That's some expensive bird spit

This is a display of the popular Asian delicacy known as Bird's Nest. It's a very sought after ingredient in Chinese cuisine and is most often dissolved into a soup. It's also very expensive.

Especially considering what it is.

It's spit.

SPIT.

And it's from a wild animal. And it's hard because it's been sitting around for a while.

It comes from a certain type of bird called a cave swift. These swifts build their nests inside caves using their very sticky strands of saliva. The strands solidify, slowly forming a nest. When they're finished, the nest looks like a shallow cup that adheres to the cave wall.

Here's a visual from Wikipedia:

So people enter these caves, harvest the nests, clean them and then sell them for vast sums of money. Then, the people who buy them use it in their cooking, like I said, usually for Bird's Nest soup. There's also several different varieties and one is called "red blood" nests. I can only imagine why it's called that. (*Dry heaving at the computer*)

Call me crazy, but I find it extremely odd not only to pay large sums of money for ANIMAL SALIVA, but then to turn around and EAT it.

I won't even kiss my dog on the mouth and I'm sure he has a cleaner mouth than a wild bird.

The Chinese will tell you that Bird's Nest is full of health benefits. These benefits include: aiding digestion, improving the voice, improving focus, alleviating asthma, and the kicker....

improving libido.

So basically what they're telling me is: they eat spit to get their freak on.

I don't know what gets your jollies off, but for me, making out with Mr. Bird Spit Breath isn't on the list.