Food for thought.

BRITONS abroad are prepared to tuck in to foreign food but some seem to have little idea of what they are eating, it has been revealed.

Just 2% of UK travellers stick to familiar fare while overseas, a survey by travel site TripAdvisor found.

And 86% of travelling Britons rarely or never eat at fast-food outlets abroad.

But as many as 82% have ordered a dish without knowing what it was, with 255 reckoning ordering cuisses de grenouille (frogs' legs) would mean sheep's' testicles being served up.

The survey also revealed:. 25% mistook falafels - ground chickpeas which are shaped into balls and popular in the Middle East - to be fried pastries, filled with meat;. 20% think that the durian - a pungent-smelling fruit, revered in South East Asia - is a salt-water fish, while 16% believe it to be a purple root vegetable; . 19% believe that a chimichanga - a fried Mexican burrito-- is a spicy stir-fry, while a further 11% think it is a coffee-based dessert.

A total of 56% of the Britons said they were happy to eat shark-fin soup and 40% were prepared to sample guinea pig which was eaten in Peru.

Also, 35% were happy enough to try deep-fried grasshoppers in Thailand and 77% would eat kangaroo in Australia.

The figure for those who could stomach snake in Cambodia was as high as 50%, while other dishes tried included fish porridge, wasabi ice cream and fried ants.

As many as 45% of Britons have had food poisoning from something they ate while away, with Spain the main food-poisoning "hotspot" followed by Egypt and India.

Italy was regarded as having the best, and best-value, food, followed by France and Thailand.