Last night I went to a Swedish surströmming party. Or hardly a party though, it was more like an outdoor dinner (if it would not be not so cold in end of December, I would also recommend to held the Icelandic “skata” party outside) where people had it as a goal to finish one surströmming sandwich.
I made it, and so did my Swedish friend who was also eating it for his first time. We deserve a diploma for this!
I easily admit though that the smell is a way worse than it taste. And as being grown up in a culture where it is kind of normal to eat old and ruined fish, I would put surströmming here (the biggest = worst):
Putrified skate>suströmming>shark>“hanged” fish (siginn fiskur)>dried fish
I feel privileged to get the opportunity to try Swedish traditional.
Next: a cray fish party.
