tell me about it

Oh god.

I always laughed it off when people tried earnestly to convince me that cordyceps are worms. “They’re vegetables lah,” I’d say. “They just look like worms. Who the hell boils worm soup?”

Then Paul said he’d heard that cordyceps were animal yet also plant, like they changed halfway during their life. I pooh-poohed that as well. “That’s not freaking possible,” I said flippantly. “That doesn’t happen. Geez.”

“They’re vegetables,” I pronounced confidently. “Look at them! No eyes, no holes, just a hard white blobby thing. Crunchy. Cooked in soup.”

“Vegetable.”

AIYEEEEEE!

WIKIPEDIA SAYS!

Cordyceps sinensis is a species of southeast, mountainous China that attacks caterpillars, specifically the larvae of hepialid moths (identified as species of Hepialus or Thitarodes).

The caterpillars feed on the roots of trees and shrubs on the slopes of the Himalayas. When infected by C. sinensis, the fungus mycelium fills the entire body cavity, killing the host, and the caterpillars die near the tops of their burrows. A dark brown, finger-like stroma sprouts near their heads. The entire fungus-caterpillar combination is hand-collected for medicinal use.

LOOK HOW INNOCUOUS IT LOOKS!

WHEN ACTUALLY IT LOOKS LIKE THIS!

AAAUUGHH!

Seen on Xiaxue’s blog first. Dammit I’m never drinking that damn soup again. Ack.

I need to go scrub my mouth out with Dettol.