General News Swedish delicacy causes fishy explosion

Why would anyone eat something like that???? Also, yeah, interesting classification of the country.

 

Surstromming is one of the most crazy foods ever, apparently it stinks like hell, this one guy on youtube got sent some, he opened it jumped at the smell and some of the juice leaked onto his carpet.... He now has a new carpet.

When I travel I always try the local stuff, I have eaten squirrel, frog, locust, assorted bugs etc. but surstromming is something I will never go anywhere near, I think the smell would make me hurl

The URL says Mid-East but it directs to the Europe site just a bug I guess

 

Back in the day salt was quite expensive in Scandinavia, so various ways to keep fish edible for as long as possible with as little salt as possible were tried. (This one isn't even that original, fish sauces are often made like that... Lutefisk, on the other hand... )

 

It's an old tradition. Swedish sailors were trading with very rural Finns, and the Finns gave them barrels of rotting fish. The sailors loved it and it slowly became popular all over Sweden. As to why people still eat it, I have no idea, but it apparently tastes very nice after the smell has been largely drained (it has to be opened under water so it doesn't ruin your clothes and the room it's opened in)

 

So... I'm a "Middle Eastern-American", now..?



Do they consider Sweden a part of the Middle-East because of the Arabic immigrants there? That's stupid.

Well, soul food originated when slaves had to make do with cheap, leftover food their owners threw away. African-Americans still eat it to this day, despite how unhealthy it is.