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I've tried it (at the Herräng dance camp as it happens, an experience in itself).

I'd describe the texture as being a little sponge-like compared to, say, tinned tuna. The flavour is strong and slightly acid. The smell was pungent but not particularly awful.

On the whole I think people exaggerate; it's no more revolting than a strong cheese might be, and the "rotting herring" description you sometimes hear is about as indicative as "rotted milk" would be for cheeses.

On the other hand we had it outside and they do say it's much worse indoors. It was noticeable that the moment the tin was opened it attracted flies though!

Our host opened the noticeably swelling tin without a bucket of water, but he was an old hand at it.

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I love fermented things on the whole, seriously (including e.g. pickled herring) but despite being outside and having the can opened underwater at a progressive dinner party, the smell was god-awful and the little bits that got on our clothes and skin were following us all through the other places we went. Just couldn't seem to get it off. As a lover of strong cheeses as well I have simply never had anything remotely comparable. We ate with cream and crackers and dill and washed down with aquavit which was necessary to attempt to get the taste out of the mouth.

I wholeheartedly agree with this wikipedia quote: >German food critic and author Wolfgang Fassbender wrote that "the biggest challenge when eating surströmming is to vomit only after the first bite, as opposed to before".

For the record I did have a friend who thought it tasted pleasanter than it smelled, so clearly as with everything people have experience.

But the joke we were told was "In Sweden this is how you let your neighbors know you are having a party before telephones" -- because the smell will travel through the whole neighborhood.

The hosts of this party had also left the can in the basement for a year+ as intended. Perhaps that heightens the effect.

Germans have experience with Surströmming.

> In 1981, a German landlord evicted a tenant without notice after the tenant spread surströmming brine in the apartment building's stairwell. When the landlord was taken to court, the court ruled that the termination was justified when the landlord's party demonstrated their case by opening a can inside the courtroom. The court concluded that it "had convinced itself that the disgusting smell of the fish brine far exceeded the degree that fellow-tenants in the building could be expected to tolerate".

Great story!

A friends of my parents visited us when we lived in West Africa in the 80s. They brought with them surströmming and without telling asked my parentd to invite som other norrlänningar (northerners, from the north of Sweden).

We had a houseboy and our friend told him, “come here I will show you something special”. Well, they went outside and he opened the surströmming tin. In a split second all the insects of Africa showed up (exaggerated). The houseboy said: “sorry mister, sorry mister, the food is spoiled”. He told the houseboy, “follow me now you will se something more”.

They took the surströmming inside and showed the dinner guests who cheered and was very happy. The eyes of the houseboy became big as a saucers.

He tried to give the houseboy money if he eat some surströmming, even a whole months pay, but he refused.

I also think the "disgusting" aspect is way overrated. It's basically fermented fish. The smell is very concentrated because it's been canned. A good video on how to eat it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AGRyr8yIo9w

> It's basically fermented fish

I’ve personally only ever heard it described as exactly that: fermented fish.

The "disgusting" reports of surströmming refer mostly to its smell, mostly of persons who it is involuntary forced upon. [0]

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surströmming#German_eviction

> The smell is very concentrated because it's been canned.

And this is why it's recommended that you open the can underwater. Most of the videos of people reacting badly to it are because someone just opened the can in the middle of a room. Don't do that.

> On the whole I think people exaggerate; it's no more revolting than a strong cheese might be

A part of that is probably that people who do it "challenge-style" aren't exactly preparing it well. They're eating it straight out of the can (usually while gagging), not with the usual pairings.

Being outside helps, a lot. And until you learn to like the texture, raw chopped onion and a generous helping of sour cream is your friend.