Regarding Surströmming. I would describe it with this analogy:
Regular plain cheese :: mature, aged cheese
Regular herring :: surströmming.
Nope. It’s not bad - but as with hákarl I have to say that a nice big glass of brännvin/brennivin helps.
Icelandic cuisine is the result of the peculiar conditions of that island. As I’ve noted before, it’s not that people like to eat ammonia-tasting putrefied shark – but if you ate that shark fresh, it’d kill you - that variety of shark routes its urine through its system (I suspect that’s an evolutionary development to make it unpalatable to other predators). If you’re in a subsistence situation like Iceland, with few trees or growing crops, and very iffy fishing, you don’t throw awaypotential food, even if it’s likely to kill you – at least you’ll die with a full stomach. At som,e point someone discovered that when you preserved the shark long enough by burying in the ground (a common method of preserving food in pre-refrigerator days), it eventually reached a point where it wouldn’t be lethal to eat, even if it still did taste like ammonia. Bingo! They’d just added immensely to the potential food supply.
That people continued to eat this, even when other food that didn’t taste like industrial cleanser became available can be chalked up to nostalgia, a bit of patriotism, and, I suspect, Stockholm Syndrome. I suspect this suite of reasons explains a lot about the OP’s list.
I assume there’s some reason for preserving so many things in lactic acid. Maybe using acid retards spoilage, and there cwasn’t much to makwe acis out of except spoiled milk? I’m more surprised that there isn’t more stuff preserved with salt, which Iceland must have plenty of.
Anthony Bourdain tasted the “special” treats at a festive dinner, in which Icelanders get back to their roots & feast on cuisine from Viking days. He was disappointed that the setting looked like a high school cafeteria rather than a mead hall. And the feasters looked like mild-mannered Lutherans rather than hairy brawlers. But he was most disappointed in the food, which he found amazingly wretched.
However, that was a special occasion. Most of the stuff he ate there was more like what the rest of the planet regards as “food.” Except that the rotten shark is apparently on hand at most bars, for testing Icelandic machismo…
In my experience? I didn’t really see anyone eating that stuff while I was there. Granted, I spent most of my time in restaurants that were likely dominated by foreigners but the stuff I was seeing around and advertised was … pizza, hamburgers, hot dogs, and various seafood dishes. Oh, and as mentioned above, everybody eats Skyr, which is very good. They do seem very proud of their hot dogs, there - the Bæjarins Beztu Pylsur was always mobbed.
I went on a small tour where the guides provided some food and it was pretty normal - smoked lamb sandwiches, Skyr, and some Icelandic candy that was pretty good. They also had dried shark where you would eat a piece and take a shot of Brennivin.
Then again, I’m not the adventurous type when it comes to food, so I stayed on the really safe side. It’s possible that someone else’s experience may vary dramatically from mine.
That analogy fails to convey just how utterly stinky and putrid sursrömming smells and tastes. I like the stinkiest of stinky cheeses. I like herring, pickled herring, and fermented fish sauce. I like durian. Kimchi with oysters is great. But surstömming is just out of the world vile. When I opened the can (on the stoop), a swarm of flies formed around the part of the step where a little juice dribbled onto. This happened within about 30 seconds. I am not exaggerating in the least. It smells like death and dog farts.
It’s literally the only food I’ve only took one or two bites of, and then dumped the rest. And I made the mistake of drinking beer along with it, so for the next couple hours, I was burping up that putrid taste.
Yes, I’d try it again. When in Rome, and all that… But, wow, is that stuff funky.
Really? The main description I’ve heard is that it has a strong ammonia smell and taste, along with the cheesy funk. I could deal with the cheese funk, but the ammonia is a bit rough for me (although I do like the ammonia flavor of salty licorice.) Even Andrew Zimmern (the bizarre foods guy) said that it was one of the nastiest smelling things he’s ever experienced.
I have a feeling that a glass of Svarti dauði is obligatory when eating hákarl.
You must have done something wrong. 
I must admit that I refused to eat it when I grew up and the first time I ever tried it I was surprised that it tasted nothing like it smelt.
And for the sake of beverages, the real connoisseurs drink milk.
Are the waters around Iceland too cold for clams, oysters, mussels, etc.?
I don’t recall seeing shellfish sold-yet the waters around the island must be very clean-are these foods available in Iceland?
It smell like death itself, that’s true. A friend of mine opened a tin in his flat and his cat jumped out of the window!
Yes, the “Black Death” would be appropriate. Unfortunately my Icelandic connection usually only brings the hákarl, so I have to make do with what I can find here.
Nah, it tasted almost exactly like it smelt. I don’t get how people say this. Isn’t the smell of something a predominantly taste component? The stinky stuff I like (which is almost all of it, except for surströmming) tastes pretty much like it smells. Sure, there’s additional components to the flavor, but the smell makes up at least half the flavor. My Swedish friends wouldn’t even touch the stuff.
What was he thinking? I’m pretty sure it says on the can (or at least some of the cans) to open it outside…and preferably under water, to minimize the spray.
My Swedish coworkers tell me that only Swedish “rednecks” actually eat the stuff. I don’t know if they’re telling the truth, or just trying to distance themselves from their country’s culinary misadventures. The ranting Dane who sits next to me says the same thing, though, so I find it plausible.
Well he wasn’t thinking, obviously, and it almost cost him a perfectly good cat.
And I’m Danish, btw - I don’t know anyone here who would approach a tin of surströmming either. Must be the years of smoking & drinking that have desensitized me to a point where I can actually eat it.
I enjoy watching the Youtube videos of people attempting to eat it (many successfully even!) While it didn’t cause me to gag or vomit, I’m amazed at how the smell alone triggers the vomit reflex in so many people. One of these days, though, if I make it up to Sweden at the right time of year, I’d love to go to a surströmming festival.
This site has descriptions and videos of surströmming and hakarl.
Oy. I’m OK with fairly stinky or raw fish, haggis, blood pudding, kimchi and limberger cheese but I dunno about fermented fish, now.
I always find it amusing when people go on about how bad Lutfisk is on this board. Lutfisk isn’t even the worst fish in the Nordic regions. Hell, I’ve eaten Lutfisk and was just bland. I saw people eat it earlier this week at our work Christmas do. People do it.
Surströmming, though, is just fucked up. I have met very few people that even admit to having tried it. They always have it in the supermarket but I have never seen anyone buy it. In twelve years of living in this country I have never even seen someone buy Surströmming.
It is that wrong.
Regarding Icelandic food, I mentioned this in a recent thread about burgers. Do try the burger with a Fried egg on top:
