Even Adventurous Eater Ashley Yi Refuses To Try This Food Again - Exclusive
TikTok star Ashley Yi enjoys taking her millions of fans with her as she tries foods from all over the world. Whether it's eating shrimp burgers from Korea or crickets in Thailand, Ashley Yi told Mashed in an exclusive interview that she's game to try pretty much any type of meal. The California native said it's important to her to expose her audience to different types of cuisines so it becomes less daunting for them to try them for themselves.
"My number one thing that I absolutely push is [that] no culture's food is weird or gross — it's simply a food you're not used to," she explained. "That's where I like to go in and give them my firsthand experience and be like, 'It's not scary. It's just something you're not used to, and I'll show you how to do it.'"
However, there is one specific item that Yi admitted she will never eat again because of its odd taste and consistency.
This creature didn't go down well
While Ashley Yi revealed that she'll try any food twice to see if she actually likes or hates it, this member of the arachnid family was a delicacy she did not enjoy from the first bite. "I've had a scorpion in Thailand. It wasn't good; I won't try that again," she divulged. "It was on a stick, but chewing on it was the hard part. Think of it as chewing a plastic water bottle with blended-up squid inside. The outer shell was not meant to be eaten."
However, she said that when she tried crickets and grasshoppers, those weren't bad and actually tasted similar to chips. The adventurous foodie has also eaten balut, which is a fertilized, developing duck or chicken egg embryo that is boiled or steamed and isn't for the faint of heart. While Yi didn't mind the taste, she said the visual was tough for her.
"I've been cursed with getting a very developed bird, so I'm traumatized," she said. "But when it comes to the taste, it tastes like a regular egg, and it tastes like chicken broth, and it's delicious if I don't look. I'll never get over it. But people eat it as a snack all the time."
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