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[Joe Frickin' Friday]

Anyone here tried hákarl?

 

Me neither.

 

If you haven't heard of it, it's an Icelandic food item. Specifically, it's shark - toxic shark, which has been rendered nontoxic, and...um...preserved.

 

The Wikipedia page.

 

 

 

The "traumatized Dane" perspective.

 

At some point you begin to suspect that the term "hákarl" is an instance of onomatopoeia...

[Lmar]

I saw Anthony Bourdain on No Reservations eat some. He was doing a show on Iceland. If I recall correctly, he said it was one of the worst things he has eaten.

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

If I recall correctly, he said it was one of the worst things he has eaten.

 

I get the impression this is what most people say about it.

[Twisties]

If I recall correctly, he said it was one of the worst things he has eaten.

 

I get the impression this is what most people say about it.

 

You mean it is as bad as Marmite?

 

That was for Killer , for the rest of us:

 

You mean, ugggh, worse than this stuff then: Casu Marzu

[Joel]

At some point you begin to suspect that the term "hákarl" is an instance of onomatopoeia...

 

Call me a ninny, but I think it makes a good personal rule of thumb to avoid foods to which that might apply.

[Dave McReynolds]

At some point you begin to suspect that the term "hákarl" is an instance of onomatopoeia...

 

Call me a ninny, but I think it makes a good personal rule of thumb to avoid foods to which that might apply.

 

Those of you queasy about the names of your food are no doubt responsible for the name change of the slimehead fish to the more palatable sounding orange roughy.

[brennaman]

I like to try the local foods while traveling, and I have been to Iceland a few times. Never heard of it or tried it. Probably a good thing from what I read on wiki:

 

Chef Anthony Bourdain, who has travelled extensively throughout the world sampling local cuisine for his Travel Channel show No Reservations, has described shark þorramatur as "the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing" he has ever eaten.

 

Chef Gordon Ramsay challenged journalist James May to sample three "delicacies" (Laotian snake whiskey, bull penis, and hákarl) on The F Word; Ramsay then vomited after eating hákarl, although May kept his down. May's only reaction was, "I wouldn't actually recommend that."[1]

 

On season 2's Iceland episode of Travel Channel's Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern, Andrew Zimmern described the smell as reminding him of "some of the most horrific things I've ever breathed in my life," but said the taste was not nearly as bad as the smell. Nonetheless, he did note that hákarl was "hardcore food" and "not for beginners

 

Glad I never came across it.

 

[Whip]

One of the few threads I wish I had never opened.

 

 

[Joel]

At some point you begin to suspect that the term "hákarl" is an instance of onomatopoeia...

 

Call me a ninny, but I think it makes a good personal rule of thumb to avoid foods to which that might apply.

 

Those of you queasy about the names of your food are no doubt responsible for the name change of the slimehead fish to the more palatable sounding orange roughy.

 

I ain't eatin' this, either!

[Twisties]

I suspect behind each of these traditions lies a story. Noboby decides to rot a poisonous shark for a couple months buried in the beach to see if it turns into a delicacy.

 

More likely someone is starving, on the verge of death when they remember the shark that washed up months ago, or come across it as the tide exhumes it. They eat, they survive, and in celebration they start making this "food" in remembrance. One can imagine even, some stories about a god who miraculously transformed the poisonous fish and met man's needs in a dire time.

 

I could weave similar tale around the rotten pecorino.

 

Does anyone know what the actual Icelandic tradition surrounding this is?

[Dave McReynolds]

From Joel's link:

 

Spotted dick is a steamed suet pudding containing dried fruit (usually currants) commonly served with custard. Spotted refers to the dried fruit (which resemble spots) and dick may be a contraction or corruption of the word pudding (from the last syllable) or possibly a corruption of the word dough[1] or dog, as "spotted dog" is another name for the same dish with the use of plums rather than currants. Another explanation offered for the word "dick" is that it comes from the German word for "thick", dicht or dick. This is also a fish.

 

 

We sometimes used to call frankfurters "limberdicks" and sometime called something other than frankfurters "wienies." I would like to see how the Wikipedia author above would conclude those terms were derived. Perhaps also a type of fish?

[Joe Frickin' Friday]

More likely someone is starving, on the verge of death when they remember the shark that washed up months ago, or come across it as the tide exhumes it. They eat, they survive, and in celebration they start making this "food" in remembrance.

 

Does anyone know what the actual Icelandic tradition surrounding this is?

 

I imagine it's something like this, though it fairly boggles the mind that one would deliberately and faithfully re-create such a last-ditch act of desperation.

 

As far as such celebratory re-enactments go, I doubt we'll see such a thing from the 1972 Uruguayan rugby team...