A Day Out at the Disgusting Food Museum

Recently, Dann and I went to Malmo in Sweden for a few days. During that time, we checked out loads of different places, including the Disgusting Food Museum. This venue has very strange reviews; lots of people saying it was an amazing experience, but they would never go back again. After going, however, I really felt like I agreed with everything I had read!

When you enter the Disgusting Food Museum, the first thing that hits you is the smell. It smells terrible. Like weird, old, pickled, gross food. Everything stinks. Once you get use to this base smell, you are then given a ticket, made of a barf bag, and then told that if you puke, please do so in the bag. A giant chalk board lists that it’s been only 13 days since someone last vomited here. What an interesting start. Once you are checked in, you can read a board about what disgust is and the different types of being disgusting. The museum inside is very small, consisting of a bunch of long tables, but by the time you have finished walking around, you are likely finished being in this space anyone, so it is the perfect amount of exhibitions.

Following the red line around the area, the Disgusting Food Museum, the first thing you end up at is a photo booth, which allows you to put your face into a hole, and it takes a series of pictures. During the second picture, a small tube blows a gross smell into your face, to take a picture of your reaction. Behind this, is a stand about frog-based smoothies that are sold in some countries. Then, the line moves you on to the disgusting alcohol exhibition. The thing about the Disgusting Food Museum is that some of the stuff there isn’t disgusting. It’s just normal food. So it makes you wonder if other people enter, see something you feel is gross, and thinks “oh wow, I eat this all the time.” The alcohol in this exhibition included prison toilet wine, wine literally made from children’s poop, but also fireball whisky. Brew Dog’s alcohol in a taxidermy squirrel was in there, but as disgusting for the packing instead of what was in it.

Moving out of the alcohol section into the food area, there is a lot of food to look at. Some stuff feels quite normal; beef tartar, lobster, poptarts and root beer. Others, however, are very, very odd and indeed gross. Cheese filled with maggots, where people are meant to eat the aspects of the cheese that the maggots have finished eating, a drink that is filled with baby rats and then drank, something called Virgin Boy Eggs. It’s a lot to take in, on top of the smell, and does feel gross.

Around the room, there are various blue topped jars, that you can open up and sniff. They literally made me gag, I couldn’t open them up, they smelled so bad. At the end of the red line, it leads you to a table where you can start trying some of the gross food. There is a big mix of food to try; four types of bugs, durian, some really gross cheeses including one that is only severed here and one other location, hot sauces, century eggs, and more. You can go down the line and the person behind the counter will explain the texture and flavor before trying it. There is plenty of water and a bin to put stuff in if you can’t chew it (fermented shark was very hard for me!!) Once you are done with your tasting, you are done at the museum.

The Disgusting Food Museum is a museum I am glad I went too. I started to feel quite sick at the end, due to the overwhelming smell, but it was really interesting to experience so many different foods and see what other cultures tend to eat. I don’t think I would ever go back, however, It’s an experience I will always remember and always talk about when visiting Malmo!

You can check out our other Days Out to see what else we’ve been up too!