Africa Among the
Maasai people, drinking blood from cattle is a part of the traditional diet, especially after special occasions involving a loss of blood such as ritual bloodletting or giving birth. Cow blood is also consumed by the
Bahima people. The
Herero people consumed cow blood with sour milk.
Americas As in Europe, several varieties of
blood sausage are also popular in
Mexico (
moronga),
Quebec (
boudin),
Newfoundland and Labrador and the
southwest United States,
Chile (prietas,
ñache),
Brazil (
chouriço),
Argentina,
Uruguay,
Cuba, and
Puerto Rico (
morcilla).
Brazil In
Brazil, the traditional Portuguese dish known as
cabidela (see above) is also eaten, as well a stew made of pork blood and offal called
sarapatel.
Colombia In the western region of Santander
Colombia, a dish called pepitoria is made from
rice cooked in
goat blood.
Mexico Mexicans from certain regions eat goat's stomach stuffed with
pork blood and
vegetables as a delicacy.
Peru In
Peru, clotted chicken blood is fried with chili peppers and
Welsh onion. This dish is called
sangrecita.
Ecuador Yaguarlocro is a
potato soup made with sprinklings of goat's blood.
Asia China (豬血糕) on a stick In
China and some regions of
Southeast Asia, coagulated
chicken,
duck,
goose or
pig blood, known in Chinese as "blood tofu" () is used in soups. In
Taiwan, ''
pig's blood cake'' () is made of
pork blood and
sticky rice. It is
fried or
steamed as a
snack or cooked in a
hot pot.
India In the
South Indian state of
Tamil Nadu,
stir-fried lamb blood is a common dish for breakfast and lunch. When prepared alone it is called (). More commonly it is stir-fried with lamb
stomach and
intestines with spices like
ginger,
garlic,
cloves,
cinnamon, red
chili powder,
green chilies,
coriander powder,
cumin,
shallots and grated
coconut. This dish is very common in the
Kongu Nadu region as a Breakfast delicacy and
Madurai region of Tamil Nadu. In the coastal
Konkan region of India,
Sorpotel, a dish of
Portuguese origin is commonly cooked that includes parboiled meat and
offal which is cooked in a spicy and vinegary sauce. Some people also use the animals' blood for boiling the curry. Sorpotel is primarily made by Catholics of
Goa,
Mangalore and
Bombay East Indians of
Mumbai. In
Kumaon, a spicy dish called Luvash is made by pan frying lamb blood with pahadi ghee.
Indonesia , pieces of pork meat stewed in its blood and spices In
Indonesia, especially the
Batak tribe in
North Sumatra, pig's blood is used as an ingredient and sauce mixed with
andaliman (
Zanthoxylum acantophodium) for a cuisine named Sangsang (read
saksang). In
Balinese cuisine, pork blood is sometimes added into
lawar dish, a mixture of vegetables, coconut and minced meat mixed with rich herbs and spices to create
lawar merah (red lawar). In
Joshua Oppenheimer's film
The Look of Silence, several of the anti-Communist militias active in the
Indonesian mass killings of 1965–66 claim that drinking blood from their victims is what prevented them going mad.
Korea '', Korean blood sausage In
Korea, blood as food is known as
seonji ( ; derived from the
Manchu word
senggi () meaning "blood"). Coagulated cattle
seonji and
dried radish greens are added to the
beef legbone broth in order to make
seonji-guk (blood curd soup).
Sundae, a blood sausage made generally by boiling or steaming cow or pig's intestines that are stuffed with various ingredients, such as pig's blood, cellophane noodles,
kimchi, scallions, etc.
Nepal In northern region of
Nepal,
Gyuma a blood sausage is a popular dish commonly eaten by locals. It is made of yak's blood and meat. The fillings also include buck wheat flour and other spices. The sausage is also used in lentils or prepared in stir fry dishes. People of Newar community also consume popular dish called "cho hee," which means blood that is prepared by steaming the blood with some local spices. It is consumed by most of the locals in Patan, Kathmandu, Bhaktapur area of Nepal.
Philippines dinuguan, a pork blood stew traditionally served with steamed rice cakes (
puto) In the
Philippines, a popular dish called
dinuguan is made from pig's blood and
offal seasoned with
chili and is traditionally eaten with white rice or steamed rice cakes (
puto). Numerous variants exist throughout the islands. Dinuguan can also be served without using any
offal, using only choice cuts of pork. In
Batangas, this version is known as
sinungaok. It can also be made from beef and chicken meat, the latter being known as
dinuguang manok ('chicken dinuguan'). The Northern
Luzon versions of the dish namely the Ilocano
dinardaraan and the
Ibanag zinagan are often drier with toppings of deep-fried pork intestine cracklings. These versions are sometimes known as "crispy dinuguan" elsewhere. The
Itawis of Cagayan also have a pork-based version that has larger meat chunks and more fat, which they call . Aside from
dinuguan, a native
blood sausage known as
pinuneg also exists among the
Kankanaey people of the highlands of
Luzon. Cubes of pork blood grilled on skewers is also a common street food throughout the Philippines. These are known colloquially as "betamax" (after its resemblance to
Betamax tapes). The Ilocano crispy pork dish
bagnet may also sometimes be dipped in raw pig's blood. Though this is rare. In
Western Visayas, the meat-and-liver stew
bas-uy can also be enriched with blood.
Thailand and Laos , Thailand: wheat noodles with duck and pieces of curdled blood Coagulated
chicken,
duck,
goose or
pig blood is used in soups, such as the classic Thai dish
Tom Lued Moo (pork blood soup). Thailand also has a dish known as
Nam Tok, which is a spicy soup stock enriched with raw cow or pig's blood. It is often used to enrich regular
noodle dishes, as well as in
Khao soi. In
Laos and
Northeast Thailand), a raw version of
laap, a meat
salad, is made with
minced raw meat,
seasoned in
spices, and covered with blood. The spicy noodle soup
Nam ngiao and certain variants of
Khao soi of the cuisine of
Shan State and
Northern Thailand contain diced curdled blood.
Vietnam In
Vietnam, congealed pork blood is used in
Bún bò Huế (a spicy noodle soup), as well as
congee (a type of rice porridge). It is simply solidified, then put into the broth to absorb the flavor. Blood is also consumed raw in Vietnam although it is not so popular nowadays due to health concern and a better understanding of how raw blood may contain parasites and other organisms that are harmful to humans. This type of raw blood dish is called "
tiết canh", literally translated as "blood soup". As its name suggests, the soup is prepared with raw and uncooked animal blood. Firstly, blood is collected when the animal is slaughtered, then it is mixed with a little bit of fish sauce or salt water to prevent it from congealing (this step varies a lot from person to person and from region to region), this is to have time to prepare the other part of the dish, usually a mixture of the slaughtered animal's heart, liver, stomach, some time, its kidney, being diced and cooked. Then, the cooked mixture is divided into serving portions. The blood is now mixed with regular drinking water (there is specific ratio between the blood and the water), then it will be poured onto the cooked mixture. After 10–15 minutes, the blood will start to congeal and the final product will have a consistency similar to jelly. Various herbs, roasted and smashed peanut are topped on the congealed blood to enhance its flavor. This dish is usually made with pig's blood and duck's blood but it can also be made from any type of animal's blood. In China and Vietnam certain types of
snake blood are considered to be an
aphrodisiac, and are drunk with
rice wine.
Europe Czech Republic In the
Czech Republic, pig's blood from traditional
pig slaughter is used to make blood soup
prdelačka and blood sausages
jelito.
Finland In
Finland, pig's blood is used, with
milk,
flour and
molasses, to make blood
pancakes (
veriohukainen), usually served with
lingonberry jam. Different types of sausages are also common, including
mustamakkara and
ryynimakkara.
Verileipä is a type of bread made with blood.
Veripalttu is another dish available in some parts of the country.
France In France, there is "
sanquette", a solidified/curd blood in a pan, and "
boudin noir", a sort of sausage.
Germany In
Northern Germany pig's blood used to be traditionally mixed with
vinegar, scraps, spices and
sugar to make
schwarzsauer. It is eaten warm or
preserved in jars. Changes in taste and lifestyle have made this an uncommon dish.
Greece In ancient
Lakedaimon, the
Greek city-state of
Sparta, the
black broth was common: a soup with pork meat and blood.
Hungary In
Hungary,
hagymás vér (pan-fried pig's/
mangalica's blood with onions) often served with
hot peppers and
véres hurka (a kind of blood sausage made with pig's blood, bacon, pork, rice, onion, salt and various herbs and spices) are common winter foods. The dark mahagony colored Véres pite (bloody pie) is also made.
Pig slaughter is considered a cultural event, when the villagers feast together. Here, all parts of the pig are used, from its blood and
cloven hoof (out of which they make körömpörkölt) to its head. In fact, the pig's heart and lungs are also often consumed. In the old days, they also used to make a soup/sauce called Black soup (fekete leves) out of it, similar to
svartsoppa. Currently, the word
black soup (in
Hungary) is used to describe an unpleasant obligation, an impending sudden negative event. Legend has it that the
Turks invited a Hungarian nobleman to dinner. The soldiers were ordered to attack him when "The black soup is still left" was said, hence the phrase.
Italy In
Italy, the
sanguinaccio dolce is a
pudding made with pig blood, chocolate, sugar, pine nuts, raisins and milk.
Biroldo is a
blood sausage traditionally made with parts of
pigs offal like heart, lungs and tongues.
Netherlands Balkenbrij is a Dutch food made by combining pig's blood with a variety of ingredients, principally flour or oatmeal, and pig organs, such as intestines. Black pudding, in Dutch "
bloedworst," is also consumed. In the
Limburg province bloedworst, in Limburgish "
poetes" or "trip," is consumed with apples baked in a thick syrup called stroop.
Poland Czernina (black soup) is a Polish soup made of duck blood and clear poultry broth, sometimes known as "duck soup". Hen, rabbit or pig blood can also be used.
Kaszanka is the Polish incarnation of
blood sausage. It's made of pig's blood and
buckwheat or
barley kasza.
Portugal In
Portugal, the northern region known as Minho has a traditional blood soup named papas de sarrabulho. "Papas" translates as "mash" and "sarrabulho" is a popular expression for coagulated blood, so the literal translation would be "mashed blood". The soup is made with pig's blood, chicken meat, pork,
ham,
salami,
lemon and
bread, and is typically sprinkled with
cumin, which provides the dish with its distinctive odor. It is usually served in the winter because it is a rather heavy dish. The dish is seldom eaten in southern Portugal. Also very popular, is
morcela sausage, a type of black pudding. Another traditional Portuguese dish known as
cabidela is also made by cooking chicken or
rabbit in its own blood, sometimes diluted with vinegar. The same
cabidela dish is done with lamprey eel's blood and flesh along with rice, during the months of March and April following the migration of these fishes throughout Portugal's rivers. There is also a candy called
Papas de moado, which is prepared from pig's blood, flour, sugar, nuts and spices, mainly in the
Mondego River region.
Romania In
Romania there is a traditional sausage prepared with blood named
sângerete, literally meaning "a thing from hemoragy" (it came from
sângera – "hemoragy" from
sânge – "blood")), and it is prepared especially during the Ignat (the pig carving holiday).
Spain In
Spain, the
morcilla sausage is a kind of
black pudding mainly made with pig blood, with spices, fat, and sometimes vegetables. In
Andalusia sangre encebollada and
Valencian sang amb ceba are popular dishes made with chicken or pork solidified blood and onion.
Sweden In
Sweden, the blood soup
svartsoppa, made with goose blood, is traditionally eaten on the eve of St. Martin, especially in the southern region of
Skåne. Other popular dishes, with blood as one of the ingredients include
blodpudding (blood pudding),
blodplättar (blood pancakes),
blodpalt (potato dumplings flavoured with reindeer or pig blood) and
paltbröd (bread with blood in it, which is dried and boiled and eaten together with fried pork and bèchamel or onion sauce).
United Kingdom and Ireland In
Britain,
Ireland, and some
Commonwealth countries, "
black pudding" or "
blood pudding" is made from blood and some filler
grains and spices, often
oatmeal. In
Montgomeryshire,
Wales, goose blood was used to make a pastry tart at Christmas time. In
Ireland, there is ample evidence of the persistence of the practice of bleeding live cattle until well into the 19th century. It was considered to be a preventative measure against cattle diseases, and the blood drawn, when mixed with butter, herbs, oats or meal, provided a nutritious emergency food. ==See also==