Finally.

I tried herring today.

I know, I know, it's taken me almost six months to work up the nerve to take part in the typical Dutch tradition of snacking on these little fish, but I was unable to bring myself to try it on my own. Honestly, (and this is coming from someone who loves fish) it looks and smells disgusting.

Today my employers had some at lunch and offered for me to try one of those slimy little suckers. I didn't want to be rude, and I was really curious, but I think the real reason I tried was because I haven't had sushi in almost six months, and I was desperate to satisfy the craving.

Usually the Dutch tilt their heads back, hold the tail, and just lower the whole raw thing in. It kind of looks like they're just swallowing it whole. I don't know why they do it this way, but I'm convinced it has something to do with the smell, although I have absolutely nothing to base that assumption on. I didn't eat it this way. I put it on a wasa cracker. I didn't add onions, although I was offered some.

The first bite was good! So was the second. The third was alright, and the fourth wasn't bad. The fifth took a turn for the worse, and the sixth was pretty gross. The seventh, eighth and ninth were not enjoyable, and the last few were downright disgusting. The more I ate, the smaller my bites got, and the closer I kept getting to the tail. I found the tail disturbing. In fact, I'm kind of gagging right now just thinking about it.

So no, it did not satisfy that sushi craving.

Below is a herring stand in Rotterdam. It's hard to go far in Holland without running into one of these. They're kind of like Holland's equivalent to Tim Horton's. Holland loves it's herring, just like Canada loves it's Double-Doubles.


(gag)