Fancy some bird's nest?

birdsnest1

It's not difficult to guess the specialty of the air-conditioned and spotless Yong Ann Birds Nest restaurant in Malacca, Malaysia. The menu in this small unprepossessing café offers a range of dishes, all featuring this rare ingredient.

birdsnest

This bird's nest is not exactly the bird's nests - the bedroom and nursery built by tiny cave swifts. That seems bad enough. But it's worse. It's the bird's own dribble!

Because these nests are not made from straw and hair and the usual bird's nest building materials, the 'interwoven strands of salivary laminae cementé are able to be dissolved in water to give a silky texture to soups and desserts and to impart a certain flavour to ice creams.

birdsnest2

The shallow cup-shaped nests are built by tiny male swiftlets, and are usually stuck on to the walls of coastal caves in Indonesia. Harvesting these is perilous and, you could argue, ecologically wilful. They are said to be one of the most expensive animal products in the world. Regardless of this, the Chinese have been savouring this delicacy for at least four centuries. Above, bird's nest soup and icecream. read more....

 

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