14 Completely Insane Dishes from History

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Surprise Pies

Speaking of stuffing things... one of the hottest dining trends in the 15th and 16th Centuries was to stuff pies with live animals and people, serving them up as show pieces during major feasts. One notable such occasion was the 1626 feast in honor of King Charles I of England, during which a seven-year-old dwarf called Jeffrey Hudson popped out of a large pie, suit of armor and all. Apparently Queen Henrietta  Maria was so taken with the boy that she accepted him as a gift, and he spent years with her at court. Pretty sweet gig for an ingredient. A 16th-century Italian cookbook also describes how to bake a pie with live birds, which might have inspired the nursery rhyme lyrics 'Sing a song of sixpence, A pocket full of rye. Four and twenty blackbirds, Baked in a pie.'