surströmming or “the stinky fish movie”

According to Wikipedia Surströmming, “known colloquially as Scandinavian rotten fish, is a northern Swedish dish consisting of fermented Baltic herring. Surströmming is sold in cans, which often bulge during shipping and storage, due to the continued fermentation. When opened, the contents release a strong and sometimes overwhelming odour, which explains why the dish is often eaten outdoors.”

Despite its scary description we decided to try – what we called – the stinky fish nevertheless. Following the advise to eat Surströmming outdoors we took it to the woods, together with other ingredients the fish is supposed to be eaten with. The purpose of this undertaking was to actually eat the fish.. the outcome of our adventure may be seen in the movie below. I hope it does not hurt Swedish feelings, but as a lot of Swedes don’t like the fish either, it should be ok, I hope. Especially as it also well-documents the HUMlab postdoc crowd! At least parts of it, as Charlotte has left us in the meanwhile.. we miss you!! & thanks for editing the film! :) & thanks also to Michael, who documented the whole fish procedure with the camera (and unfortunately left us too!!).

Tip: When watching the film, please consider that I actually said, that I swallowed the fish for a moment – a clear sign of the fish’s ability to confuse my brain..

P.s. the movie was shot about a month ago, the present snow-situation is like this:


3 thoughts on “surströmming or “the stinky fish movie”

  1. hi all fish lovers!

    i´ll never forget that evening and think i was standing on the right side of the camera! 😉

    miss you guys! thanks for the nice time in umeå.

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