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I tried Hákarl[1] when I was in Iceland and I do not think I have ever felt so betrayed by a food. It really destroyed my interest in trying any other aged fish

I tried Hákarl[1] when I was in Iceland and I do not think I have ever felt so betrayed by a food. It really destroyed my interest in trying any other aged fish dishes, but one of my friends loved it. [1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/H%C3%A1karl

athenot 7y ago
Pretty much any fermeted food is going to be an acquired taste and take a while to get used to (if ever). I happen to love French cheeses but I know some of my foodie friends won't find them enjoyable. I suspect this to be a natural distrust of the body regarding fermented things, slowly easing the taste into things that the body can recognize as safe. But I don't have any evidence to back that up.
- cr1895 7y ago
  >I suspect this to be a natural distrust of the body regarding fermented things I wonder if the opposite is true, from an evolutionary perspective. Fermentation is a way food remains safe to eat where otherwise it might have rotted or made one sick.
  - masklinn 7y ago
    > Fermentation is a way food remains safe to eat where otherwise it might have rotted or made one sick. OTOH there's a pretty fine line between fermentation and rotting, so individual preference might come down to perceptive difference.
gambiting 7y ago
So I went to the Disgusting Food Museum in Malmö(would recommend going!) And they had a little tasting section at the end. Pretty much everything else was absolutely fine, even surstromming was ok, I can totally see myself enjoying it with some vodka and a gherkin. But Hakarl? Jesus I honestly wanted to vomit afterwards. All of the foods there had some redeeming quality - if the smell was bad, the taste was good, or at least the texture was. Hakarl was bad on all 3 counts - smell that could wake the dead, texture that was somewhere between a snot and egg yolk and the tests was just of something that died long ago and was left to rot.
- bifrost 7y ago
  oh wow, I didn't know that was there! I'll have to go next time I go to Sweden.
meheleventyone 7y ago
The next upgrade is Skata which in my experience actually gets eaten a lot more. There is Þorláksmessa on the 23rd of December where bucketloads of the stuff get eaten all over the place. It’s perfect if you really want to stink of ammonia in a deep seated way.
enriquto 7y ago
This is a really exceptional food. There's a lot of "aged fish dishes" that are perfectly appropriate for everybody.
cr1895 7y ago
I was a bit underwhelmed by how moderately off-putting it was...I was led to believe it's the worst thing ever. It certainly smelled pretty awful, but there wasn't a wretch-inducing taste. The icy Brennivín definitely helped. Not that I'm eager to ever try it again...
masklinn 7y ago
Hakarl is a very peculiar one though. It's treated and fermented fish, not a dried one, and is well known for being… an acquired taste (https://youtu.be/vTOfhQ_SZEg?t=121 https://youtu.be/vTOfhQ_SZEg?t=121)

athenot 7y ago

Pretty much any fermeted food is going to be an acquired taste and take a while to get used to (if ever). I happen to love French cheeses but I know some of my foodie friends won't find them enjoyable. I suspect this to be a natural distrust of the body regarding fermented things, slowly easing the taste into things that the body can recognize as safe. But I don't have any evidence to back that up.

cr1895 7y ago
>I suspect this to be a natural distrust of the body regarding fermented things I wonder if the opposite is true, from an evolutionary perspective. Fermentation is a way food remains safe to eat where otherwise it might have rotted or made one sick.
- masklinn 7y ago
  > Fermentation is a way food remains safe to eat where otherwise it might have rotted or made one sick. OTOH there's a pretty fine line between fermentation and rotting, so individual preference might come down to perceptive difference.

gambiting 7y ago

So I went to the Disgusting Food Museum in Malmö(would recommend going!) And they had a little tasting section at the end. Pretty much everything else was absolutely fine, even surstromming was ok, I can totally see myself enjoying it with some vodka and a gherkin. But Hakarl? Jesus I honestly wanted to vomit afterwards. All of the foods there had some redeeming quality - if the smell was bad, the taste was good, or at least the texture was. Hakarl was bad on all 3 counts - smell that could wake the dead, texture that was somewhere between a snot and egg yolk and the tests was just of something that died long ago and was left to rot.

bifrost 7y ago
oh wow, I didn't know that was there! I'll have to go next time I go to Sweden.

meheleventyone 7y ago

The next upgrade is Skata which in my experience actually gets eaten a lot more. There is Þorláksmessa on the 23rd of December where bucketloads of the stuff get eaten all over the place. It’s perfect if you really want to stink of ammonia in a deep seated way.

enriquto 7y ago

This is a really exceptional food. There's a lot of "aged fish dishes" that are perfectly appropriate for everybody.

cr1895 7y ago

I was a bit underwhelmed by how moderately off-putting it was...I was led to believe it's the worst thing ever. It certainly smelled pretty awful, but there wasn't a wretch-inducing taste. The icy Brennivín definitely helped. Not that I'm eager to ever try it again...

masklinn 7y ago

Hakarl is a very peculiar one though. It's treated and fermented fish, not a dried one, and is well known for being… an acquired taste (https://youtu.be/vTOfhQ_SZEg?t=121 https://youtu.be/vTOfhQ_SZEg?t=121)