The exhibition brings together more than 80 unusual and polarizing foods from 35 countries that may look more at home in a dare than on a dinner table.
How far would you go for a taste of something new?
ADVERTISEMENT
SCROLL TO CONTINUE WITH CONTENT
Hong Kong diners will soon be able to put their stomachs — and preconceptions — to the test as Sweden’s Disgusting Food Museum makes its local debut at AIRSIDE in Kai Tak.
Running from September 29 to November 26 at GATE33 Gallery, the exhibition brings together more than 80 unusual and polarizing foods from 35 countries, ranging from fermented delicacies to insects and ingredients that may look more at home in a dare than on a dinner table.
The concept originated in Malmö, Sweden, and has since traveled to cities including Los Angeles, Berlin, Bordeaux and Taipei, attracting more than 500,000 visitors.
This time, Hong Kong gets its own version, complete with localized scents, interactive displays and a tasting bar for those willing to go beyond simply looking.
And yes, every visitor gets a vomit bag.
A menu designed to divide opinion
Among the exhibition’s best-known items is surströmming, Sweden’s famously pungent fermented herring, whose smell has earned it a reputation well beyond Scandinavia.
Iceland’s hákarl, or fermented shark, offers another test for the nose, while Sardinia’s casu marzu, a traditional sheep’s milk cheese associated with live larvae, pushes the idea of fermentation even further.
Elsewhere, visitors will encounter Peruvian frog juice, Mongolian sheep eyeball juice and Rocky Mountain oysters — the deceptively elegant name given to deep-fried bull testicles in parts of the United States.
But the exhibition is not simply a gallery of culinary shock value.
+2
Across five thematic zones — Field Feast, Curious Cures, Scraps & Scents, Choice & Custom, and The Last Supper — it looks at why certain foods provoke disgust in one culture while being considered familiar, comforting or even desirable in another.
That question becomes the more interesting part of the experience: how much of taste is instinct, and how much is learned?
Hong Kong gets its own sensory twist
For the local edition, the Swedish team has worked with Hong Kong creative collaborators to adapt the exhibition layout and interactive elements for the AIRSIDE space.
Local perfumers have also recreated scent profiles for selected foods, adding an olfactory layer to displays that might otherwise be experienced only through photographs, models and videos.
The result is meant to make visitors react before they have even taken a bite.
For those who want to go further, the Tasting Bar offers the real challenge.
Under staff guidance, visitors can sample selected items that may include cricket snacks, Vegemite, sauerkraut juice, surströmming and fermented shark.
Those who make it through the experience can earn the tongue-in-cheek title of “Tastebud Warrior.”
From disgust to the future of food
Behind the theatrical presentation sits a broader question about what we may be eating in the decades ahead.
The exhibition also turns its attention to alternative sources of protein, including crickets and mopane worms, as well as emerging food technologies such as cultivated meat.
These ingredients may still feel unfamiliar to many diners, but the exhibition uses them to explore how eating habits could change as concerns around food security and environmental impact grow.
That shift — from curiosity and discomfort to reflection — is ultimately what gives the museum more substance than its name might suggest.
A dish that seems impossible to one visitor may be an everyday food to someone else. And something dismissed today could, under different circumstances, become part of tomorrow’s diet.
For Hong Kong’s adventurous eaters, the exhibition offers an unusual chance to discover where their own limits lie.
Disgusting Food Museum – Hong Kong Dates: September 29, 2026 – November 26, 2026 Opening Hours: 12nn – 8pm (Mon to Thu) 11am – 9pm (Fri to Sun & Public Holidays) Venue: GATE33 Gallery, 3/F, AIRSIDE, Kai Tak, Kowloon, Hong Kong Ticketing Platforms: Klook, Maoyan, UUTIX
