Hákarl- The Infamous Icelandic Rotten Shark Meat

Written by Ruey of The Ruey Review
Updated 25 March 2012

Anthony Bourdain, a well-travelled chef who's eaten sh*t-covered BBQ African warthog rectum, described the Hákarl as "the single worst, most disgusting and terrible tasting thing" he has ever eaten. Gordon Ramsay on his show “The F Word” regurgitated just seconds after putting a piece of this icelandic rotten shark delicacy into his mouth. In Iceland, “eating hákarl is often associated with hardiness and strength” apparently.


The sharks used to make this delicacy are the Greenland Sharks or the Baskin Sharks. The sharks have uremic acid and trimethylamine oxide throughout their flesh. This makes the sharks poisonous and inedible unless properly processed. By processing it pretty much means to squeeze the moisture out of the fish carcass and let it rot for months to come.
I've been dreaming to try this for years. Who wouldn’t want to try what’s been said by world-famous chefs as the worst and most disgusting food on earth? Although I was unable to travel to Iceland myself earlier this month, I asked one of my friends, who went to witness the Aurora, to bring it back for me.

The rotten, or fermented, urea-filled shark meat is incredibly pungent as it smells like, well, pee, and oh yes, rotten fish. So the Hákarl smells like urine-covered rotten fish. However, it was not as bad as I thought it would be. It was really bad, but I did not barf or anything. It also wasn’t the worst-tasting thing I’ve ever put in my mouth. Although I cannot tell you what the worst thing I’ve tasted is, I can tell you I was not able to swallow Pacific saury liver; and although extremely unpleasant, I was able to swallow the Hákarl.

I take the same stance as Andrew Zimmern, the Hákarl smells much worse than it tasted. While two out of the seven people in the room turned out to be a couple of wimps and refused to have seconds, I went on to have 3 more shark cubes after the first. One of them went on to have 4 to 5 more. However, he was drunk and of Mexican descent. (Before you go on to call me a racist asshole, what I mean is that Mexicans are stereotypically hard and strong, in the minds) Although for me I was only able to keep it in my mouth for 5 seconds before I had to down it with strong spirit, my friend-the drunk Mexicano specifically- was able to keep chewing for over 20 seconds.

In the end, it was a great experience trying the rotten shark meat. You never know until you’ve tried. It was also a great night for me to get with my friends and get drunk and have a great time. However, I do apologize to the porter at _______ College. Apparently after I put a piece of the fermented shark meat in the garbage can nearby, the lodge now smells like... well, rotten fish covered in pee.