Bonkers Food of the Week

This week's bonkers food is from my very own mother country, Sweden. Well sort of, I was actually born in London but I've been going to Sweden two or three times a year for most of my life to see family and generally get away from the noisy chaos that England can be. The food in question is a fish dish. Not just any fish dish, however. Think way past its sell-by-date and you're getting close. It's called surströmming, which translates roughly as sour herring. Mmmmmm. So what they do is get some herring and 'ferment' it (read: let it go off in a controlled way) and tin it, there's even a festival to celebrate it, although knowing festivals you're probably drunk enough not to taste it once it deigns to violate your taste buds. Even I, with my taste for eating insects, have not dared to try this 'delicacy'. My mum describes it as having a soggy consistency and a foul smell, a book I'm currently looking at describes it as having a "pungent aroma". It's usually eaten with a flat bread and a variety of strong Swedish cheese called Västerbotten. I'm sure I will try it one day but for now I think I'll stick to skipjack and mayonnaise.