The American TV chef Anthony Bourdain visited Iceland in 2014 for season one of his hit series “No Reservations”. One of the highlights of the episode is when he tastes traditionally cured Icelandic shark, an experience which apparently ranks among the worst food-related experiences the world-famous chef has had the misfortune of suffering. In a recent interview with Time Magazine Anthony is asked what foods he would never again taste, one of the items Anthony mentioned was Icelandic fermented shark, along with Namibian warthog rectum. And airplane food.
Erin and I are on vacation in Sunriver, OR, this week. It seems as if whenever I’m away from home I find myself thinking about traveling and some of the places I’ve been fortunate enough to have visited….
One of the things I love about traveling to a foreign country is experiencing the food. Here at home, it’s so easy to fall into comfortable, well-worn ruts without much thought or consideration. We eat pizza and burritos thinking it’s ethnic food when in fact it’s invariably an Americanized version not remotely reminiscent of the real thing. Experiencing the food in a new and unfamiliar place is to me part and parcel of the travel experience. Though it’s very easy to bypass that experience- there’s a Subway restaurant in Reykjavik and a Burger King in Bergen, Norway, f’rinstance- it seems silly not to eat locally when traveling.
Like many countries, Icelandic cuisines contains flavors unfamiliar to the average American palate. These diverse tastes can present some interesting culinary challenges- chief among them being fermented shark, which is an acquired taste in every sense of the phrase. Some friends gave us a wedding gift of a dinner at the same restaurant Bourdain visited for his segment on Iceland, and the meal began with appetizers, including fermented shark. Having heard about it but never previously tasted it, I tried several bites. The first moments seemed rather benign (despite the smell), followed immediately by a strong metallic taste, almost like what I’d always imagined formaldehyde might taste like. Wanting to be certain that my reaction wasn’t based on anything but the actual taste, I tried several bites…and discovered that my initial reaction was correct. It was a worthwhile experience, though necessarily one I’d care to repeat.
While I’ve never had Namibian warthog rectum (and odds are very good I never will), fermented shark has to be one of the sharpest, oddest flavors man is able to safely consume. “Fermented” is really code for “rotten.” Raw shark meat is buried for several months and the rotting fermentation process renders the meat unsafe to prepare without wearing gloves. That it somehow eventually becomes fit for human consumption seems counterintuitive, but I can say I’ve had the experience. I’m not certain I’d do it again.
It’s easy to get caught up in our own cuisine and sense of what “good” food is. Traveling has always been, at least for me, a reminder that in some parts of the world, nothing is wasted, so the idea of eating warthog rectum doesn’t inspire the sense of revulsion most Americans might experience. I was once served a lamb’s eyeball as the guest of honor at a meal in a village in the Greek mountains. I discovered I wasn’t nearly as open to new foods as I believed myself to be…but that’s part of the adventure.
You can have the fermented shark, though….
