NationStates Jolt Archive

This post was inspired by a recent thread where I attempted to trump the Swedish delicacy of tinned rotten fish with the Icelandic specialty of hákarl, which I personally experienced when I was living in Iceland in the 1980s.

I'll repeat the main quote from that thread so you can all fully appreciate the delight that is buried putrefied shark....

How to prepare hákarl:
Don't try this at home unless you know what the end product is supposed to taste like. Putrefied shark can become spoiled.

I read in a book that fresh shark is unsuitable for eating because there is uremic acid in the flesh. This I am inclined to believe, considering that cured shark smells like stagnant urine or ammonia. It has also been claimed that that there is cyanic acid in shark meat. Fresh shark meat is said to have caused people to vomit blood. The curing process removes the acid from the flesh and makes it easier to digest. Connoisseurs of strong cheese generally like cured shark on the first bite. Others find it to be an aquired taste...

Traditional method:
Take one large shark, gut and discard the innards, the cartilage and the head. Cut flesh into large pieces.Wash in running water to get all slime and blood off. Dig a large hole in coarse gravel, preferably down by the sea and far from the nearest inhabited house - this is to make sure the smell doesn't bother anybody. Put in the shark pieces, and press them well together. It's best to do this when the weather is fairly warm (but not hot), as it hastens the curing process. Cover with more gravel and put heavy rocks on top to press down. Leave for 6-7 weeks (in summer) to 2-3 months (in winter). During this time, fluid will drain from the shark flesh, and putrefication will set in.

When the shark is soft and smells like ammonia, remove from the gravel, wash, and hang in a drying shack. This is a shack or shed with plenty of holes to let the wind in, but enough shade to prevent the sun from shining directly on the shark. Let it hang until it is firm and fairly dry: 2-4 months. Warm, windy and dry weather will hasten the process, while cold, damp and still weather will delay it.

Slice off the brown crust, cut the whitish flesh into small pieces and serve, preferably with a shot of ice-cold brennivín.


Brennivín, incidentally, being an Icelandic potato schnapps colloquially known as 'black death', and once described as the 'nastiest, most foul tasting liquor on the face of the planet'. Even the relevant wiki article reads 'Despite its unofficial status as national beverage, many Icelanders do not actually drink it, and a majority of the ones who do, drink it only when feeling patriotic or when trying to impress foreign visitors'.


So my challenge to you is... name the world's most disgusting food.

There are three qualifiers

1) You must have actually tried that food yourself.

2) Nominations for standard burger and chicken-based fast food chains will be disqualified on the basis that while it is certainly in most cases disgusting, the amount consumed worldwide on a daily basis suggests that a considerable number of people find it at least palatable, however misguided they are.

3) Haggis is exempt because I rather like it.


Personally speaking, I'll stick with hákarl, largely because I once turned down - to my subsequent regret - the chance to eat deep-fried Congolese tree grubs when I was in what used to be Zaire, and because last time my wife and I were in Bangkok, I couldn't convince her to try the stir-fried duck lips with ant egg salad at the Laotian restaurant we were eating in (and I suspect both the Congolese and Laotian dishes would actually have been rather tasty).

Fried placenta gets my vote.

calamari

calamari

No way! Squid is great if it's cooked right.

boiled okra

boiled okra

Siiiiiiiiick. More like boiled snot.

Home-made play-doh.

calamari

Maybe you just haven't had the right squid....

I'd recommend either a variant on East Asian fried chilli garlic squid or a Greek slowly-simmered red wine squid pilaf.

Yummy.

Meat. Every single form of meat. Besides human meat. I'll eat human meat before I eat any other form of animal meat.

Maybe you just haven't had the right squid....

I'd recommend either a variant on East Asian fried chilli garlic squid or a Greek slowly-simmered red wine squid pilaf.

Yummy.

He could be like me, and just loathe seafood altogether. I always find it either reeks fiercely or is too much work for too little meat. I'm glad cows don't have lobster shells.

Meat. Every single form of meat. Besides human meat. I'll eat human meat before I eat any other form of animal meat.

?

Brussel Sprouts

Fried placenta gets my vote.

I'd say that's at least equal to hákarl, not so much because of what it might taste like or the potential nutritional value, but because of the need to get over the cultural barrier of where it came from.

Incidentally, I do have a recipe for placenta terrine I could share if anyone's interested....

Meat. Every single form of meat. Besides human meat. I'll eat human meat before I eat any other form of animal meat.

That's fine and dandy if you don't mind going insane, I suppose.

Cheese

Home-made play-doh.
No, man, that shit was.....the shit!

I wouldn't know, really. I never ate it. But I gotta say, when you prepare the tofu for Miso soup the wrong way, the whole thing turns out really poorly.... :(

Cheese

*gunshot*

*gunshot*

You can't kill me. Because you didn't use this: :sniper: :mp5: :sniper: :mp5:

Anything cooked by a student.

Miss Pacman Lover. Yay!

Natto, natto has to be the worse food in the world.

http://www.blogography.com/photos6/Natto.jpg

It smells like used unwashed gym socks that someone with very stinky feet has left in a gym locker for at least two weeks. Texture wise, it is a slimy, stringy mess.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natto

If you can actually ignore the smell and texture, it doesn't taste all that bad, but you can clear a room with it just by opeaning it up.

You can't kill me. Because you didn't use this: :sniper: :mp5: :sniper: :mp5:

*Omnislashes*

Brussel Sprouts

I once threw up when i ate a boiled brussel sprout with my eyes closed after Thanksgiving dinner. Someone told me it was pie. :(

I once threw up when i ate a boiled brussel sprout with my eyes closed after Thanksgiving dinner. Someone told me it was pie. :(

That's funny and sad. Gold!

McDonald's, no doubt.
I vomit when I eat it or look at it for a minute. Smelling it makes me vomit too.

*Omnislashes*

How dare you make me google some freak RPG word. You have offended my honour, and I demand satisfaction. *Slaps you with a glove*

The worst thing I've ever eaten, tricky . . .
I'd have to give it to Cave Cheese (whatever the proper title was, I forget). It was some sort of mouldy, grainy, grey-black stuff that tasted like shit and had the texture of sand. It came in a ball, and was supposadly matured from goat's milk in a cave somewhere for years.

Brussel Sprouts
I actually like brussel sprouts. They're great!

I once threw up when i ate a boiled brussel sprout with my eyes closed after Thanksgiving dinner. Someone told me it was pie. :(
Why is everyone hating on Brussel Sprouts? They taste awesome.
Nothing like pie, though, so I see why you would be dissapointed.

Natto, natto has to be the worse food in the world.


It smells like used unwashed gym socks that someone with very stinky feet has left in a gym locker for at least two weeks. Texture wise, it is a slimy, stringy mess.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natto

If you can actually ignore the smell and texture, it doesn't taste all that bad, but you can clear a room with it just by opeaning it up.


Dude, its amazing. Seriously, if I could have fermented soy beans with every bowl of rice I ever have, I'd be living a good life.

Damn.

My recipe for placenta terrine's at home.

Those of you looking to cook your placenta will have to make do with this:

http://www.mothers35plus.co.uk/plac_rec.htm

Dude, its amazing. Seriously, if I could have fermented soy beans with every bowl of rice I ever have, I'd be living a good life.
Only the Japanese are nutty enough to eat that stuff.

And I've found enough Japanese who hate it to know that yes, those who do are insane. ;)

McDonald's, no doubt.
I vomit when I eat it or look at it for a minute. Smelling it makes me vomit too.

You weren't reading the rules, were you?

While I deeply sympathise - believe me, I do - fast food is specifically banned from consideration in the first post.

Damn.

My recipe for placenta terrine's at home.

Those of you looking to cook your placenta will have to make do with this:

http://www.mothers35plus.co.uk/plac_rec.htm
... That... Is... Just... Wrong...

Only the Japanese are nutty enough to eat that stuff.

And I've found enough Japanese who hate it to know that yes, those who do are insane. ;)

I wouldn't eat the stuff. It looks like something out of an Alien movie.

I wouldn't eat the stuff. It looks like something out of an Alien movie.
I admit to being slightly shellshocked by the stuff. Mainly because my students are aware of my dislike of natto so they enjoy chasing me around the classroom with it when it is served for lunch.

*And yes, I'm sure the spectical of a 6'2" adult American guy being chased by a group of giggling 4' Japanese school girls bearing fermented soybeans is a sight to see*

I wouldn't eat the stuff. It looks like something out of an Alien movie.

Try it. That picture was a bad representation. Just because it was only created because an army was trapped under a castle and didn't have anything else to eat and would have starved to death without it doesn't make it any less of a good food.

I actually did convert one American to nato. Sort of. He didn't hate it and still eats it sometimes. Its good to try things.

EDIT:
Only the Japanese are nutty enough to eat that stuff.
And I've found enough Japanese who hate it to know that yes, those who do are insane.

Are you calling me crazy? *shakes fists* *eyes roll* *head tilts* *foams at mouth*

Oh. Well then. Nevermind, I guess all that raw tuna has taken its toll.

I admit to being slightly shellshocked by the stuff. Mainly because my students are aware of my dislike of natto so they enjoy chasing me around the classroom with it when it is served for lunch.

*And yes, I'm sure the spectical of a 6'2" adult American guy being chased by a group of giggling 4' Japanese school girls bearing fermented soybeans is a sight to see*

That is a fantasy for many, at least the Japanese school girls are.

Personally, I cannot abide marmite. Though I've not tried the rotten shark recipe supra, and I expect I would find it thoroughly disgusting.

I'm no fan of jellied eels either. Fucking cockneys.

although tasty, I have to say, the most disgusting food is Hagis, as much as that stuff is good eatin, I'd rather liek to forget what its made of.

a close second is Rocky Mountain Oysters, I mean cummon, ewww.

NERVUN, do you know what uni is?

I tried it once in Japan, and it was really gross. I've been told that theres good uni and bad uni, but I've been too afraid to try it again.

That is a fantasy for many, at least the Japanese school girls are.
Only for those who have never tried natto.

Or dated a Japanese woman for that matter.
Note: I love my fiancee and think that she is the most wonderful woman in the world, but anyone who thinks that Japanese women are shy, demure and obediant really hasn't spent time with them.
Try it. That picture was a bad representation.
No, I'd say it was pretty spot on. :D

Are you calling me crazy? *shakes fists* *eyes roll* *head tilts* *foams at mouth*

Oh. Well then. Nevermind, I guess all that raw tuna has taken its toll.
Hmmm, so THAT explains why I've been crazier than normal lately. :p

sweet breads. I'm sorry, I just can't get past the fact that it is monkey brains...

McDonalds

NERVUN, do you know what uni is?

I tried it once in Japan, and it was really gross. I've been told that theres good uni and bad uni, but I've been too afraid to try it again.
Yup, and actually I'm rather fond of it. But, yes, there is good uni and bad uni. I'd recommend trying it again at a good sushi resturant in Hokkaido or Sendai.

Siiiiiiiiick. More like boiled snot.
true. I hate that stuff. However, fried oka isn't bad at all. :)

sweet breads. I'm sorry, I just can't get past the fact that it is monkey brains...

Not quite.

There are two forms of sweetbreads:

1) the pancreas of an animal

2) the thymus gland of an animal

I've actually had some lovely Genoese sweetbread ravioli before. Yummy.

My mother-in-law - who grew up in Serbia and Hungary during and after WWII - recently told us about including a calf's spinal cord in some sort of dish. I wish I could remember the details....

Lutefisk is awful. It's an abuse of good cod to soak it in poison (lye, the stuff used to make soap), and an abuse of taste buds to eat it. :p

Amazing thing is that my grandfather eats that stuff by the pound, but I guess many of the older generations of Norwegian-Americans grew up on the stuff so maybe they just got accustomed to it.

Yup, and actually I'm rather fond of it. But, yes, there is good uni and bad uni. I'd recommend trying it again at a good sushi resturant in Hokkaido or Sendai.

Do you know what it is in English? My father dosn't know the translation.
Actually, I had it in Hokkaido. At a Kaiten-sushi (the conveyer belt sushi resturants).


I once ate something caught in New York's East River, one of the most disgusting bodies of water ever. That was not cool. My girlfriend has drunk raw cow blood in Kenya which sounds just bad.

As for best food, hands down, eel.

Do you know what it is in English? My father dosn't know the translation.
Actually, I had it in Hokkaido.

At a Kaiten-sushi (the conveyer belt sushe resturants).

Sea Urchin.

If it's good, it tastes pretty yummy.

Do you know what it is in English? My father dosn't know the translation.
Sea urchin

Actually, I had it in Hokkaido.

At a Kaiten-sushi (the conveyer belt sushe resturants).
Huh, well, that's where I'm told the good stuff is. The best I've had was at a place in Aichi-ken somewhere near Nagoya.

Natto is the single most disgusting food I've ever tried, and I've even tried funa-zushi and nare-zushi (two types of Japanese fermented fish).

Here're some more pics:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/5/54/Natto_boxed.jpg
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/a/ad/Natto_mixed.jpg/250px-Natto_mixed.jpg

And for anyone interested, here's a good article that covers the history opf natto.
http://www.thesoydailyclub.com/sfc/Fsoyfoods451.asp

Kiryu-shi, I like uni. But I agree with NEVRUN. Natto is awful.

boiled okra

What poor excuse for a cook did that? Whoever it was should be hung up by their toenails.

sweet breads. I'm sorry, I just can't get past the fact that it is monkey brains...

That you don't even know what sweetbreads are makes me doubt you've ever eaten them.
Sweetbreads are not monkey brains. Neck sweetbreads are the thymus glands. Stomach sweetbreads are the animal's pancreas. Neither comes from monkeys, but usually calves, lambs, or pigs.

http://web.foodnetwork.com/food/web/encyclopedia/termdetail/0,7770,2255,00.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=sweetbreads
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_055a.html

Tripe has to be one of the worse atrocities masquarading as food I've come across.

But the are others:

I forget what it's called, but a Maori 'delicacy' is rotten corn.
You get a lot of corn, stick in a muslin sack and leave in a stream for several weeks. Once it's really rotten, you apparently are meant to eat it.
It looks and smells like puke. If it tasted as good as it looks, that would have been a bonus.
Shame it tasted worse than it looked.

As for Cantonese foods:
Chicken fetus is revolting.
fried pig's intestines is disgusting (a lovely mixture of flavours - pig shit and pig gut..Mmm-mmm!)
Cows intestines - not as bad as pig, but not pleasant.

badly made homemade tofu. allow me to explain.

My friend was trying to make tofu in his kitchen, because raw soybeans are dirt cheap compared to tofu, and neither of us watches TV so we have to do SOMETHING for entertainment. He was using epsom salt as a curdling agent, but put in wayy too much - and it curdled nicely, and held up well, and was decently firm, and tasted like SHIT. I wasn't surprised. He had some trips to the bathroom later. eeeeeugh, epsom tofu.

Oh, and "uni" is specifically sea urchin roe.

I seem to be disagreeing on alot of foods, but I like boiled okra. Also, boiled okra in Miso soup is good.

Nato is good. That picture of it in the container, that stuff is really good. You have to mix in all of the soy sauce and around three quarters of the mustardy stuff. If you get past the looks and the texture, it tastes good. Sometimes i eat it without rice, just as a snack. I'll defend nato (the rotten soybeans of the samuri) till my dying day.

As for the uni, I've been told that it was probably a rotten piece. I'll just look foward to trying it again when I'm at a good suchi place.

I don't know if this counts, since it's technically not a food, but my vote is for aloe juice. It's one of those things my housemate picked up because it's supposed to be good for you, but let me tell you: this is the foulest, most vile tasting liquid I have ever experienced. It makes you want to gargle with urine to get the taste out of your mouth.

badly made homemade tofu. allow me to explain.
Ohh...that's another one:
Stinky Tofu.
That's the name. It's tofu and it really stinks, like rotten fish and chilli, which is what is tastes like. A shop in MongKok sells it, and even though MK is smelly, you can still smell the tofu shop from over a block away.

true. I hate that stuff. However, fried oka isn't bad at all. :)

That's true.

That you don't even know what sweetbreads are makes me doubt you've ever eaten them.
Sweetbreads are not monkey brains. Neck sweetbreads are the thymus glands. Stomach sweetbreads are the animal's pancreas. Neither comes from monkeys, but usually calves, lambs, or pigs.

http://web.foodnetwork.com/food/web/encyclopedia/termdetail/0,7770,2255,00.html
http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=sweetbreads
http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_055a.html
So my aunt lied to me about what they were *shrug*
Not the first time

Doesn't change the fact that it really didn't sit well with me

As for the uni, I've been told that it was probably a rotten piece. I'll just look foward to trying it again when I'm at a good suchi place.

Go to Azuma in hartsdale.

So my aunt lied to me about what they were *shrug*
Not the first time

Doesn't change the fact that it really didn't sit well with me

Fair enough. :)

As for natto, I've tried it 4-5 times.

Several years ago, I got a visiting friend to eat some at an izakaya. He actually vomited.

And fried okra is great!

Several years ago, I got a visiting friend to eat some at an izakaya. He actually vomited.


Anti-natto propaganda.

Does anyone here like it? Maybe? Just a little?

Remember- eat natto, be samuri.

Fair enough. :)

As for natto, I've tried it 4-5 times.

Several years ago, I got a visiting friend to eat some at an izakaya. He actually vomited.

And fried okra is great!
haha...my family has a long standing tradition of trying to gross eachother out. From what you and others have told me, the truth and what it tasted like would have been enough.

And she is a really good professionally trained chef, so I don't think it was just bad cooking.

Now I have to yell at her:p

I can't think of anything as disgusting as what has been listed here...but I will say this: Ketchup makes me sick to my stomach. I can't even stand to watch people eat it. It smells awful, it's completely artificial, and...uggh. There are so many other things that are so much more useful. Name me one thing you can do with ketchup that you can't do with barbecue sauce.

Also, whoever thought of cooking mushrooms should be dragged into the street and shot. Oh sure, let's start eating a potentially poisonous fungus that has no flavor whatsoever. Sure, whatever. They're OK raw. But cook them and they turn into rubber. They seriously have the approximate texture of rubber.

My stepmom used to have a bottle of something called "Mushroom Ketchup" in her hutch. I don't even want to know what that tasted like.

badly made homemade tofu. allow me to explain.

My friend was trying to make tofu in his kitchen, because raw soybeans are dirt cheap compared to tofu, and neither of us watches TV so we have to do SOMETHING for entertainment. He was using epsom salt as a curdling agent, but put in wayy too much - and it curdled nicely, and held up well, and was decently firm, and tasted like SHIT. I wasn't surprised. He had some trips to the bathroom later. eeeeeugh, epsom tofu.

why the hell would you make tofu, or even eat it?

Fried placenta gets my vote.

i was going to say bull's testicle stew a la mongolia. but this beats all - and its the first response! mental!

*heaps endless respect on Potarius*

Anti-natto propaganda.

Does anyone here like it? Maybe? Just a little?

Remember- eat natto, be samuri.
Well, if it helps, my fiancee loves the stuff and is rather sad that I refuse to eat it.

Of course this doesn't stop her from attemping to hide the natto in something in an effort to disguise the smell and get me to eat it.

I have to admit that her natto hamburgers weren't that bad.

Well, if it helps, my fiancee loves the stuff and is rather sad that I refuse to eat it.

Of course this doesn't stop her from attemping to hide the natto in something in an effort to disguise the smell and get me to eat it.

I have to admit that her natto hamburgers weren't that bad.

Yeah, I'll eat it if it's hidden well enough. My Korean friends sometimes put Korean "natto" (I forget the proper Korean name) in their nabe. I'd have never known until they told me.

(BTW, Kiryu-shi - it's "samurai". ;))

(BTW, Kiryu-shi - it's "samurai". ;))
Could be worse, the latest Hiroshima thread had someone claiming that Japan would launch bonsai charge after bonsai charge at allied troops.

Personally I was trying to work out just what would be invloved in that. I mean, would they attack with bonsai, with those little clippers, what?

Could be worse, the latest Hiroshima thread had someone claiming that Japan would launch bonsai charge after bonsai charge at allied troops.

Personally I was trying to work out just what would be invloved in that. I mean, would they attack with bonsai, with those little clippers, what?
You didn't know that bonsai trees can actually sprout legs and arms?

You didn't know that bonsai trees can actually sprout legs and arms?
No, I admit that's news to me. I wouldn't put it past them, but it is news to me.

(BTW, Kiryu-shi - it's "samurai". ;))

Yeah, well. My first language is officially Japanese but I've never been able to put Japanese words into English. Actually its probably because its past one AM here and I woke up at around four AM this/last morning.

No, I admit that's news to me. I wouldn't put it past them, but it is news to me.
I think they developed it right after the bonsai kitten.

Lutefisk is awful. It's an abuse of good cod to soak it in poison (lye, the stuff used to make soap), and an abuse of taste buds to eat it. :p

Amazing thing is that my grandfather eats that stuff by the pound, but I guess many of the older generations of Norwegian-Americans grew up on the stuff so maybe they just got accustomed to it.

Ewwww, lutefisk. Darn you, and I had gotten the smell out of my memory. My grandfather loved the stuff, heaped with more melted butter than anything could possibly need. I personally have never tried it, but smelling was more than enough. I was little at the time - four or five years old maybe? - but it took a long time before I could forget how much it made my grandparents' home stink. And now I've remembered. Dammit. :mad:

boiled okra

boiled okra is very good if you cook it right, down here in harnett county we know how to cook it, you can't cook it too long, but on medium high heat and for only a short time

Meat. Every single form of meat. Besides human meat. I'll eat human meat before I eat any other form of animal meat.

try BBQ sauce makes all meat better, maybe even the humans you eat

Cheese

thats the strangest answer on here, not there is anything wrong with not liking cheese

You didn't know that bonsai trees can actually sprout legs and arms?
I think you just hit on an idea for a new anime series. Only question is what its wacky Engrish name would be. ;)

Though I think it's already been done in Evil Dead

Ewwww, lutefisk. Darn you, and I had gotten the smell out of my memory. My grandfather loved the stuff, heaped with more melted butter than anything could possibly need. I personally have never tried it, but smelling was more than enough. I was little at the time - four or five years old maybe? - but it took a long time before I could forget how much it made my grandparents' home stink. And now I've remembered. Dammit.
Sorry. :(

The only way I found I could tolerate lutefisk was with loads of mashed potatos and butter stuffed into lefsa, though that still did nothing for the gawd-awful smell.

Could be worse, the latest Hiroshima thread had someone claiming that Japan would launch bonsai charge after bonsai charge at allied troops.

Personally I was trying to work out just what would be invloved in that. I mean, would they attack with bonsai, with those little clippers, what?

Yeah, that'd be fun. Couldn't you just imagine the sergeants preping that one? "Men, today you'll be issued small trees. Do what you can for the emperor's glory."

That's what I figured Kiryu-shi. :)

Sorry. :(

The only way I found I could tolerate lutefisk was with loads of mashed potatos and butter stuffed into lefsa, though that still did nothing for the gawd-awful smell.

Oh, lefse!!! Yummy, and I had completely forgotten about it - that completely counterbalances making me remember lutefisk! ;)

*wanders off in search of her grandmother's lefse recipe*

Lutefisk is awful. It's an abuse of good cod to soak it in poison (lye, the stuff used to make soap), and an abuse of taste buds to eat it.
That'd be true, if it tasted like something. Lutfisk is awesome, due to the fact that it cannot taste bad. Its the sauce that gets the honors.

@OP: Swedes don't "rot" thier fish in cans. Its called "pickling". Like, ya know, pickles.

Oh, lefse!!! Yummy, and I had completely forgotten about it - that completely counterbalances making me remember lutefisk! ;)

*wanders off in search of her grandmother's lefse recipe*
Word. That is one thing I miss about home, my aunt's homemade lefse (pardon the previous spelling error). It ought not be soiled with lutefisk though, brown sugar and butter are better filling, or even better yet turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes.

Sigh, only seven months and three weeks until Thanksgiving. :p

That'd be true, if it tasted like something. Lutfisk is awesome, due to the fact that it cannot taste bad. Its the sauce that gets the honors.

@OP: Swedes don't "rot" thier fish in cans. Its called "pickling". Like, ya know, pickles.
I think all that lye has made you crazy. :p

And eww, I had forgotten about pickled herring. That stuff is only good for salmon bait.

That'd be true, if it tasted like something. Lutefisk is awesome, due to the fact that it cannot taste bad. Its the sauce that gets the honors.

@OP: Swedes don't "rot" thier fish in cans. Its called "pickling". Like, ya know, pickles.
I thought it was fermented, which is a nice way of saying it rots...could be wrong of course. I actually think I saw an article on it today. Let me see...

huh...can't seem to find it. ah well.

I thought it was fermented, which is a nice way of saying it rots...could be wrong of course.
I ate it last night. ;) I think, anyhow, continue reading.
Do you happen to know what its called in Swedish? 'Cause that'd help a lot.

I think its called pickled strumming in English. Link-tastic fun. (http://www.fiskbasen.se/sill.html)

I ate it last night. ;) I think, anyhow, continue reading.
Do you happen to know what its called in Swedish? 'Cause that'd help a lot.

I think its called pickled strumming in English. Link-tastic fun. (http://www.fiskbasen.se/sill.html)
a ha! found the article!
clicky (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4867024.stm)

Behold, the world's Most Disgusting (and Risky) Food: Casu Marzu!!! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu)

I thought it was fermented, which is a nice way of saying it rots...could be wrong of course. I actually think I saw an article on it today. Let me see...

huh...can't seem to find it. ah well.

Pickling is preserving in a brine solution (salt and or vinegar) and generally does involve anaerobic fermentation. Fermentation is not rotting in the normal sense. of decomposition or decay. Fermentation is anaerobic conversion of sugar to carbon dioxide and alcohol or lactic acid by yeast or bacteria. They're similar but not the same.

Behold, the world's Most Disgusting (and Risky) Food: Casu Marzu!!! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casu_marzu)
I say thee nay. It may sound bad, but it is hardly the riskiest foodstuffs. Fugu (Japanese blowfish) can kill you within 30 minutes if not prepared properly.

But fugu tastes really good, so it doesn't qualify as disgusting food.

clicky (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4867024.stm)
Pickles demand equeal fermentation recognition! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fermentation) I really can't see the difference between the pickling and fermentation! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pickling) My dialect calls it "sill"... (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surstr%C3%B6mming) :(

There are three qualifiers

1) You must have actually tried that food yourself.

I think some people are forgetting this. Then again, maybe not.

Pickling is preserving in a brine solution (salt and or vinegar) and generally does involve anaerobic fermentation. Fermentation is not rotting in the normal sense. of decomposition or decay. Fermentation is anaerobic conversion of sugar to carbon dioxide and alcohol or lactic acid by yeast or bacteria. They're similar but not the same.

Pickles demand equeal fermentation recognition! I really can't see the difference between the pickling and fermentation! My dialect calls it "sill"...
ahh...thank you both muchly. I didn't know that pickling involved fermentation, although, I do know that the typical idea of "rot" is different from the idea of "fermentation"...even if they are to some extent the same thing

*bows to superior knowledge about all things rotting fish related*;)

ahh...thank you both muchly. I didn't know that pickling involved fermentation, although, I do know that the typical idea of "rot" is different from the idea of "fermentation"...even if they are to some extent the same thing

*bows to superior knowledge about all things rotting fish related*;)

I'm not all that up on fermented fish - having only eaten the Japanese versions I mentioned above (funa-zushi and nare-zushi) once each. I decided to learn something more about pickling and fermentating foods than "stick stuff in salt and vinegar" and "rotting stuff" when I decided to make my own Kim Chi earlier this year. Various sorts of Japanese pickles are up next. Miso pickles (veggies pickled in fermented soybean paste) tastes good and making up a batch looks fun.

Plus it impresses the hell out of my younger students when I tell them I'm working on making traditional Japanese foodstuff that's usually only made at home by their little old grannies. Umeshu and various other similar Japanese homemade liqueurs get a similar response. And older students often have good advice on it. :D

*bows to superior knowledge about all things rotting fish related*
Here I was, reading your post, thinking you learned something. That was sarcasm. ;-)

Greek blood sausage. It's pretty much like eating a slightly toasted fetus, with added placenta juice.

"1) You must have actually tried that food yourself."

Damn! There goes monkey brains, goat foetus and chicken foetus (all of which, incidentally, I want to try, along with blood pudding, bull's testicle stew, tripe and haggis. Yes, I'm weird).

Incidentally: courgettes (a.k.a zucchini). Bleerrrgghhhhh *shudders*. And the only things in this thread that I am not even going to touch are fugu (sorry Japanese, I am not ready to croak!) and casu marzu. (Larvae-infested cheese?! Yerrrgh!)

Natto, natto has to be the worse food in the world.

http://www.blogography.com/photos6/Natto.jpg

It smells like used unwashed gym socks that someone with very stinky feet has left in a gym locker for at least two weeks. Texture wise, it is a slimy, stringy mess.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Natto

If you can actually ignore the smell and texture, it doesn't taste all that bad, but you can clear a room with it just by opeaning it up.

Yep, that's definitely the worst thing I've ever eaten. It revolts all five senses (well, maybe not the hearing).

(all of which, incidentally, I want to try, along with blood pudding, bull's testicle stew, tripe and haggis. Yes, I'm weird).

Thats because tripe is good. Flaczki used to be one of my favourite dishes! For some reason my friends never understood how I ate certain Polish foods. Czarnina (ducks blood soup), kawior po zydowsku, zur, and nozki were all foods I grew up eating, and when I explain them to people now they gag, heh.

The world's most disgusting food, to me, is a mozarella and tomato salad. Just looking at it makes me want to run to the bathroom.

Jellyfish was pretty bad... basically it is like eating unflavored gelatin made with rubber cement instead of water. And it had been prepared in a sauce that was sort of sour and hot, kind of like a kimchi (which I do like) but milder, so that it didn't really disguise the non-taste of the jellyfish. So it was sort of like eating a very firm, rubbery snot in tabasco and vinegar.

Lambs brains served with bacon and cheese. Eurgh.

Though lamb eyeballs or testicles served with bacon and cheese would be worse.

Did anyone see that BBC1 program on lake malawi last week? Do you remember the river flies? Well one thing attenborough didnt tell us is that locals collect the flies and make hamburgers out of them. But I didnt try one so i guess its disqualified.