Bat soup, eyeball juice, haggis and maggot cheese: exhibits at the Disgusting Food Museum

The founder wants visitors to question their perceptions of disgust, which he believes can change with time

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  Sheep's eyeball juice from Mongolia: the pickled eye is popped into a glass of tomato juice, a combination that is said to combat headaches and hangovers. Photo by AnjaBarte Telin 

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  Casu marzu from Sardinia: a whole pecorino cheese is cut open and left outside so flies can lay eggs in it. The fly larvae feast on the cheese and their enzymes break down its fats, and the larvae excrement becomes a partially digested semi-liquid soft cheese, which also contains live maggots. Photo by Anja Barte Telin    

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  Century egg from China: duck or quail eggs are preserved for a few months in a solution that uses clay, ash or quicklime and salt. Consequently, the yolk becomes grey, with a cheese-like texture, and the whites turn into a dark jelly. Photo by Anja Barte Telin   

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  Cuy from Peru: (pronounced kwee) the guinea pig is cooked whole - teeth in tact - and doused in salt and garlic. Photo by Anja Barte Telin   

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  Fruit bat soup from Guam: the furry bat is served whole in a broth made from coconut milk, ginger and spices. Photo by Anja Barte Telin   

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  Haggis from Scotland: a pudding made from the liver, heart, and lungs of sheep, minced and mixed with beef or mutton seut and oatmeal, and seasoned with onion and spices. Traditionally, the mixture was packed into a sheep’s stomach and boiled Anja Barte Telin

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  Kopi luwak from Indonesia: also known as cat-poop coffee, the expensive kopi luwak beans are part-digested coffee cherries that have been eaten and defecated by the civet cat. Photo by Anja Barte Telin    

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  Garum from ancient Rome: a highly prized fish sauce made from fermented anchovy guts and salt. Photo by Anja Barte Telin  

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    Jell-o salad from the United States: a congealed "salad" from the 1960s, which is made from flavoured gelatin and fruit, but that can also be made using cottage cheese, cream cheese, marshmallows, nuts, pretzels, carrots, olives and mayonnaise. Photo by Anja Barte Telin

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  Durian from Thailand: named the "smelliest fruit in the world", the durian is rich in ironm potassium and vitamin C. And its eye-watering smell has been described as "turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock". Photo by Anja Barte Telin   

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  Kumis from Russia: fermented mare's milk is mixed with sugar or sucrose, for a foamy dairy drink that's said to cleanse the gastrointestinal tract. Photo by Anja Barte Telin

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  Kiviak from Greeland: this Inuit dish involves stuffing little auk birds into a freshly disembowelled seal. The pelt is then sutured up and left to ferment for several months, after which the instestinal fluids are sucked out from the birds and used a sauce. Photo by Anja Barte Telin 

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  Salted liquorice from Sweden: the sticky-sweet molasses coating gives way so you have a mouthful of saltwater. An acquired taste, by most accounts. Photo by Anja Barte Telin 

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  Spiced rabbit heads from China: complete with eyeballs, tongue and a pâté-like brain. Photo by Anja Barte Telin

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  Mopane worms from Zimbabwe: the caterpillars of a species of emperor moth are usually served fried with tomatoes, onion and garlic, and are highly nutritious, although they tend to taste like drywall. Photo by Anja Barte Telin

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  Natto from Japan: soybeans fermented by adding the Bacillus subtilis bacteria, which gives it a bitter flavour, gooey texture, strong, ammonia-like odour, and nutritious superfood status. Photo by Anja Barte Telin

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  Su Callu Sardu cheese from Sardinia: this spicy cheese is made by filling a young goat stomach with raw goat milk, which is aged for two to four months. Its taste has been described as "gasoline and ammonia mixed with wax". Photo by AnjaBarte Telin

One man’s meat is another man’s poison, or so goes the ancient Roman adage. It’s a premise that the upcoming Disgusting Food Museum in Sweden was designed to explore.

Take haggis as an example. Many who have tried Scotland’s national dish – made from sheep heart, liver and lungs and traditionally cooked inside the animal’s stomach – think it’s delicious. Yet it is one of the 80 food exhibits at the museum because a lot of people, mainly those who have only heard about it, think it’s repugnant.

The same goes for the other exhibits, some of which include sheep eyeballs in tomato juice (a Mongolian cure for headaches); century eggs from China aged until the yolks are cheesy and the whites are jelly; spicy rabbit heads, complete with eyeballs, tongue and a pate-like brain; natto (bacteria-fermented soybeans from Japan), Greeland’s kivak (little auk birds stuffed in a disemboweled seal); and kopi luwak (or cat-poop) coffee. All are “real foods eaten today or of great historical significance somewhere in the world”.  

According to founder Samuel West: “Disgust is individual - the thought of eating a spider makes some people hungry, but makes others want to vomit. It is contextual - many consider milk from a cow less disgusting than fresh milk from a lactating human friend. And disgust is cultural – we [tend to] like the foods we have grown up with.”

But he says that ideas of disgust can change with time. Two hundred years ago, lobster was so undesirable that it was only fed to prisoners and slaves. Today it is a delicacy. The museum invites visitors to challenge their notions of what is and what isn’t edible. West also notes that when he first moved to Sweden, he hated salty liquorice, but now he loves it.

On another level, human beings are fascinated with disgust, which is one of the six fundamental human emotions. “Just as a roller coaster offers us a safe experience of danger, we humans are fascinated with disgust from a safe distance. We are intrigued by slimy slugs, gory movies, and watching someone on the verge of vomiting trying to eat something awful. The evolutionary function of disgust is to help us avoid disease and unsafe food, and our ideas of disgust influence our lives in many ways, from our choice of foods to our morals and laws,” says Andreas Ahrens from the museum. 

Shock value and philosophical musings aside, West and team also have a more important agenda in place. “Our planet cannot sustain current meat production, and we need to consider alternative protein sources such as insects and lab-grown meat. [Maybe] changing our ideas of disgust help us embrace the environmentally sustainable foods of the future. It could help us transition to more sustainable protein sources,” explains Ahrens.  

Most of the exhibits are real food, while some are replicas and others are displayed as video. Most of the real foods can be smelt, even Thailand’s durian fruit, which one writer described as “turpentine and onions, garnished with a gym sock”, while a few others are available for tasting should you dare.

Alongside the description that accompanies each item, some come with tasting instructions. For example, a warning for the Casu Marzu (maggot and fly larvae) cheese, which comes from Sardinia in Italy, reads: “Diners need to protect their eyes from jumping larvae, and eating live maggots is risky, as they can survive inside their new host and can bore through intestinal walls.”  

The exhibit opens on October 31 in Malmö, Sweden, across the bridge from Copenhagen, Denmark

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