Cuitlacoche

Yesterday, Bryan brought to my attention a blog article (language warning: Steve has a potty mouth) on Steve, don't eat it!, part of blogzine known as The Sneeze, where Steve tried eating Cuitlacoche.
Cuitlacoche, or Huitlacoche as it also known, is corn that has been infected with spores from the basidiomycetous fungus Ustilago maydis. I know this because I work in a research lab with people that are working on Ustilago maydis (I would put links in, but we are undergoing a big server changeover right now, and our website has temporarily disappeared, with no known forwarding address). The weird thing is that in Mexico, Cuitlacoche is considered to be a "delicacy to be savored" and "the Mexican caviar".
Here in Canada, most people don't consider Cuitlacoche to be a delicious treat, more of an agricultural pest, and the work in our lab aims to find ways of preventing infection of corn by Ustilago maydis.
My supervisor told us about the time that he tasted Cuitlacoche at a Ustilago conference in Mexico a few years back, and he shuddered as he spoke!. He now keeps a can in his office, possibly as a reminder of the importance of the work we do towards eradicating this vile organism.