This is the Chinese aphrodisiac par excellence. Real bird's nest soup (beware of imitations) is made from the nests of sea swallows, found in bat-filled caves on the islands of Borneo and Java. The nests are made of seaweed glued together by swallow's saliva and the spawn of small fish.

Another favorite is shark's fin soup -- traditional Chinese recipes take four days to prepare. One such recipe reads, "Boil shark fins (Sha ch'i) in water over a period of several days....until meat is pure white and skin peels off at a touch. Eat and await love's call."