In paid collaboration with Malmö Town
“Your ticket also doubles up as a sick bag,” the ticket attendant chimes cheerily in our direction as we walk in.
Only open in late 2018, the Disgusting Food Museum in Malmö, Sweden, has already received a huge amount of online and press attention for being so unique. The exhibition, which is handily only a short walk away from Malmö Central Station, is part of a larger venue called Slagthuset MMX which also has a large bar and restaurant.
Upon entrance into the large exhibition room, you may think you’ll fly through the museum, but with over 80 different examples and exhibits, you can easily spend an hour or more discovering exactly what disgust is. That question is posed at the very beginning – all humans have different levels of disgust, and that can be as a result of everything from your age, your birth place, your race, your gender to your openness, your sense of adventure and so much more.
Some foods which you’ll see are quite normal to you and us, such as black pudding, haggis and even some pick’n’mix jellies. But breaking it down, pigs blood, sheep’s offal stuffed into its stomach or colourful sweets made with the hooves of some animals might be a step too far for some people’s’ palates.
Throughout the exhibit, there are plenty of disgusting foods to see, smell and even taste. This is a full sensory exhibition, which makes the sick bags that bit more useful. The alter of cheeses, to folk like us, was the polar opposite of disgusting, bar the Stinking Bishop which was fairly vile in its stench. Only a handful of times did we gag, clutching the paper bag just in case. Result!
As we move toward the end of the exhibit, following the opportunity to stroke the bulls penis (which alongside other delicacies are available for sale), is the chance to try some of the items throughout the museum at the “tasting bar”. Crickets, durian, stinky cheese to century eggs and everything in between. You don’t have to try anything you don’t want to, but the super friendly staff will try to coax you. After all, it’s worth ticking these all of your edible bucket list at least once right?
In addition to Malmö’s museum, there is also a Disgusting Food Museum in Los Angeles too. Entry into the Swedish edition is 185SEK (or about €17.50) and is open Wednesday to Sunday between 12-6pm (last recommended admission is at 5pm).