23/05/2025
🧀 Casu marzu: the stomach-wrenching Corsican cheese (and legislation)
Casu marzu, literally "rotten cheese" in Corsica, is a traditional specialty of the island that shivers gastronomists as much as it fascinates lovers of extreme experiences. We're talking about a cheese intentionally infested with live larvae. Yes, you read that right. And no, it's not a myth.
🔬 What is Casu marzu?
This is the origin of a pecorinu corsu (sheep's cheese with hard dough), which is left to ferment to attract piophila casei, a fly that lays eggs there. The hatching larvae feed on cheese, accelerating its decomposition, and produce a soft, almost creamy dough, with a very strong taste and smell... unforgettable.
"Casu marzu is not eaten, it is lived," says a warned amateur with tears in his eyes (of happiness or fermentation, we never know very well).
🚫 The forbidden that makes the fame
Considered hazardous to health by European health authorities (mainly because of the risk associated with live larvae), Casu marzu is officially banned from sale. But of course, like any specialty worthy of this name, it continues to circulate under the coat in some Corsican villages, transmitted from hand to hand, often as an identical wink.
It is sometimes called “the most dangerous cheese in the world”, a reputation that contributes greatly to its myth... and its appeal to the curious.
? Do you have to eat worms?
The big question. Some eat them with, others carefully remove them before spreading. It's traditionally served with still-living larvae, which can jump off the plate if you're not careful. What if the worms are dead? We throw away cheese: it is considered unsuitable to consume. Paradoxical, isn't it?
🍽️ How do we taste it?
On a slice of dry country bread, often with a glass of corsed red wine (type Sciaccarellu or Niellucciu).
In religious silence or bursts of nervous laughter, depending on the audacity of the guests.
And above all: never take it lightly. It's a moment, a rite, almost an ordeal.
🧬 Living heritage... in a clean sense
Casu marzu is much more than a food: it's a symbol. Of the cultural resistance. Attachment to the ground. A taste for the transgressive. He embodies a rough, authentic, fiercely independent Corsica, where good taste is not defined by Brussels norms but by what is shared around a table, between people of the country.
Casu marzu be like:
an illegal but venerated cheese,
a concentrate of culture, provocation and tradition,
a food you never forget after tasting it — in one way or another.
