Fed2 Star - the newsletter for the space trading game Federation 2

The weekly newsletter for Fed2
by ibgames

EARTHDATE: September 23, 2012

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REAL LIFE NEWS: GAS LEAK TURNS OUT TO BE FERMENTED HERRING

by Hazed

Residents of a block of flats in Stockholm, Sweden, thought they smelt a gas leak last weekend, so they alerted the emergency services. But when the “emergency gas leak team” turned up backed by two fire trucks, they discovered that the source of the odious odour was actually fermented herring.

Surströmming is a delicacy in Sweden. Herring is fermented in barrels for a couple of months and then tinned. In the can, it continues to ferment until the gases build up enough for the once cylindrical tins to bulge into a round shape. When the cans are opened, they give off a pungent smell of rotten eggs, vinegar, and other putrid things.

But it doesn’t really smell like gas!

The cause of the smell was a traditional surströmmingsskiva (fermented herring party) being held in one of the flats. Firefighter Björn Hörnsten expressed surprise that people had mistaken the herring for gas: “They’ve got gas in the building, so I find it a bit strange that they called us. They ought to know what it smells like when you turn on a gas stove. It doesn’t smell like surströmming at all.”

I guess this is proof that sometimes things that smell disgusting can taste nice, as discussed in last week’s Star!

Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/09/12/surstromming_menace/

More info on fermented herring: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Surstr%C3%B6mming

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