View a gallery of the ten below. Tell us the worst thing you've eaten and why (or alarming food that isn't so bad) using the comment form at the end of the article.

We also want you to send your most disgusting pictures to travelpix@timesonline.co.uk by the end of November. The best five suggestions and five most horrible pictures will win a copy of the book.

1 Alligator cheesecake (USA)

There are few things on planet Earth more mismatched than a menacing alligator and a sweet, comforting slice of cheesecake.

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However, the clever (or crazy) kitchen sorcerers at Jacque-Imo’s Café in New Orleans, Louisiana, conjured up a savoury cheesecake whose main ingredient is the toothy swamp monster.

Alligator is an alternative meat that is fairly common in Louisiana due to the commercial farming of the reptile in the southern state.

While the most lucrative part of the gator is its skin, the meat is also sold to specialty meat markets and funky eateries like Jacques-Imo’s who turn this powerful predator into a harmless and delicious appetizer made of cheese, alligator sausage and shrimp.

2 Bitter melon (Africa/Asia)

If you weren’t bitter before eating bitter melon, you will be after. It’ll turn any Pollyanna into a pucker-faced diner with one bite.

Momordicin is the component within this wart-riddled fruit that is responsible for its absolute astringency, and it’s a very bitter pill to swallow. Various methods are used to cut the bitterness of the bitter melon, like salting or blanching. In Pakistan, lamb and spices turn the bitter melon into a lively plate called karela gosht.

Oft times in life, enduring bitterness can lead to benefits, in this case, they are a combination of vitamins and minerals that have been shown to lower blood-sugar levels in diabetics. There is also early evidence of treating HIV.

3 Blood tongue (Germany)

Perhaps a good ad agency could conceive of a more appetizing name for this bloody slice of sandwich meat. Otherwise, this German cold cut (called blut zungenwurst in German) is quite delicious. It’s made with cow blood and tongue, seasoned, cooked, chilled, turned into a loaf, then sliced uber-thin and placed delicately between a crusty roll.

Although difficult to locate in common delis, a good German deli or meat shop will carry it. The flavor of blood tongue is subtle relative to other blood delicacies like Chinese pig blood cake. Its flavoring is derived from spices such as anise. But it still does taste vaguely like a trickle of blood from a finger cut.

4 Chicken knee (China)

The Chinese and Japanese love chicken knees. The Japanese enjoy their diminutive joints of poultry grilled till smoky and flavorful at yakitori restaurants. The Chinese, on the other hand, prefer to eat these knees at dim-sum (or yum cha) restaurants where they are dunked in garlic batter, deep-fried and served in fragrant piles.

Chicken knees may sound like one of those dishes where one does a lot of work for very little and then discards the bone. In reality, there are no bones about eating chicken knees. It’s entirely edible: the cartilage, meat, skin and fat. It’s an oral playground of crunchy, chewy and meaty textures.

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