Guano & Associates

They walked up to the tent at the community center/day-care center where they were burning logs of green wood to keep the bugs away. The tent was located near the recycling center so they kept smelling the air wondering if that stench that they were smelling was the trash or the fish; every couple of minutes asking each other, "is that it?". They bumped into the mother of one of Kylie's friends, Agnes. She offered to let them sit with her and she would show them how to it properly. It was at this point that Agnes confessed that she really didn't like this stuff, she just liked it for the potatoes, the flat bread and the social aspects. I was told recently that less than 50% of Swedes actually lie this fish!

They grabbed and filled their plates, Kathy noting that she had smelled outhouses worse than this, though not all of them have. Despite the descriptions the Swedes have given us, Kathy reports that it was not as bad as she expected. The method is to take a piece of soft or hard flat bread, 3 potatoes, 3/4 cup of raw onions and a couple of fish. The person seated next to Agnes, "the Expert", showed them how to cut into the fish, remove the guts, cut off the fins, lay the fish flat on the plate, meat-side down and press hard on spine to flatten fish. The fish was rather gelatinous, oozed foul liquids, and smelled worse than before. They then flipped the fish over, stuck a fork under spine and lifted out the bones and spine. The Expert instructed them to cut fish into small pieces and place on heavily buttered bread. Kathy says at this point that even though The Expert said "cut", it really just fell apart, kind of like jelly held together with skin. They spread little peices of fish on the bread, added the potatoes and raw onions, and then some sour cream. Then, they rolled it up and ate it like a burrito. As she said, it was the saltiest thing she's ever eaten.

The first fish wasn't bad but the second was full of roe and that was even saltier. Kathy finished the whole thing. The Swedes at the party couldn't believe she ate it. They all congratulated her that she tried it, told her that many locals have never even tried it, and even more don't like to eat it. They were drinking schnapps, singing along with live accordion music. At the end of each song, they'd do a shot of schnapps. One point, they notice Kathy was drinking water instead of schnapps, deciding that she was twice as brave to eat the fish without the booze. They admitted that they sang the song just to drink more shots. Skål!

Kathy got home and I could smell the onions (I think) as soon as she walked in. Sitting on the couch, she tells me about the whole process. At one point she says, "yuck, gross...smell my finger". She says it smells like poo yet she sits there smelling here finger over and over again, gagging each time! There was a commerical on Mtv (we think) of a cartoon guy smelling his finger and gagging, over and over again. That's all I could think of. I tried to find the video clip of the commercial but couldn't find it. If anyone out there finds it, let me know!