Thai Hatyai Bird Nest Soup (7Ps)

A few years ago,I met a professor from the food science department in a university from China and asked her something about the swiftlets bird nests products promoted in the market.

Bird Nest Soup (large Version)

She told me although she couldn't say bird nests had no nutrition value but 100% sure that it must have been wildly exaggerated by the companies which produce the associated products or the salespersons who sell them.

Since then, I was no a believer in the products of Bird Nests. However, it is a huge industry in Southeast Asia where Indonesia, Malaysia & Thailand are all major players.

Last February when traveling to Southern Thailand's Hatyai the city is famous for bird nests, I tried my luck for the first time at a specialty products shop. As shown in the photo above, such a bowl of bird nest soup cost me a whopping 450Baht, or ~12 US dollars. Truly speaking, my feel was that the much-hyped bird nest soup is not even better than the sweet white fungus soup. So, no big deal!


Now I thought that Chinese professor could be right, read excerpts from madsci.org which was answering a reader's question What are nutrition values of bird's nest of oriental Collocalia sp.?

Chemical analyses by Massimo Marcone of the University of Guelph found that this bird's nest soup contains a protein similar to one found in eggs. He has found that this can lead to allergies. In fact, in Singapore, birds's nest soup is the leading cause of food allergies!

What you must realize is that this soup is simply hardened bird spit. Saliva is not nutritious, and bird's nest soup is no exception. It does contain some enzymes, salts, and mostly water. The saliva also contains some natural type of antibiotic. There is some research to see if the saliva can be used to control cell division. However, there really is no scientific evidence to justify any nutritional or health claims made for it.

In fact, it can be downright dangerous, as environmental contamination has turned up in bird's nest soup in Vietnam from arsenic. A Vietnamese man was poisoned from arsenic intoxication after consuming bird's nest soup! This was written up in the American Journal of Medical Sciences in April, 1999.

Oh, I probably would never buy expensive bird nests products again!

Scroll down for more pictures showing packed bird nests being sold At a Specialty Products Shop in Hatyai, Thailand

Daniel Craig Shaped Ice Lolly (Pictures)

Daniel Craig shaped ice lolly is now on sale!

The lolly shaped like the 007 actor was created by Del Monte ice cream company for the first National Ice Cream Week, after a voting by more than 1,000 British woman in a survey that which male celebrity they would like to lip.

"Daniel Craig topped our poll of Britain’s coolest celebrities and thanks to our Del Monte lolly replica he is officially immortalised as super smooth and licensed to chill”, the Dailymail quoted spokesman Matt O’Connor as saying.

The limited edition lollies with blueberry, pomegranate and cranberry flavours are obtainable from June 1 until June 7. For those who are on diets, maybe you are ok to eat one or two Daniel Craig shaped ice lollies but not advised to have because each Daniel Craig lolly contains at least 100 calories!

Gau Jal: Indian Cow Urine Drink

India is a great country. It brings us the world's cheapest car Tata Nano and plans to launch what-is-believed-as-the-impossilbe-by-many-techies $10 laptop for its students. And maybe by the end of this year, it will present the world with a new drink called Gau Jal (cow water) made mainly of cow urine, mixed with herbs! So how will the Ccw urine drink taste? "It won’t smell like urine and will be tasty too....it’s going to be very healthy. It won’t be like carbonated drinks and would be devoid of any toxins," said Om Prakash, head of India's Hindu nationalist group the Cow Protection Department of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh which is developing the unusual drink. (Image: an Indian familly is bottling cow urine products. It is not associated with the story above. Souce: Picasa/ISCOWP)

Recommended reading: Cow Urine Can Cure Many Diseases including "diabetes, blood pressure, asthma, psoriasis, eczema, heart attack, blockage in arteries, fits, cancer, AIDS, piles, prostrate, arthritis, migraine, thyroid, ulcer, acidity, constipation, gynecological problems, ear and nose problems, abortion and several other diseases.

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