SURSTRÖMMING IN THE NEWS

WORLD RECORD: Longest Flatbread with Surströmming

In the north of Sweden, Örnsköldsvik, a new world record was set on August 25th, 2018. On a Saturday, this somewhat unusual world record was set in Örnsköldsvik: a 60-meter-long flatbread with a total area of 30 square meters. The bread was then built into a giant sour herring flatbread.

Everyone who has difficulty with the smell of fermented herring should thank their lucky star for not visiting the harbor in Örnsköldsvik during that day.

The bread was baked during the Friday and then rolled out on tables on Saturday. The flat bread was prepared with fermented herring and accessories such as onions and potatoes.

- It has gone very well, you were a little worried that the bread would fall apart, but it held together, said the bakery's Torbjörn Ullsten, CEO of Mjälloms Tunnbröd bakery, which was one of the people behind the record attempt. He estimates the baking time at 2.5 hours. We got the idea a few years ago to bake the world's largest flatbread. Guinness World Records was contacted, and the bakery decided to take on the record attempt in connection with sailing competitions in the port.

25 kilos of surströmming, 100 kilos of potatoes, and eight kilos of butter were needed to fill the bread. The world record inspector Eero Niemi had to use a number of measuring points to determine the area, but in the end, he got a result: 30.57 square meters. A doubling of the old Guinness record for the "flatbread" category in which they competed. Torbjörn Ullsten then cut the sour herring sandwich into smaller pieces that hungry strollers could taste, and the queue was quite long. 

To surströmming enthusiasts, this record-breaking flatbread wasn’t just an impressive feat but also an authentic showcase of the proper way to enjoy this Swedish delicacy. Unlike the extreme attempts popular with thrill-seeking youngsters—who dive into a surströmming challenge by eating the fish straight from the can, ungutted, and without traditional accompaniments—this massive flatbread was carefully prepared with classic sides like potatoes, butter, and bread.

These customary accompaniments help mellow the fish’s intense taste and aroma, allowing it to be appreciated as intended, rather than simply endured. As Torbjörn Ullsten, CEO of Mjälloms Tunnbröd bakery, cut the flatbread into pieces for the crowd, many lined up eagerly to try surströmming as it was meant to be enjoyed: paired with the right ingredients, as a part of a storied cultural tradition, rather than a reckless challenge.

THE ROTTEN ELECTION SYSTEM

During the by-elections in March 2018 in Hong Kong, Chan Yuen-Man, the returning Army officer, disqualified two local candidates, James Chan Kwok-Keung and Ventus Lau. Lau had visited the Home Affairs Department of Sha Tin District Office to carry a can of surströmming. His act of opening the can in public was considered highly offensive. Lau later revealed that he wanted Chan to feel that the Hong Kong people were experiencing an entirely rotten election system. Lau had also launched an appeal to the court, but the court concluded that the decisions of Chan were not vindicated.

SWEDEN FIRE TURN CANS OF ROTTEN FISH INTO EXPLODING MISSILES

In May 2014, BBC published an article with the same title claiming that old cans could turn into exploding missiles. That headline was an inspiration for our Facebook cover picture.

The story was about a warehouse with 1,000 cans of surströmming in the east of Sweden that caught fire. The heat from the fire heated the cans until they exploded. The owner told the newspaper that it smelled like fried fermented herring. The firefighters initially thought that the sound they heard was from exploding propane bottles.

The warehouse owner, Hans-Erik Englund, witnessed one can fly over an outhouse roof while another shot over the bay to a neighbor's house. The explosions continued for six hours.

BANNED BY AIRLINES - 2006

Many other major airlines in 2006, including British Airways, Air France, KLM, and Finnair, had proscribed the fish. The airlines claimed that the pressurized tins were quite explosive. Also, the sale of surströmming was later withdrawn by Stockholm's international airport.

This act was later followed by feelings of disappointment among the producers who believed that airlines' decision was "culturally illiterate." The producers further claimed that the explosion of the tins was just a myth.

GERMAN COURT CASE: A LANDLORD’S SMELLY SOLUTION

In 1981, surströmming, the notoriously pungent Swedish delicacy, sparked an unusual legal battle in Germany, highlighting the sheer power of its odor. The incident occurred around Christmas, when a tenant, for reasons that remain unknown, decided not only to open a can of surströmming inside his apartment building but also to spread the brine throughout the shared stairwell. The odor soon permeated the entire building. Known for its intense smell—often compared to rotting garbage—surströmming can be overwhelming in a single room, and in the confined space of a stairwell, it quickly became intolerable for other residents.

The landlord, concerned about the comfort of the other tenants, deemed the tenant’s actions unacceptable and initiated an immediate eviction. However, the tenant challenged the eviction, claiming it was a disproportionate response. The case proceeded to court, where, in Germany, tenant protections are typically strong to prevent undue homelessness.

The pivotal moment came when the landlord, determined to prove the severity of the disturbance, brought a sealed can of surströmming as evidence. During the proceedings in Cologne, the landlord opened the can right there in the courtroom, allowing the judge and attendees to experience the notorious odor firsthand. The court ultimately ruled in favor of the landlord, noting in its judgment: “The foul smell of the fish brine far exceeded what was tolerable for other residents in the building, as the court itself confirmed when the can was opened in the courtroom.” The court upheld the immediate eviction.

For more information, see the original source here.