Surströmming, a popular dish in Sweden, consists of fermented Baltic herring. The fish is fermented in barrels for months and then canned, where the fermenting fun continues. I've never tried the stuff, but according to the Surströmming entry on Wikipedia, when the can is opened, it releases "a strong, foul smell… which is similar to fish gone bad or garbage left out in the sun for a couple of days." Now a few airlines, including British Airways and Air France, are banning it, claiming that the tins could explode. From the BBC News:
The dish is no longer allowed on their flights, and the sale of the delicacy from Stockholm's international airport has been stopped.
That has made producers of the surstromming choke on their fermented fish, calling the airlines' decision "culturally illiterate".
It is a myth, they say, that the tinned fish can explode.They admit, however, that a punctured tin would emit a foul smell, and that the content might spill quite forcefully, like a punctured can of beer.
Link (Thanks, Paul Saffo!)
