Is Icelandic Shark the World’s Most Disgusting Dish or a Misunderstood Delicacy?

In an episode that aired in 2014, cult foodie Anthony Bourdain visited Iceland for the first season of his much-beloved show, Parts Unknown. He stops by Múlakaffi, a restaurant that specialises in Icelandic fare, where his host presents him with a small dish of a cubed, jelly-ish substance: hákarl, fermented shark.  Bourdain hesitantly pokes a cocktail stick through the fleshy square and begins to eat.

“That is unspeakably nasty… probably the single worst thing I’ve ever put in my mouth” - Anthony Bourdain.

He shudders, calling it "unspeakably nasty". Bourdain is known for his utmost respect for cuisines that stray far from the most conventional palates - even in Iceland he enjoyed sheep’s testicles, just as he happily stomached raw seal eyeballs in Quebec and stomach bile soup in the Philippines. For him to not like something means it has got to taste, really, really bad.

In the past decade, partly thanks to that infamous Tony clip, tourists flocking to Iceland have willed themselves to try the country’s infamous delicacy, filming TikToks that capture their disgusted reactions from teary-eyed dread to physical gagging. Even celeb chefs have also got on board - Gordon Ramsay viscerally spits it out in one clip.

Is it really all that bad, or are the reactions just for some good television and viral reactions? What do Icelanders think of the infamous rep of one of their staples?

Hákarl is pungent. If you enter the Kolaportid flea market in downtown Reykjavik, you’ll immediately be struck by a foul smell as you browse the vinyls, band shirts and trinkets. Follow the stench, and you’ll find Frederick, a fishmonger selling tubs of hákarl.

“This is one of our traditions, it is made of Greenland shark and it has followed us for centuries,” Frederick, the fishmonger, tells Trippin. “When a shark dies, it starts developing ammonia, which gives this certain taste to the meat. It is buried in the ground for some time, to get more of this ammonia taste throughout the meat.”

Greenland sharks has been eaten for hundreds of years in Iceland. It’s highly toxic when raw given its high levels of urea and trimethylamine oxide - basically able to wreak havoc on the nervous system of a human being, causing blindness, dizziness, nausea and even death.

After the shark is buried for up to 12 weeks, the fluids are pressed out of it before it is cut into strips and hung for up to five months. The meat is then cut into small cubes, and is eaten as a bite-sized snack, often washed down with Brennivín - an Icelandic schnapps.

“I try to have shark two to three times a week,” Frederick enthuses. “[The taste] is like a very nice French cheese!”

"It's very sour. Like the genitals of a dead person”

Frederick’s description is an optimistic one. A fellow hákarl fan, Bjoggi from local Icelandic indie band Spacestation, offers a more honest assessment: “Yeah, it's very sour. Like the genitals of a dead person,” he says, yet shrugs optimistically as he takes a bite, standing by the Reykjavik harbour. “But it’s not so bad!”

Bjoggi, like many Icelanders, was raised with hákarl. “People are really afraid of it because it has a strong taste and it also smells not so good. But I kinda like it. It’s a delicacy.”

When asked if the viral videos are disrespectful to culture, both shrug. For Frederick, sales are up. “Younger people aren’t as willing to have shark as older people, but we are selling more because tourists are curious. They love it.” Meanwhile, Bjoggi totally gets the disgusted reaction: “I can understand it if you’ve never even smelt it before.”

If you’re in Reykjavik, you may as well live a little and dare to take a bite. The taste will haunt you forever, the most everlasting souvenir that you can take with you from Iceland. “This is our culture!” Frederick enthuses. “It clears your throat and is good for your health.”

Spacestation play Iceland Airwaves on Friday 7 November at Kolaport. For tickets and flight packages, click here.