Sunday, August 24, 2014

30 Days of Indie Travel | Strange Food, Day 10!

In doing a little research for Day 10 of "strange food," I read that one of the strangest dishes in the world I will find in Sweden (my next home exchange destination). It is called surstomming which is fermented Baltic herring and can be found on supermarket shelves all over the country. Oh boy! I wonder if I've overlooked this in Ikea next to the frozen meatballs. Ok, I'm joking, however I am known for liking unusual foods. For example, I'm a fan of antelope, tuna tartare, kimchi, black fermented garlic and took a small nibble of a fried grasshopper in Thailand, which is probably the most strange.

Back to the herring research: it is caught in spring when it is just about to spawn and fermented in barrels for one to two months before it's tinned where the fermentation continues for several months. The cans often bulge during shipping and storage because of the continued fermentation process. Certain airlines have in fact banned these cans from being taken on flights, as they consider the pressurized cans to be potentially dangerous, like fireworks and explosives. A canned good exposing?! And can you imagine the smell in the baggage claim? It’s usually eaten with a type of flat crispy bread and boiled potatoes. Sometimes people drink milk with it, but beer and water are often used to guzzle it down. Looking forward to trying it.

A list of what I want to try:
Fried tarantula
Casu Marzu
Escamole
Durian
Scorpion on a stick
Some kind of eyeball (think Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom - eyeball soup, anyone?)
And more kinds of bugs

I know I might be a little crazy. I'm alright with that. ;) What about you? What is the strangest food you've eaten? Where were you? Do tell! Love, Sharon

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