Hakarl is a Icelandic delicacy made by allowing a basking shark to rot in a shallow grave (now it’s a container set outdoors with drainage holes) then partially dried. The process takes 6 months. This dish is at least 700 years old and is listed on the Ark of Taste by Slow Food International. That means it’s considered a traditional dish in danger of disappearing as the skills are lost across generations.

Hakarl is known now mostly as a food to eat on a dare because of its strong ammonia smell and (as the Slow Food people say) “particular taste.” Can being a popular gross out food save hakarl? Let’s go with yes.

My hakarl review appears in McSweeney’s Internet Tendency- this would be a satirical food column so keep that in mind. Scroll down a third of the way in the eleventh batch.

Some YouTube Hakarl-Tasting videos

• National Geographic video on preparing hakarl
• Anthony Bourdain’s shark quote
• Gordon Ramsey’s shark fail
• Small Child Eats Hakarl – From FoodOddities – best quote “it’s clear I’m about to eat something that’s more than dead.”