Influencer Tastes Woodworm From Rotten Bark In Philippines, Foodies Find It "Too Extreme"

What is the most bizarre food you have ever come across? We often hear about insects or other unusual living creatures being eaten in various corners of the world, and we may have a hard time imagining consuming them. Recently, one such example from the Philippines went viral on Instagram. A German travel influencer, Alexander Welder, posted a video of himself trying Tamilok, or Woodworm. As the name suggests, this delicacy looks like a worm, and it lives in rotten mangrove wood.

In the reel, we see Alexander eat the worm in one of the traditional ways: "raw, alive and dipped in hot water and vinegar." After coating it in this way, he directly slurps the long body of the creature. He clarifies that tamilok is not actually a worm - although one of its common names is indeed woodworm. It is actually a mollusc. In technical terms, tamilok is a shell-less saltwater clam that makes holes in wood. The influencer says that it tastes "a bit similar to oysters, but the texture is even more slimy." In the caption, he also notes that it has "an earthy flavour and a muddy aftertaste."

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He added, "For the locals, Tamilok is a cherished delicacy and a point of cultural pride. You can find Tamilok mostly in the Southern part of the island of Palawan. There are even restaurants in Puerto Princesa that allegedly serve it on their menu, but it might be out of stock often. We got in contact with some locals from a neighbouring village near Palawan, who prepared an entire piece of wood with fresh Tamilok for us when we arrived." Watch the complete video below:

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A post shared by Alexander Welder (@alexweldertravels)

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Instagram users had mixed reactions to the idea of eating such a creature. Many found it too off-putting, while others said they would like to try it. Several people also pointed out that similar "woodworms" are also eaten in other parts of the world. They corrected the vlogger who said it was only found in a particular region in the Philippines and provided examples of other countries where it is consumed. Read some of the comments here:

"I'd eat some."

"Yes, I would 100% try this."

"I'm from the Philippines, but I will never eat tamilok."

"I've eaten a lot of things, but I don't think I could do this."

"Need a better dipping sauce of lime juice, fish sauce, palm sugar, chilli and coriander."

"Filipino here, but I haven't tried that, nor the worm inside the coconut wood. They said it's good."

"Wow, but NO. The sight of worm-like creatures scares me so much."

"I wonder who first thought of eating it and then convinced others to try. This is too extreme for me."

"Same in Indonesia - the name is tembiluk."

"They eat these in Borneo as well, so not exclusive to Palawan."

"Interesting! In northern Brazil, people also enjoy that. It's known as 'turu' in Brazil."

"Wrong info in the end: it's not endemic in the Philippines. You can also find it and people eating it in the northeast of Brazil, Ecuador, Colombia and Peru."

Bizarre foods often go viral on social media. Recently, a video featuring hairy tofu (with white fuzzy mould on it) took Instagram by storm. Read more about it here.