Birds Nest Soup is a classic Cantonese delicacy made from the spittle nests of the Cave Swift. yàn wō (燕窝), translates literally as "swallow's nest": salty and sweet, hence the seaweed and seafoam (sugar). Larousse states that the Cave Swifts feed on gelatinous seaweed before breeding, but when the nests were first discovered by European travellers in the C17th, it was thought that the nests were made of lime and seafoam.

Todays Ingredients:
Noodles
Seaweed
Lime (dried slices)
Sugar

What a fanciful Romantic notion - that the foam of the waves crashing against the rocks could be a foodstuff for the Swifts...