Christine Virnig - Dung for Dinner--A Stomach-Churning Look at the Animal Poop, Pee, Vomit, and Secretions that People Have Eaten (and Often Still Do!)

AS YOUVE PROBABLY figured out, this book is about gross things people eat. Things like animal poop. And pee. And vomit. And secretions.

Our human history is chock-full of people who have eaten stuff like this. And those people? They include you!

Yes you !

Read this book and youll soon discover some rather shocking things about your food. It might even make you think twice the next time someone hands you a bag of candy corn.

With that in mind, before turning the page, stop and think for a minute. Does the idea of eating insect vomit or bird spit make your stomach squirm?

If so, maybe put this book back on the shelf and choose something different. Like a book about fluffy little bunny rabbits. (Consider yourself warned: Bunny rabbits eat poop, too.)

But if eating whale poop doesnt bother you at all, go ahead and turn the page! Unless youre eating, of course. If youre eating, please close this book, finish your lunch, and come back later.

Some quick legal mumbo jumbo:

Just because this book discusses eating camel poop and ox snot and astronaut pee, this does not mean you should go out and chow down on camel poop or ox snot or astronaut pee. This book is meant to be fun and gross and hopefully a bit educational. It is not meant to be a recipe book or a medical handbook.

Poop, pee, vomit, and secretions that people have scarfed down (and sometimes still do!) in the name of health

Wild boar, with their hairy pig bodies and pointy tusks, look terrifying. You sure wouldnt want to run into one on the street. You also wouldnt want to run into their poop on the street. Wild boar dung reeks! There is nothing appetizing about it. And yet the ancient Romans chose to consume it. But why?

While well never know exactly what was going through the mind of that first excrement-ingesting pioneer, we do know that Roman charioteers were the boar poopguzzling champions of ancient Rome. And the reason the charioteers chose to eat it was rather interesting.

Charioteers were the heroes of the most popular spectator sport in ancient Rome: chariot racing. Chariot racing was basically the great-great-great-great-grandfather of NASCAR. Except instead of sitting in a car while racing around a track, the drivers (or charioteers) balanced on lightweight wooden carts pulled by teams of horses.

While many charioteers were enslaved, this wasnt true for all of them. Charioteers who won loads of races could become exceedingly rich. They were treated like celebrities. The public adored them.

But before you start yearning for your own shot at charioteer glory, there is something you should know. Chariot racing was extremely dangerous. Imagine twelve chariots hurtling around a narrow track at the same time. Hooves pound against the ground, stirring up dust, as sweaty charioteers whip their horses to ever greater speeds.

As the chariots barreled around the tight corners, spectacular, life-ending collisions were common. Even if charioteers avoided a crash, they could still be thrown from their chariot and end up dragged by their horses, trampled by hooves, or run over by a wheel.

Peacock Brains, Anyone?

Exotic ingredients didnt only show up in ancient Roman medicine. Rich Romans also liked to eat all kinds of outlandish things. Peacock brains. Flamingo tongues. Dormice. And lucky for them, if eating peacock brains left them with bad breath, they knew just how to fix it. Burn some mouse droppings, mix the ashes with honey, smear the concoction all over their teeth, and bye-bye, bad breath!

At the end of a race, charioteers often found themselves in anything but pristine condition. Colorful bruises. Broken bones. Gaping wounds. A pounding headache. The pain these charioteers felt would have made any normal person reach for a bottle of extra-strength Tylenol.