Overview
For plenty of Australians, a piece of toast isn't complete unless it's slathered with Vegemite. For others, musk sticks are a go-to sweet treat and always have been. Of course, what one person eats for breakfast or dessert, another considers gross, with both Aussie favourites earning a place in Sweden's new Disgusting Food Museum.
Now open in Malmö, the museum does indeed feature Vegemite and musk sticks, as well as a third Australian item: witchetty grubs. Beyond much-loved but highly polarising Australian spreads and sweets, everything within the site's walls is considered food somewhere. Think Sweden's own surstömming, aka fermented herring; cuy, the Peruvian roasted guinea pigs; casu marzu, a maggot-infested cheese from Sardinia; hákarl, the Icelandic dish comprised of well-aged shark; and Thailand's notoriously pungent durian.
In total, 80 foods from around the world are on display until January 27, with liquorice, jell-o salad, fruit bat and bull's penis among the other exhibits. For an entry fee of 185 Swedish krona (approximately AU$29), visitors can also smell and taste selected items. Plus, the museum holds 'taste one for the team' sessions for groups of six or more, where you can challenge your friends to the kinds of tastings that you don't get every day.
If you're currently asking yourself the obvious question — not 'what's wrong with Vegemite?', but rather 'what would inspire someone to open this kind of place?' — the Disgusting Food Museum is all about challenging accepted ideas of what's edible and tasty. It recognises that what one person finds delicious, another might find revolting and vice-versa. Speaking to Vox, curator and 'chief disgustologist' Samuel West specifically uses Vegemite as an example, explaining that it initially tastes awful, but you can learn to like it.
Find the Disgusting Food Museum in Malmö, Sweden from October 29. For more information or to buy tickets, visit the museum's website or Facebook page.
Via ABC.