The Inedibles

GIVEN I’ve eaten some unusual food – flying termites fried in palm oil, raw rotted Greenland shark – I might be disqualified from criticising China’s more exotic cuisine. We might not consider fruit bats a delicacy but they’re often eaten in Asia and it wasn’t hard to find a lavishly illustrated bat soup recipe.

“Place bats in a large kettle and add water to cover, ginger, onion, garlic and salt. Bring to a boil and cook for 60 minutes. Strain broth into a second kettle. Take the bats, skin them and discard the skin. Remove