Would you dare to smell the world’s stinkiest cheese? Or taste sweets made with metal cleansing chemicals? The Disgusting Food Museum, which opened in Malmo, Sweden earlier this week, will allow visitors to smell and taste the world’s most disgusting foods.
An article about meat consumption and the impact it has on the environment is what inspired the museum’s founder, Dr. Samuel West, to learn more about alternative sources of protein, and then to turn his newfound interest into a project, as reported in CNN. Exhibited delicacies include Surströmming, fermented herring from Sweden; Cuy, roasted guinea pigs from Peru; and Casu marzu, maggot-infested cheese from Sardinia.
And while some of the world’s most interesting cuisines can be found on the museum menu, West believes the museum could change people’s perspective on foods that are deemed disgusting to help embrace the environmentally sustainable foods of the future.
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Disgusting Food Museum invites visitors to explore the world of food and challenge their notions of what is and what isn’t edible. “What we find disgusting has to be learned […] it’s purely cultural,” West told CNN.
To further prove his point, American favorites such as root beer and Jell-O salad are in the museum alongside fried tarantula and cooked guinea pigs.
“Food is so much more than sustenance,” a statement on the website reads. “Curious foods from exotic cultures have always fascinated us. Unfamiliar foods can be delicious, or they can be more of an acquired taste. While cultural differences often separate us and create boundaries, food can also connect us. Sharing a meal is the best way to turn strangers into friends.”
The museum will feature 80 of the world’s most disgusting foods.