# Quite possibly the most disgusting cheese ever **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [October 6, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778 "2011-10-06T12:58:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 12:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778/1 "2011-10-06T12:58:42Z")
Mentioned in another thread; I’d never heard of it before: [Casu martzu - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu) :: shudder :: Anyone had it? Tell us about it - taste, texture, what you do about the maggots… ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778/2 "2011-10-06T13:08:45Z")
We’ve had entire threads devoted to this in the past. (Here’s one: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=482947&highlight=marzu](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=482947&highlight=marzu) ) Long story short, you’re suppose to cover your face while you eat it to prevent the maggors from leaping onto your face. And, just for fun, the maggots can survive mastication, ingestion, and stomache acids, and have been known to get into your body. This is one treat I’m not in a hurry to enjoy. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778/3 "2011-10-06T13:22:29Z")
In theory, I should be revolted and terrified by it; however, my love of stinky cheese somehow manages to overcome these perfectly logical feelings. Someday, I shall hunt down and try this stinkiest of stinky cheeses. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778/4 "2011-10-06T13:47:06Z")
I hate bleu cheese. Hate it. Surprisingly, I’m not instantly revolted by the concept of this cheese. I find it intruiging. But I’d never eat it just because I get the sense that this would taste like the Santorum-like leftovers of Gorgonzola anal raping Stilton. ---
**Author:** ![drastic\_quench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e36b37/32.png) [@drastic\_quench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/drastic_quench)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778/5 "2011-10-06T16:39:24Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > We’ve had entire threads devoted to this in the past. > > (Here’s one: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=482947&highlight=marzu](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=482947&highlight=marzu) ) > > Long story short, you’re suppose to cover your face while you eat it to prevent the maggors from leaping onto your face. > And, just for fun, the maggots can survive mastication, ingestion, and stomache acids, and have been known to get into your body. This is one treat I’m not in a hurry to enjoy. You can easily kill the maggots first by storing the cheese in an airtight bag. I’ve heard there’s no flavor difference. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778/6 "2011-10-06T19:04:31Z")
Yes, everyone’s heard of it. No, no one’s ever tried it. I’m safely confident no one on this board. You have to be old before your time to have the grizzle needed to eat that cheese. Like hundreds of years old ahead of your time. Need a thread wherein someone procures a “hunk,” and with pics, devours it. ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778/7 "2011-10-06T19:51:49Z")
If I was able to clear the maggots out, I’d certainly give it a try. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778/8 "2011-10-06T19:59:04Z")
This stuff appeals to me about as much as the Kopi luwak coffee (which is the one that’s excreted by a civet and then roasted and brewed), which is to say, not at all. ---
**Author:** ![Terminus\_Est](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terminus_est/32/3087_2.png) [@Terminus\_Est](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terminus_Est)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778/9 "2011-10-06T20:09:30Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > You can easily kill the maggots first by storing the cheese in an airtight bag. I’ve heard there’s no flavor difference. I thought you weren’t supposed to eat the maggots. ---
**Author:** ![Jaledin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Jaledin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jaledin)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778/10 "2011-10-06T20:14:34Z")
> [@drastic\_quench](#): > > You can easily kill the maggots first by storing the cheese in an airtight bag. I’ve heard there’s no flavor difference. Clever. But, seriously, I’d freeze it first for at least a month. I could eat that cheese, I guess. Or at least serve it to unsuspecting (people I hate). ---
**Author:** ![FrancisCastle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b4bc9f/32.png) [@FrancisCastle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FrancisCastle)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778/11 "2011-10-06T20:38:51Z")
I understand wanting the maggots dead before you eat it, but I wouldn’t want to be there for their death! > [@](#): > > Those who do not wish to eat live maggots place the cheese in a sealed paper bag. The maggots, starved for oxygen, writhe and jump in the bag, creating a “pitter-patter” sound. When the sounds subside, the maggots are dead and the cheese can be eaten. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778/12 "2011-10-06T20:45:57Z")
What a coincidence–we were just talking about casu marzu on the train last night. I think I’ve also read somewhere that you shouldn’t eat the cheese if the maggots have already died (of natural causes), because it means that levels of a certain toxin they produce are too high. ---
**Author:** ![Bosstone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/22d042/32.png) [@Bosstone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosstone)\ **Post date:** [October 6, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778/13 "2011-10-06T21:25:02Z")
I remain convinced that casu marzu is what Vimes would refer to as a sheep’s eyeball. The locals claim it’s a great delicacy just to see if the idiot foreigner will actually try it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2011, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/quite-possibly-the-most-disgusting-cheese-ever/598778/14 "2011-10-07T00:07:13Z")
The origin, I’m sure, was in some famine or another, when the people were so starved they’d eat anything. That doesn’t mean you have to keep on eating it after the famine is over, though.