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The Garibaldi biscuit consists of currants squashed between two thin, oblong biscuits - a currant sandwich. In this respect, it has elements common with the Eccles cake.

Popular with British consumers as a snack for nearly 150 years, the Garibaldi biscuit is conventionally consumed with a beverage such as tea, coffee or prosecco, into which it may be dunked in informal social settings. The biscuits also exist under different names in other countries including New Zealand.

When bought in supermarkets in the UK (under several brands, including own label, all remarkably similar), Garibaldi biscuits usually come in four strips of five biscuits each. They have a golden brown, glazed exterior appearance and a moderately sweet pastry, but their defining characteristic is the generous layer of squashed fruit which gives rise to the colloquial names fly sandwiches, fly cemeteries, dead fly biscuits or squashed fly biscuits, because the squashed fruit resemble squashed flies.

The Garibaldi biscuit was named after Giuseppe Garibaldi, an Italian general and leader of the fight to unify Italy. During the war they had to use limited rations to prepare food, the result was a simple biscuit. Garibaldi made a popular visit to Tynemouth in England in 1854. It was first manufactured by the Bermondsey biscuit company Peek Freans in 1861 following the recruitment of one of the great biscuit makers of Scotland, John Carr. In the United States, the Sunshine Biscuit Company for many years made a popular version of the Garibaldi with raisins which it called "Golden Fruit". Sunshine was bought out by the Keebler Company which briefly expanded the line to include versions filled with other fruits. Plain chocolate covered and milk chocolate covered varieties have also been marketed in the past, but appear not to been available for many years.
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A fortune cookie is a crisp cookie usually made from flour, sugar, vanilla, and oil with a "fortune" wrapped inside. A "fortune" is a piece of paper with words of faux wisdom or a vague prophecy. The message inside may also include a Chinese phrase with translation or a list of lucky numbers used by some as lottery numbers, some of which have become actual winner numbers.

Fortune cookies are often served as a dessert in Chinese restaurants in the United States and some other countries, but are absent in China. The exact provenance of fortune cookies is unclear, though various immigrant groups in California claim to have popularized them in the early 20th century, basing their recipe on a traditional Japanese cracker. Fortune cookies have been summarized as being "introduced by the Japanese, popularized by the Chinese, but ultimately they are consumed by Americans."

As far back as the 19th century, a cookie very similar in appearance to the modern Fortune cookie was made in Kyoto, Japan, and there is a Japanese temple tradition of random fortunes, called omikuji. The Japanese version of the cookie differs in several ways: they are a little bit larger; are made of darker dough; and their batter contains sesame and miso rather than vanilla and butter. They contain a fortune; however, the small slip of paper was wedged into the bend of the cookie rather than placed inside the hollow portion. This kind of cookie is called Tsujiura Senbei and are still sold in some regions of Japan.

Most of the people who claim to have introduced the cookie to the United States are Japanese, so the theory is that these bakers were modifying a cookie design which they were aware of from their days in Japan.

Makoto Hagiwara of Golden Gate Park's Japanese Tea Garden in San Francisco is reported to have been the first person in the USA to have served the modern version of the cookie when he did so at the tea garden in the 1890s or early 1900s. The fortune cookies were made by a San Francisco bakery, Benkyodo.

David Jung, founder of the Hong Kong Noodle Company in Los Angeles, has made a competing claim that he invented the cookie in 1918. San Francisco's mock Court of Historical Review attempted to settle the dispute in 1983. During the proceedings, a fortune cookie was introduced as a key piece of evidence with a message reading, "S.F. Judge who rules for L.A. Not Very Smart Cookie". A federal judge of the Court of Historical Review determined that the cookie originated with Hagiwara and the court ruled in favor of San Francisco. Subsequently, the city of Los Angeles condemned the decision.

Seiichi Kito, the founder of Fugetsu-do of Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, also claims to have invented the cookie. Kito claims to have gotten the idea of putting a message in a cookie from Omikuji (fortune slip) which are sold at temples and shrines in Japan. According to his story, he sold his cookies to Chinese restaurants where they were greeted with much enthusiasm in both the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas. Thus Kito's main claim is that he is responsible for the cookie being so strongly associated with Chinese restaurants.

Up to around World War II, fortune cookies were known as "fortune tea cakes" -- likely reflecting their origins in Japanese tea cakes. It later became known as a "fortune cooky" before settling on the current spelling of "fortune cookie."
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An alfajor or alajú is a traditional Arabic confection found in some regions of Spain and then made with variations in countries of Latin America including Argentina, Uruguay and Mexico, after being taken there by the colonists. The archetypal alfajor entered Iberia during the period of al-Andalus. It is produced in the form of a small cylinder and is sold either individually or in boxes containing several pieces.

In Spain there are completely different recipes, but the most traditional contain flour, honey, almonds and several spices, such as cinnamon. It is most commonly sold around Christmas but in Medina Sidonia they are sold the whole year round. The real alfajor was made in this town since ancient times and their development, called "alajú", passed from father to son.

Today they are still made by craftsmen and developed by the same procedure. They are natural, with honey, almonds, hazelnuts, sugar, flour, breadcrumbs and mixed with natural spices. The manufacturing process has been respected following a recipe found by Mariano Pardo de Figueroa in 1786. In Medina Sidonia there's an annual production of approximately 45,000 kilograms, mostly consumed in the province of Cadiz, but they are also famous in Sevilla, Malaga and Huelva.

The regulation regards the use of only pure honey, almonds, nuts, breadcrumbs, sugar, flour and spices such as aniseed, sesame, coriander, cloves and cinnamon. The Protected Geographical Indication alfajores are meant to be presented in a cylindrical shape, with a minimum weight of 30 grams each and with a minimum size of seven inches in length and a diameter of 1,5 cm. Each of them will be protected with a wrapping paper and the ends made an ornament in a spiral shape with a ribbon out of the same paper. Once individually wrapped may be packaged in wood or cardboard boxes, but never in plastic.
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Cattle are considered sacred in various world religions, most notably Hinduism, Jainism, Buddhism[citation needed], Zoroastrianism as well as the religions of Ancient Egypt, Ancient Greece, and Ancient Rome. In some regions, especially India, the slaughter of cattle may be prohibited and their meat may be taboo.

The cow has been a symbol of wealth since ancient Vedic times. However, they were neither inviolable nor revered in the same way they are today. Some scholars have argued, citing early Hindu scriptures and archaeological evidence, that the cow has not always been sacred and that cows, oxen, and bulls were both sacrificed and eaten in Vedic times and to some extent even later.

The cow was possibly revered because the largely pastoral Vedic people and subsequent generations relied heavily on it for dairy products and for tilling the fields, and on cow dung as a source of fuel, fertilizer, and psilocybin mushrooms which naturally grow out of the animal's own excrement. Universally, Hindus still use cow dung for various purposes; the burning of cow dung creates an insecticide to repel mosquitoes, and ash formed from cow dung is used as a fertilizer. Thus, the cow’s status as a 'caretaker' led to identifying it as an almost maternal figure (hence the term gau mata). Accordi.

Hinduism is based on the concept of omnipresence of the Divine, and the presence of a soul in all creatures, including bovines. Thus, by that definition, killing any animal would be a sin: one would be obstructing the natural cycle of birth and death of that creature, and the creature would have to be reborn in that same form because of its unnatural death. Historically, even Krishna, one of the most revered forms of the Divine (Avatar), tended cows.

Cow slaughter is banned except in the states of Kerala, West Bengal and the seven north eastern states. Cows are routinely shipped to these states for slaughter, even though it is illegal to transport cows for slaughter across provincial borders. However, many illegal private slaughterhouses also operate in big cities such as Chennai and Mumbai. While there are approximately 3,600 slaughterhouses operating legally in India, there are estimated to be over 30,000 illegal slaughterhouses. The efforts to close them down have so far been largely unsuccessful.
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Some cultures consume blood as food, often in combination with meat. This may be in the form of blood sausage, as a thickener for sauces, a cured salted form for times of food scarcity, or in a blood soup. This is a product from domesticated animals, obtained at a place and time where the blood can run into a container and be swiftly consumed or processed. The Maasai of Tanzania consume the blood of cattle—which is let directly from the neck of the live animal and the wound allowed to heal—mixed with milk. In many cultures the animal is slaughtered. In some cultures, blood is a taboo food.

Blood can also be used as a solid ingredient, either by allowing it to congeal before use, or by cooking it to accelerate the process. In Hungary when a pig is slaughtered in the morning the blood is fried with onions and is served for breakfast. In China, "blood tofu", is most often made with pig's or duck's blood, although chicken's or cow's blood may also be used. The blood is allowed to congeal and simply cut into rectangular pieces and cooked. This dish is also known in Java as saren, made with chicken's or pig's blood. Blood tofu is found in curry mee as well as the Sichuan dish, maoxuewang. In Tibet, congealed yak's blood is a traditional food.

In some cases, blood is used as an ingredient without any additional preparation. Raw blood is not commonly consumed straight, but may be used as an addition to drinks or other dishes. One example is the drinking of seal blood: "Inuit food generates a strong flow of blood, a condition considered to be healthy and indicative of a strong body." After the consumption of seal blood and meat, one could look at their veins in the wrist for proof of the strength that Inuit food provides. The veins would expand and darken and, as Kristen Borré observed, "the person's blood becomes fortified and improves in color and thickness." Seal blood is "seen as fortifying human blood by replacing depleted nutrients and rejuvenating the blood supply, it is considered a necessary part of the Inuit diet.

Some cultures consider blood to be a taboo form of food. In Abrahamic religions, Jewish and Muslim cultures forbid the consumption of blood. In the New Testament, blood was forbidden by the Apostolic Decree (Acts 15:19-21) and is still forbidden among Greek Orthodox. The Igbo ethnic group of Nigeria has no explicit prohibitions against eating blood, but most regard it with disgust and refuse to eat any meat perceived as "bloody" or undercooked (such as raw meat in sushi or steak prepared rare or medium). Goats, cows, and other animals slaughtered in the traditional Igbo manner are dispatched with a single cut across the neck and then most or all of the blood is allowed to slowly drain from the wound (this practice may have been influenced by the Igbo Jewish community that apparently predates contact with Europe). Many Igbos who buy butchered, packaged meat from groceries and supermarkets are in the habit of washing the blood from the meat with water before preparing it.
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Whale meat is the flesh of whales used for consumption by humans or other animals. It is prepared in various ways, and is traditionally part of the diet and cuisine of various communities, including those of Japan, Norway, Iceland, and the Arctic. Human consumption of whale meat is controversial in some nations. Whales have been hunted by different communities for many centuries. Usually this was for food, but sometimes eating whale meat was the by-product of other concerns such as the need for whale oil, or the desire to clear oceans of whales which were potential shipping hazards. In the 1960s, the breeding of cetaceans for human consumption in atolls used for nuclear testing was mooted but never carried out. Minke whale is one of the most common species still hunted.  In modern-day Japan, two cuts of whale meat are usually created: the belly meat and the fluke (tail) meat. In the early 19th century, 70 different cuts were known. Coastal Eskimos divided their catch into 10 sections. The fatty tail, considered to be the best part, went to the captain of the conquering vessel, while the less-desired sections were given to his crew and others that assisted with the kill.

In places such as Norway, Iceland, and Alaska, whale meat may be served without seasoning. However, it can also be cured or marinated, or made into jerky.

Dishes available in Japanese whale meat restaurants serve various forms, including cubed and grilled blubber, cartilage salads, and whale skin stew.

Some dishes available in Japan:

    * Hari-hari-nabe is a typical dish in Osaka
    * Sashimi of Onomi is a marbled meat taken from the dorsal fin to the tail
    * Sashimi of Abura-sunoko is striped layers of meat made from the root of the flippers
    * Udemono, consists of innards that have been boiled and sliced

For centuries, meat from the pilot whale has been an importance source of food and vitamins. The meat is not available in supermarkets, but instead is kept in homes, where it is prepared and eaten.

Both the meat and blubber are stored and prepared in various ways, including Tvøst og spik. When fresh, the meat is often boiled. It can also be served as steak (grindabúffur). This dish comprises meat, blubber and potatoes, which is salted and then boiled for an hour. The meat can also be served in thin slivers with dried fish.

Traditionally, whale meat was preserved by hanging salted pieces outdoors to be dried in the wind. This method is still used today, particularly in villages. Today, both meat and blubber are often stored in the freezer.
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Horse meat is the culinary name for meat cut from a horse. It is a major meat in only a few countries, notably in Central Asia, but it forms a significant part of the culinary traditions of many others, from Europe to South America to Asia, the top eight countries consuming about 4.7 million horses a year. For the majority of mankind’s early existence wild horses were hunted as a source of protein. According to Viande Richelieu Inc., one of the largest North American horse meat exporters, it is slightly sweet, tender, low in fat, and high in protein.

However, because of the role horses have played as a companion and as a worker, and concerns about the ethics of the horse slaughter process, it is a taboo food in some cultures. These historical associations, as well as ritual and religion, led to the development of the aversion to the consumption of horse meat. The horse is now given pet status by many in some parts of the Western world, particularly in the USA and UK, which further solidifies the taboo on eating its meat. This avoidance and the loss of taste for it is relatively modern, although it arises out of complex historical and cultural origins.

In some countries, the effects of this prohibition by the Roman Catholic Church have lingered and horse meat prejudices have progressed from taboos, to avoidance, to abhorrence.In other parts of the world, horse meat has the stigma of being something poor people eat and is seen as a cheap substitute for other meats, such as pork and beef.

According to the anthropologist Marvin Harris, some cultures class horse meat as taboo because the horse converts grass into meat less efficiently than ruminants. When breeding cattle for meat, a cow or a sheep will produce more meat than a horse if fed with the same amount of grass.

There is also an element of sentimentality, as horses have long enjoyed a close relationship with many humans, on a similar level to household pets – this can be seen projected in such Anglophone cultural icons such as Black Beauty and My Little Pony. Compare with the anthropomorphic animals in Babe, Charlotte's Web, and Freddy the Pig.

Totemistic taboo is also a possible reason for refusal to eat horse meat as an everyday food, but did not necessarily preclude ritual slaughter and consumption. Roman sources state that the goddess Epona was widely worshipped in Gaul and southern Britain. Epona, a triple aspect goddess, was the protectress of the horse and horse keepers, and horses were sacrificed to her; she was paralleled by the Irish Macha and Welsh Rhiannon. The Uffington White Horse is probable evidence of ancient horse worship. The ancient Indian Brahmins engaged in horse sacrifice (Ashwamedh Yaghya) as recorded in the Vedas; but within context of the ritual sacrificial is not being 'killed' but instead being smothered to death. In 1913, the Finnic Mari people of the Volga region were observed to practice a horse sacrifice.

In ancient Scandinavia, the horse was very important, as a living, working creature, as a sign of the owner's status, and symbolically within the old Norse religion. Horses were slaughtered as a sacrifice to the gods and the meat was eaten by the people taking part in the religious feasts.When the Nordic countries were Christianized, eating horse meat was regarded as a sign of paganism and prohibited. A slight skepticism against eating horse meat is still common as a reminder of this in these countries even today.

It is notable that, despite horses having been bred in England since pre-Roman times, the English language has no widely used term for horse meat, as opposed to four for pig meat (pork, bacon, ham, gammon), three for sheep meat (lamb, hogget and mutton), two for cow meat (beef and veal), and so on. English speaking countries, however, have sometimes marketed horse meat under the euphemism "cheval meat" (cheval being the French for horse). Also, note that the words pork, bacon, mutton, veal, and beef all derive from Anglo-Norman vocabulary, because of the class structure of England after the Norman Conquest in 1066 CE: the poor (Saxons) tended the animals, while the rich (French-speaking Normans) ate the meat. The peasants had very little to do with horses.
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Dog meat refers to edible parts and the flesh derived from (predominantly domestic) dogs. Human consumption of dog meat has been recorded in many parts of the world, including China, ancient Mexico, and ancient Rome. According to contemporary reports, dog meat is consumed in a variety of countries such as China, Vietnam, the Philippines, and Korea. In addition, dog meat has also been used as survival food in times of war and/or other hardships.

In contemporary times, some cultures view the consumption of dog meat to be a part of their traditional cuisine, while others consider consumption of dog to be inappropriate and offensive. Opponents of restrictions on dog meat consumption argue the distinction between livestock and pets is subjective. They also argue consuming dog meat is no different from consuming slaughtered pigs, chicken and cattle in other countries, such as the United States. Eating dog is forbidden under Muslim and Jewish dietary laws.

The traditional culture surrounding the consumption of dog meat varied from tribe to tribe among the original inhabitants of North America, with some tribes relishing it as a delicacy, and others (such as the Comanche) treating it as an abhorrent practice. Native peoples of the Great Plains, such as the Sioux and Cheyenne, consumed it, but there was a concurrent religious taboo against the meat of wild canines.

During their 1803–1806 expedition, Meriwether Lewis and the other members of the Corps of Discovery consumed dog meat, either from their own animals or supplied by Native American tribes, including the Paiutes and Wah-clel-lah Indians, a branch of the Watlalas, the Clatsop, the Teton Sioux (Lakota), the Nez Perce Indians, and the Hidatsas. Lewis and the members of the expedition ate dog meat, except William Clark, who reportedly could not bring himself to eat dogs. The usual preparation method was boiling.

Dog meat is consumed widely in Vietnam but can mostly be found in special restaurants which specifically serve this type of meat. In any urban areas, there are always sections which house a lot of dog-meat restaurants. For example, on Nhat Tan Street, Tây Hồ District, Hanoi, many restaurants serve dog meat. Groups of customers, usually male, seated on mats, will spend their evenings sharing plates of dog meat and drinking alcohol since dog meat is believed to raise the libido in men. The consumption of dog meat can be part of a ritual usually occurring toward the end of the lunar month for reasons of astrology and luck. Restaurants which mainly exist to serve dog meat may only open for the last half of the lunar month. Consumption of dog meat, however, remains unpopular and taboo.

Almost all dogs used for restaurant meat are imported from other Southeast Asian countries (Laos, Cambodia, Malaysia, etc.) and from dog robbers.

In 2009, dog meat was found to be a main carrier of the Vibrio cholerae bacterium, which caused the summer epidemic of cholera in northern Vietnam.
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Cat meat or cat flesh is consumed as food in some parts of the world. The term should not be confused with a British usage referring to meat sold to cat owners in the days before packaged pet foods.

In most cultures, eating cat meat is considered taboo, and it is condemned by many religions. Because cats are carnivorous, consumption of cat meat is not permissible under Jewish or Islamic dietary laws.

In some parts of China, especially in the North, eating cats is considered taboo. Cats are seen as having souls, and thus the consumption of cat meat is sacrilegious. In southern China some people consider cat flesh a good warming food during winter months. The cat's stomach and intestines are eaten, as well as meat from the thighs, which are turned into meatballs served with soup. The head and the rest of the animal are thrown away. Organized cat-collectors in Nanjing's north-western suburb of Niti regularly ship cats to be used as food to the southern province of Guangdong.[4] On 26 January 2010 China launched its first draft proposal to protect the country's animals from maltreatment including a measure to jail people who eat cat or dog meat for up to 15 days. In Japan, cat meat was consumed until the end of Tokugawa period in the 19th century. In Korea, cat meat used to be boiled and made into a tonic as a folk remedy for neuralgia and arthritis, though the meat by itself is not customarily eaten. In Vietnam, cat meat is also a speciality of Thái Bình province, despite the government's concern that excessive consumption of cats may cause the rapid rise of mice and rats. Thái Bình has earn the nickname "Thành phố thịt mèo" (City of catmeat) due to its citizens' high consumption of cats.

With the increase of cats as pets in China, opposition towards the traditional use of cats for food has grown. In June 2006, approximately 40 activists stormed the Fangji Cat Meatball Restaurant, a restaurant specializing in cat meat in Shenzhen, China. They managed to force the restaurant to shut down and discontinue selling of cat meat. Those changes began about two years after the formation of the Chinese Companion Animal Protection Network, a networking project of Chinese Animal Protection Network. Expanded to more than 40 member societies, CCAPN in January 2006 began organizing well-publicized protests against dog and cat eating. In 2008 a series of incidents have been broadcasted by the media on the increased consumption of cat and dog meat in Guangdong areas.
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Offal is a culinary term used to refer to the entrails and internal organs of a butchered animal. The word does not refer to a particular list of organs, but includes most internal organs other than muscles or bones. Note that as an English collective noun, the term "offal" is used in the same form for singular and plural — without a final "s." People in some cultures shy away from offal as food, while others use it as everyday food, or even in delicacies that command a high price.

Offal not used directly for human or animal food is often processed in a rendering plant, producing material that is used for fertilizer or fuel.

In some parts of Europe, scrotum, brain, chitterlings (pig's small intestine), trotters (feet), heart, head (of pigs, calves, sheep and lamb), kidney, liver, "lights" (lung), sweetbreads (thymus or pancreas), fries (testicles), tongue, snout (nose), tripe (reticulum) and maws (stomach) from various mammals are common menu items.

The traditional Scottish haggis consists of sheep stomach stuffed with a boiled mix of liver, heart, lungs, rolled oats and other ingredients. In the UK Midlands, faggots are made from ground or minced pig offal (mainly liver and cheek), bread, herbs and onion wrapped in pig's caul. Steak and kidney pie (typically featuring veal or beef kidneys) is widely known and enjoyed in Britain and Ireland. Brawn is a British English term for "head cheese", or the collection of meat and tissue found on an animal's skull (typically a pig) that is cooked, chilled and set in gelatin. Another British and Irish food is black pudding, consisting of congealed pig's blood with oatmeal made into sausage-like links with pig intestine as a casing, then boiled and is usually fried on preparation. Melton Mowbray pork pies are made in part from pig trotters. Pressed and sliced ox tongue remains popular amongst older UK residents for use in sandwiches. Luncheon Tongue refers to reformed tongue pieces rather than slices of the whole tongue. Both kinds of tongue are found in tinned form and in slices. Home pressing and cooking of tongue appears to have died out over the last fifty years. Bleached tripe was a popular dish in Northern England with many specialist tripe shops in industrial areas: these too have almost all closed.

In South Africa offal is enjoyed by South Africans of diverse backgrounds. Due to the popularity of this dish, it is one of the few customs that white (especially Afrikaners) and black South Africans share.

Offal dishes in South Africa do not really consist of any organs and are mostly limited to stomach skin, sheeps head, shin and very rarely brains. With regards the sheep head, it has over the years gained many nicknames such as 'skobo' (township colloquial term meaning head) and 'smiley' (referring to the expression of the head when cooked).

There are numerous recipes to cook the above mentioned items available on many South African websites. One of the more popular way to cook offal in South Africa is to cook it with small potatoes in a curry sauce served on rice. Alternatively it can served with samp or maize rice.
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