Swedish Parker!

The last Swedish delicacy I was yet to enjoy - I had to tick it off the list before I went home, even though I knew I was in for a very painful experience.

Surströmming!!!?!

a.k.a. Rotten Herring

ROTTEN Herring…

I’ve loved every single bizarre food I’ve eaten in Sweden over the past year: Elk Burgers, Brown Cheese, Blood Pudding, “Kroppkakor”, Janssons Frestelse, Dried Reindeer, Snaps & Crawfish, Soured Milk, and caviar in a toothpaste tube, to name but a few.

But this was too much.

It’s basically fillets of fish that have been left to rot for a few months, after which they’ve been canned and allowed to continue rotting for several more.

Which ends up producing one of the most horrible odours I’ve ever experienced.

According to Wikipedia, it has a pungent, rotten-egg, rancid-butter and vinegary smell.

Personally I think they’re being generous.

The first whiff I got after opening the can was quite possibly the worst smell I’ve ever experienced. Not just food, the worst smell, from anything, that I’ve ever smelt, ever.

I wasn’t far from throwing up, and I was supposed to turn around and eat it…?

I managed to take three tiny bites, but each time I couldn’t possibly get over the horrible, horrible, horrible smell in order to tell whether or not it tasted any good.

As far as I could tell it was only partially better on the tongue than the nose.

Yet, somehow, this food is sold in supermarkets all over the country, and is considered somewhat of a traditional delight.

It’s ROTTEN FISH for christ’s sake.

And the Swedes say Vegemite tastes bad… Unbelievable…