Rotten fish? Sure why not!

I can now officially say that I have eaten rotten fish.  Well not exactly rotten, but fermented fish.  Apparently it is a tradition in Sweden to eat Surströmming or fermented herring.  The tradition of eating herring started by Swedish sailors who did not have enough salt to preserve the fish so it began to rot.  The sailors didn't have any other food and decided to eat the rotten fish.  Thus every year people throw parties just to eat this delicacy.  As you can imagine fish left in cans to rot/ferment over time smells horrific.  In fact it smells so bad that we had to shut all the windows and doors, open the can across the street, and eat it on the porch!  Surströmming is usually eaten on a piece of tortilla/cracker thing with butter, sour cream, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, chives and whatever else you want to put on it to mask the taste of the fish while taking shots.  (Don't worry mom, I did not partake in the shot drinking)  But I thought the smell was worse than the taste; not that I loved the taste, but I did not hate it.  Along with the shots comes old Swedish songs/chants.  I was able to get a few recorded but the quality is not that great.

 

 

This last one is a Lapish folk song (the native Lapland people).