12 Smelly Foods That Would Vaporize a Work Refrigerator

There’s a reason Limburger is the go-to stinky cheese for cartoon references. It’s described as smelling very much like human body odor, which is unpleasant and unsettling.

We don’t usually look to fruit for unpleasant smells. In fact, most fruits smell inviting, if anything. Durian, however, is a pioneer within the category. Cracked open, an odor is released that crosses categories: everything from spoiled meat to turpentine, if not both.

Chitterlings, known as “chitlins” for short, are pig intestines. Being the smelliest internal part of a famously stinky animal doesn’t set them up for success. When articles pop up like “How to Cook Chitterlings Without Smell?” you can be sure it’s not because their kitchen smells too good. Science has even had to step in. As for what they actually smell like? Well, if you think pig intestines probably smell like pig shit? You’re right.

Surstromming, Swedish fermented herring, smells so strong that even after it’s removed from an area, probably by force, the odor sticks around for up to three days. Most perfumes would kill for that sort of staying power, but unfortunately, it seems to be a dark art. Tuck into some surstromming and you’d better hope all your social plans for the next half-week are okay with you stinking of hydrogen sulfide, a smell like rotting eggs.

Fermentation is a frequent facet of this list, and Japanese natto brings it to soybeans. Given that it looks like a pile of spider eggs, there’s already a high barrier to entry, but the smell doesn’t help. Spoiled cheese and mop water are two of the descriptive smells it's been compared to.

Eggs already contain the capacity to produce some seriously sour smells. Ferment them until they turn black, and, well, it goes about how you’d expect in the odor department. They apparently give off a strong ammonia smell, something your body usually takes as a message meaning “do not eat.”

See a cheese with a sour smell, and filled with literal maggots? Pretty good sign to clean the fridge. Unfortunately, if that cheese is casu marzu, it’s supposed to look like that. Yes, including the maggots.

Apparently, Iceland saw Sweden’s trademark rank fish dish and wanted one of their own. The Icelandic delicacy is made of fermented shark meat, and has an ammonia-like smell that would usually lead to smartly tossing out any seafood emitting it. Like surstromming, hakarl has staying power, and wherever you eat it is going to be suffused with eau de rotten shark for hours.

Again, the Swedes insist on treating fish in ways that offend the nasal passages. Lutefisk is a type of cured cod meat that’s apparently a trademark of their Christmas feasts. What a gift. Its uniquely chemical smell comes from the fact that it's cured in lye, which yes, is toxic. The lutefisk has to be thoroughly rinsed several times to make it edible, but even that can't cure the stink.

Well, no one’s holding any false pretenses here. Not just a descriptor but a dish, stinky tofu is exactly that. Fermented tofu that smells, apparently, like rotten garbage. Not great when it can’t even be described as “fresh garbage.”