Birds Nests

If you happen upon Nina's YST FAQ, you'd notice that she has very good bio's of all the guys. As you read through them, you'll notice that Shu only lists two kinds of food that he dislikes (of course he would only list food!). One of them is Swallow's nest, which is a Chinese food. If you are like me you probably thought it was just some weird name, maybe because of translation. Well, it's not quite that simple. Personally I can see why Shu can't stand it. Just the thought makes my stomach turn.

Bird's Nest Soup, is actually quite popular and quite expencive, it's a delicacy of the east. But what exactly is it? Well, if you can get squimish be warned, for Birds Nest Soup is called such because the main ingredient is none other than a bird's nest. Not just any birds nest mind you, just like Shu stated, he doesn't like Swallow's nest. It is the swallow and a cousin of the swallow the swiftlets who's nests are harvested for this soup.

It would seem that the Chinese beleive that these particular birds nests can be benificial to one's health. A Chinese Chicken Soup maybe? Who knows, but people actually eat it for it's rumored health benifets. Some of which are to stimulate cell growth and are beneficial to elderly people recovering from illness. It is also beleived that it can strengthen the lungs and pancreas to prolong life and slow down the aging process. Women love it for it's supposed properties of making the skin delicate and seem to glow radiantly.

Personally if I want my face to glow, I'll add some glitter.

I also found an artical on ABC News about the Birds Nest (It has since been taken down). If anything, it's opening line just about says it all:

Take globs of bird saliva,
a tasteless jelly of little nutritional value,
plop it into a broth, and what do you get?
     Bird’s nest soup

If you want to know more, here's a link to the Wikipedia artical.