Growing up in northern Idaho an older gentleman that was a friend of my families would come and visit us from Canada occasionally and bring with him things that my family at the time considered quite foreign (I know, Canada isn't really that foreign of a place). One of those things was Limburger cheese which he would keep in a refrigerator outside of the house, now one thing you have to understand is that to me as a 6 or 7 year old child this cheese was a thing of legend, a monster whose scent could down many a man. I never tried it as a child but it is something that has always remained in the recesses of my brain as this terrible delicacy.
Recently I visited a cheese house not too far from my house on a random trip for some special lumber and there I saw a small brick of Limburger sitting in the cooler and I had to make it mine, rarely do I deny the chance to try something new or explore another area of the five senses and this cheese was not just calling my name, it was screaming it. After putting down my 7 or so dollars for this little brick the size of a shorter, fatter stick of butter I took it home excited for the new experience to come as there isn't a cheese I have tried yet that I didn't like or at least think was okay.
Shortly after arriving home I took this little treasure into my kitchen and prepared to open it for a sample bit after reading with much interest the label which described how the cheeses texture can change over several months of aging which made me a little wary as the only cheese I'm used to being able to spread on bread is cream cheese which by it's very name sounds delightful and makes perfect sense for it to be a spreadable substance. Drawing my pairing knife down on the package and scoring it along the top it released a powerful scent that can only be described as a pure stench, reminiscent of socks, sweat, dead animal and sickly bodily excretions. After getting a whiff of this stench my stomach started rolling and trying to run as far away as it could, however once set on something it has to be done so after making sure my sink was clear should any bodily rejection of this thing be necessary I bit down on it and slowly chewed while trying to forget it's smell that forever lingered in the air.
Almost needless to say it wasn't the greatest cheese I've ever eaten but it also wasn't terrible, I would never recommend it for the taste but the experience of eating it is one I will not soon forget and that alone is worth a try. Now below is a photo of this innocent little substance, don't let it fool you, it looks great on camera but the camera can't convey it's scent.
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