It's Disgusting and We Ate It! True Food Facts from Around the World and Throughout History

Customer Reviews

Great non-fiction for 8 yr old

2008-02-24
My daughter needed to do some non-fiction book reports and this was great. She became very interested in the different facts about eating habits from around the world (past and present). Gross stuff always grabs their attention and of course they love to share....Would be great for boys but girls enjoy gross stuff too! Good for 8 thru 10ish.

Fun and engaging book for kids, entertaining for adults too.

2008-01-18
My 9 y.o. daughter asked for this book for a gift. She read it right away, laughing and exclaiming. It is fun, pretty easy to read, and could be a good way to work in some science or cultural discussions! Ex: People ate what was available(plentiful) or sensible to prepare where they lived. See some of what American's ate in 1776 on page 25. It can also serve to stimulate more indepth study of different cultures around the world or in history. There are lots of funny poems and artwork included.

We LOVE this book!

2007-01-10
I first checked this book out from the library for my son when he was 3 1/2 years-old. He was transfixed as I read to him all the different types of things that people have eaten and still do eat today. Instead of being grossed out, he wanted to try them all! He loves squid and seaweed and is just dying to eat some grasshoppers. We ended up buying the book after checking it out twice in a row and I'm so glad we did. When he was 4, he took it in to share with his Montessori pre-school class. Last year he took it into share with his kindergarten class. And this year he's taken it into his 1st grade class twice; once to share and once to "prove" to his teacher that bugs really ARE a good example of a protein-loaded food. Fabulous, interest-grabbing format and illustrations just add to the great information within. A great intro to cultural studies, too.

Gross but Interesting

2006-11-03
This is a very neat book, a little gross for me but the boy that I'm gave it to loves it (11 yr. old).

Just Eat It!

2004-05-29
An excellent little book with sensational illustrations. This book explores some of the foods from around the world which different cultures enjoy, but which may seem disgusting to us. Everything thing eaten is not in here but there is a good selection. What was eaten throughout history around the world is also included.

My favourite section is part three - Strange Stories from your own Kitchen which explains what cows eat and how that food gets turned into the milk which we drink. There is also similar information on how bees make honey.

There's also a few recipes and 19 poems as well. I am not really into poems so they didn't do much for me but if you are into poetry then this may well be a bonus for you. The illustrations in this book are sensational though, and worth the price alone.

Amazing what human beings will eat, even if not on a TV show 2004-02-29
How about a nice dish of Colonial Squirrel Pie with a side of milkweed shoots? If that doesn't grab you, you might think about trying some Garbage Stew, just like they made in medieval England. But if you're feeling a little tired and need a boost, your best bet is roasted spiders. They've got three times the protein of cooked beef. (Is your mouth watering yet?)

Illustrated by the wildly-creative Eric Brace, It's Disgusting -- and We Ate It! is a fascinating look at culinary creations from all over the world!

Totally Gross! And That's COOL! 2003-04-06
I've got to meet this author! He's got a wonderful sense of humor and is able to capture the "just gross enough" aspect of human nature. If you have a child who loves to pretend he's eating real worms in front of his little sister just to gross her out, you NEED this book. I love it, cover to cover.

and you thought chocolate covered ants were bad!! 2001-03-11
Anyone for some soup made with birds' nests?? How about "1,000 year old eggs" aged in mud?? Live maggots?? I've got it, seaweed!! What?! You want to eat HAMBURGER?!? HOW REVOLTING!! :)

Food cuisine from around the world and the strange things people have found to be delicacies is the topic of this fun book. While most American children wouldn't eat cooked spiders for a million dollars, they may be interested to find that spiders, grubs and other insects are considered not only cruncy delights in other countries, but pound-per-pound they have more nutritional value than most snack foods we eat in the states!

"It's Disgusting" is a well researched, well illustrated book that I would file in the `expand your horizions' section. We easily forget that not everyone is like us or likes the same things we do. Hindis would be revolted, shocked and offended if we ate hamburger in front of them. Asian cultures find soup made from birds' nests a delicy (the nest itself is largely made of the birds spit) as well as sun dried jellyfish. Closer to home, at one point in history in the US turkey was once considered a food that would make you stupid and tomatoes were once considered poisionous. The passenger pigeons of yesteryear who used to blacken the sky by the millions were made extinct in part because of people's desire to eat them.

Meanwhile, today many food thickeners are made from seaweed or the hooves of animals (carageenan and gelatin, respectively), and some colorings are made from the carapaces (exoskeletons) of insects. However, no one seems to be worrying about horse hooves and bug juice in their yoghurt these days...

The book is written well so that even intermediate readers will be able to make their way through and become enligtened about the foods other cultures fancy. The authors strive to keep any bias out of their writing and simply state the facts: while WE may find this food gross, other people find it a delicacy and vice-versa--there's stuff WE regularly eat that other cultures would quickly push aside. Peppered with fun poems and bright illustrations (including some fun bar charts of the nutritional value of various foods, like bugs), this book may get a chorus of "ewwww!!"'s, but it will also expand the horizons of it's readers!

Now, pass the chocolate covered ants...

The best!! 2000-12-13
My daughter absolutely loves this book. She checked it out from the school library and cried everytime it came due, checking it out over and over till we finally bought one. This book looks at things that kids love - gross and disgusting things from everyday life. I only wish Mr. Solheim would write a sequel.

This book "Tastes like Chicken"! 1999-07-21
I laughed so hard while reading this book. The information is presented in a humorous way through anecdotes, poems, and illustrations. My favorite section of the book gave homage to those three famous words "tastes like chicken." It was also interesting to read about what food items make a medieval feast successful, and you may never want to eat a hot dog again after you read the truth about hot dogs. This book is a thematic teacher's dream. It has so many cross-curricular, and multicultural connections. This book has a strong math connections in that it contains many graphs, tables, and recipes. This is an excellent resource for social studies teachers. It presents foods that are currently eaten throughout the world, and throughout history

Kids will love this book. It is humorous and best of all the kids you know will be discussing these things at lunch to gross each other out. I predict it will be a popular checkout in your libraries. You will have trouble keeping it on your library shelves.