops

Wikipedia

Scallops look much less terrible by the time they make it to our plates.

4. Passionfruit

Wikimedia

Passionfruit is delicious. It’s just a shame that it has to look like lumpy mucus.

5. Squid

Pixabay

Slimy, limp, and full of tentacles, raw squid is truly a sight to behold.

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6. Truffles

Wikipedia

As it turns out, one of the most expensive food items on Earth also looks like a turd.

7. Geoduck

Wikipedia

Why did anyone think of eating these in the first place?

8. Ginger

Pixabay

One of the most beloved spices around the world also happens to look like a cross between a craggy tree and dog poop.

9. Lobster

Flickr / Louisiana Sea Grant

Most people wouldn’t eat scorpions, but for some reason, none of us have any qualms with eating these.

10. Guacamole

Wikipedia

Guac is yummy, good for you, and also looks like boogers.

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11. Oysters

Wikimedia Commons

The first person to suck one of these down was probably a little screwed up.

12. Noni

Pixabay

If you turned strawberries green and then replaced their seeds with tiny eyeballs, you’d get the wonderfully creepy noni.

13. Mussels

Wikimedia Commons

There’s a ton of seafood on this list. I’m sensing a pattern.

14. Chili dogs

Wikipedia

Yeah, now that I look at one of these again, I think I’m going to lay off the chili dogs from now on.

15. Shrimp

Pixabay

This shrimp looks like something you’d smash and pick up with a tissue if you saw it in your house.

16. Figs

Pixabay

I feel like this is what you’d see if you did a cross-section of someone’s liver.

17. Octopus

Pixabay

Nothing says “I’m delicious” quite like being slimy and bulbous.

(via The Huffington Post)

Honestly, I haven’t tried a lot of these foods solely based on how they look. Can you really blame me? These things are nasty!