Eating Rotten Shark | National Geographic

in the town of Reykjavik siggy a
traditional Icelandic cook is preparing
one of the signature meals of the thorah
block festival as the Vikings once did
to feel the poison aroma of the chef
this freshly caught seventeen hundred
pound Greenland shark is naturally full
of urea and other toxins these chemicals
act as antifreeze allowing the shark to
live in waters as cold as minus two
degrees Celsius the toxins are so
concentrated that to eat this meat could
make you seriously ill or possibly even
kill you but Hildebrand er be honest
family has a secret shark recipe that
goes back generations and he knows that
the only way to prepare it is to let it
rot
as the meat decomposes it oozes toxic
ammonia the chemical found in most
household cleaning products and human
waste I don’t want to say the world this
will probably describe it best be in
Viking times Shark me was buried out of
sight but Hildebrand prefers to see his
delicacy that way he can keep track of
the decaying process his nose decides
when it is ready to try it’s like
winemaking you know when the mead is at
a perfect rotten state it’s hung to
complete the breakdown process after six
months it’s ready to be served
yes it is not huh that that under him
huh what out there under him
yeah uh-huh this is gonna be very good
it has two more months it’s gonna be a
great great chef this room it’s a social
thing for us to come together and eat
this I don’t like the show it’s like
ammonia haze this moment case it doesn’t
despite this feast of oddities these
Icelandic partygoers see nothing bizarre
about tonight’s main courses no matter
what dish is served siggy and the
Icelanders agree there is more to this
tradition than just taste the point is
taking care of this tradition having fun
with it know what it is don’t forget it
don’t forget where we come from