North Atlantic Skyline - - Photographs from the west of Ireland (Galway, Mayo, Clare, Limerick, Roscommon and even Leitrim)

Triumph of the swill

Interesting thread on Metafilter on local 'delicacies' (i.e. food only the locals could love) around the world. Sweden's surstromming takes some beating. Traditionally, it was herring left in the ground to rot, and only consumed when it is fairly ripe. Nowadays, it can be bought in cans that buckle as the gas builds up inside.

Some years ago, a work colleague wanted to bring a can home from Sweden as a souvenir - it exploded in the office just before she was about to depart for the airport. Imagine if it had gone off on the plane ?

I've never met a Swede who actually likes the stuff...it's a reminder of a time when Sweden was not so prosperous. Unhappy descriptions of tasting surstromming here and here (which also includes a near-topless image of the model Caprice, for some unrelated reason).

Most 'traditional' Irish recipes consist of boiling the bejaysus out of whatever was thrown into a pot; usually a few veg. and whatever lights and gizzards could be scraped off a pig, sheep or bullock. Not quite in the same league.

Posted by Monasette at April 15, 2003 06:12 PM