Lye is indeed necessary to make lutefisk. Whatever happened to Limburger cheese, the infamous dairy product that was a prop in so much 1930s comedy? As for the Cream of Mushroom soup incident, Lynda Barry did a great strip about something similar, about her brother who stupidly purchased a bad hot dog and barfed all night. She said she could turn him green with the very mention of a hot dog…(under a drawing of a hot dog and bun: DOES THIS LOOK FAMILIAR?) “And that’s how I became such a good artist!”
Incidentally, they sell canned pork brains and gravy in the south. Good eatin’, slaver, drool.
Great piece. You’re still rocking. My best friend kept a pantry full of recalled and tainted products, including a can of botulized Bon Vivant vichyssoise, from a lot that may have been the font of our nation’s proud tradition of food panics.
And durian fruit is so foul-smelling that it’s banned from the better hotels in Thailand and Vietnam. In Indonesia during the first Gulf War, they had a durian flavored hard candy. The brand was called Scud.
Great story. I had a small collection of weird canned foods the highlight being a can of snake soup- “Three cans of snake meat and bamboo shoots “ Purchased in Chinatown Victoria Canada. There was a cobra on the label. I lost it in a move.
Really enjoying your writing since discovering you here a couple weeks ago Cintra. Very funny.
Surströmming evenings are one of my most distinctive memories from living in Sweden. We would all put a peg on our noses and prepare to open the tin - very very carefully. I actually enjoyed the taste - we spread it over soft bread with layers of mashed potatoes and lots of butter. It just tasted like hunks of salt - I love salt. Oh and of course washed down with vodka.
The whole evening of opening the foul smelling tin is a really fun ritual over there.
Can't give any feedback on the lutefisk as haven't smelt or tried that.
Thank-you for this...the "ulultating" was fun not to mention hazardous waste disposal...the NRC needs to hire you to improve on their cave/tunnel ideas for spent fuel. Your piece forced me into pantry here where i've kept for posterity a can of Liberal Democrat Boston Baked Beans which after 20 years in a deep south old home i never installed air in until a month ago has taken on a rather ominous appearance. A novelty item and i had never read the label until now and its peeling and faded but reads "Let's make sure no Kerry-bashing, meat-eating, fur-wearing, gun-toting, oil-drilling, SUV-driving, Limbaugh-listening, conservative Republican, capitalist pig, gets elected: Get OUT AND VOTE 2004" i used to keep it on the window sill but it had left a rust mark stain only a healthy dose of alcohol based shellack could cover the donkey on it has buck teeth and a shock of weird hair like Trump
I live in Minnesota, where lutefisk is a thing for many people of Scandinavian heritage. It's divisive, and I do believe there is lye involved. I've never had it. But I'm thinking the lye, under pressure in a can, is what may cause it to explode.
great story! that tik-tok mushroom soup is hilarious. in junior school i had a friend and i made her vomit twice!!! it was funny then....kind of still is now!
Is it possible you mixed up “lutefisk” and “Surströmming”? I’ve eaten lutefisk and it has a mild smell but the Surströmming is known to cause vomiting.
All of this was fantastic, but what really killed me was "The entire walk over and into the park we felt like ice-truckers transporting nitroglycerine."
I used to have a modest food museum, but alas, multiple moves have paired it down to a durian/mung-bean Twinkie.
Lye is indeed necessary to make lutefisk. Whatever happened to Limburger cheese, the infamous dairy product that was a prop in so much 1930s comedy? As for the Cream of Mushroom soup incident, Lynda Barry did a great strip about something similar, about her brother who stupidly purchased a bad hot dog and barfed all night. She said she could turn him green with the very mention of a hot dog…(under a drawing of a hot dog and bun: DOES THIS LOOK FAMILIAR?) “And that’s how I became such a good artist!”
Incidentally, they sell canned pork brains and gravy in the south. Good eatin’, slaver, drool.
Great piece. You’re still rocking. My best friend kept a pantry full of recalled and tainted products, including a can of botulized Bon Vivant vichyssoise, from a lot that may have been the font of our nation’s proud tradition of food panics.
And durian fruit is so foul-smelling that it’s banned from the better hotels in Thailand and Vietnam. In Indonesia during the first Gulf War, they had a durian flavored hard candy. The brand was called Scud.
Great story. I had a small collection of weird canned foods the highlight being a can of snake soup- “Three cans of snake meat and bamboo shoots “ Purchased in Chinatown Victoria Canada. There was a cobra on the label. I lost it in a move.
Really enjoying your writing since discovering you here a couple weeks ago Cintra. Very funny.
Surströmming evenings are one of my most distinctive memories from living in Sweden. We would all put a peg on our noses and prepare to open the tin - very very carefully. I actually enjoyed the taste - we spread it over soft bread with layers of mashed potatoes and lots of butter. It just tasted like hunks of salt - I love salt. Oh and of course washed down with vodka.
The whole evening of opening the foul smelling tin is a really fun ritual over there.
Can't give any feedback on the lutefisk as haven't smelt or tried that.
Thank-you for this...the "ulultating" was fun not to mention hazardous waste disposal...the NRC needs to hire you to improve on their cave/tunnel ideas for spent fuel. Your piece forced me into pantry here where i've kept for posterity a can of Liberal Democrat Boston Baked Beans which after 20 years in a deep south old home i never installed air in until a month ago has taken on a rather ominous appearance. A novelty item and i had never read the label until now and its peeling and faded but reads "Let's make sure no Kerry-bashing, meat-eating, fur-wearing, gun-toting, oil-drilling, SUV-driving, Limbaugh-listening, conservative Republican, capitalist pig, gets elected: Get OUT AND VOTE 2004" i used to keep it on the window sill but it had left a rust mark stain only a healthy dose of alcohol based shellack could cover the donkey on it has buck teeth and a shock of weird hair like Trump
Thank you, Cintra! That was hilarious and so true about this horrible Viking food torture; my wife is Norwegian and even she will not touch this!
I live in Minnesota, where lutefisk is a thing for many people of Scandinavian heritage. It's divisive, and I do believe there is lye involved. I've never had it. But I'm thinking the lye, under pressure in a can, is what may cause it to explode.
So good. Painting and writing. A one-person Renaissance
great story! that tik-tok mushroom soup is hilarious. in junior school i had a friend and i made her vomit twice!!! it was funny then....kind of still is now!
Thanks! I enjoyed your story…but I’m not sure why..!
I’m so curious about the history of this cream of mushroom soup reaction. 😀 I wonder how much/ what kind of exposure it took.
Hilarious 😂
Is it possible you mixed up “lutefisk” and “Surströmming”? I’ve eaten lutefisk and it has a mild smell but the Surströmming is known to cause vomiting.
Re: the Falcon and the Snowman - Did anyone else immediately picture Steve Buscemi and Peter Stormare in "Fargo"?
All of this was fantastic, but what really killed me was "The entire walk over and into the park we felt like ice-truckers transporting nitroglycerine."