World's First Rotten Fish Museum in Sweden

S T O C K H O L M, July 27, 2000 -- The world’s first museum dedicated tofermented herring will open in northern Sweden next year, thedaily Vasterbottens Kuriren newspaper reported today.

The museum will explain the ancient technique developed byfishermen in the Gulf of Bothnia for preserving herring byadding a small amount of salt then letting the fish ferment.

Expats Import Pungent Fish

You have to be Swedish to appreciate the pungent delicacycalled surstromming (sour herring), which traditionally appearsin August.

Only 2 percent of the 800,000 cans produced every year areexported — to expatriate Swedes who long for the sharp odor — which is dismissed by others as resembling dog excrement.

The $335,200 museum will be tactfully situated well clear ofhuman habitation, on a finger of land outside Ornskoldsvik inthe Gulf between Sweden and Finland, at the behest of afoundation endowed by ship owner Emanuel Hogberg.