Try the Swallows' Gifts

Some foods are billed as being good for your health, and they just might be -- if you can get over the idea of eating them. Natural Nest an Indonesian company, emphasizes the benefits of its No. 1 product, birds' nests.

A bird's nest, the site says, "is both precious and nourishing" and when eaten regularly will stimulate cell and epidermal growth and leave your skin "glowing and delicate." The part that might be difficult to swallow is that Natural Nest's nests are partially composed of the saliva -- of swallows.

But the Chinese, for one people, swear by the health benefits of birds' nests, which they serve in soup form -- and theirs is a reputation for longevity. Natural Nest supplies a whole string of menus for serving the product, including bird's nest and pumpkin soup, stewed bird's nest with fresh fruit, and bird's nest, crab meat and winter melon soup.

But one swallow does not a bird's nest make, at least not all of them. Nature Nest says it produces various kinds of swallow nests, including blood nest, orange nest and white nest.