Norse Trading Post Remnants Found In Upper Michigan

A group of amateur archaeologists searching for the remains of a native american settlements near the town of Cheboygan, on the coast of Lake Huron, have uncovered a large quantity of artifacts. They seem to be of Norse or Viking origin. A total of 194 objects, mostly made from various metals including silver, iron, copper and tin, were found on what could be the site of an ancient viking trade post, controlling the Straights of Mackinac, that leads into Lake Michigan.

The artifacts are of various origins. Swords, axes and other weapons from Scandinavian or Germanic origin, silver buttons and a balance scale thought to be from the British isles, hair combs, and knife handles made of walrus ivory and originating from Greenland or Iceland. The presence of all these goods suggests an elaborate and efficient economic system based on long-distance trade.

Archaeologists had been searching the eastern coast of North America for signs of the passage of Norsemen, ever since the discovery in 1960 of the site of l’Anse aux Meadows, in Newfoundland, Canada. Many items found on that first site had suggested that an elaborate network of trade existed between that specific Norse colony and the American continent. Such clues included the remains of butternuts, which didn’t grow on any land north of the province of New Brunswick, and therefore had to be “imported”. Other possible Norse outposts were identified in 2012, in Nanook, in the Tanfield Valley on Baffin Island, as well as in Nunguvik, on the Willows Island and the Avayalik Islands.

This is however the first Viking settlement discovered in the area of the Great Lakes, and this could bring a lot of new information concerning the actual extent of their trade network on the continent. The site is strategically located to enable control of the waterways leading to both Lake Michigan and Lake Erie, while enabling a navigable access to the St. Lawrence Basin and the Atlantic Ocean. All of the items already recovered have been transferred for further analysis to the Department of Archaeology of the University of Michigan, which has also inherited the responsibility for the site. Further research should be done over the next months to complete the survey of the site and gather all possible remaining artifacts.

I Think I Get It Now

Taking the Bible Literally

Christians play fast and loose with their sacred text. When it suits their purposes, they treat it like the literally perfect word of God. Then, when it suits their other purposes, they conveniently ignore the parts of the Bible that are—inconvenient.

Here are 11 kinds of verses Bible-believers ignore so that they can keep spouting the others when they want to. To list all of the verses in these categories would take a book almost the size of the Bible. I’ll limit myself to a couple tantalizing tidbits of each kind, and the curious reader who wants more can go to the  Skeptic’s Annotated Bible or simply dig out the old family tome and start reading at Genesis, Chapter I.

1. Weird insults and curses. The members of Monty Python may have coined some of the best insults of the last 100 years: Your mother was a hamster and your father smelt of elderberries. But for centuries the reigning master was Shakespeare: It is certain that when he makes water his urine is congealed ice. Had John Cleese or William Shakespeare lived in the Iron Age, though, some of the Bible writers might have given him a run for his money. Christians may ignore these passages, but one hell-bound humorist used them to create a  biblical curse generator.

• She lusted after her lovers, whose genitals were like those of donkeys and whose emission was like that of horses. Ezekiel 23:20 NIV
• You will be pledged to be married to a woman, but another will take her and rape her. You will build a house, but you will not live in it. You will plant a vineyard, but you will not even begin to enjoy its fruit. Your ox will be slaughtered before your eyes, but you will eat none of it. Your donkey will be forcibly taken from you and will not be returned. Your sheep will be given to your enemies, and no one will rescue them. . . . The Lord will afflict your knees and legs with painful boils that cannot be cured, spreading from the soles of your feet to the top of your head. Deuteronomy 28:30-31,35

2. Awkwardly useless commandments. The Bible is filled with do’s and don’ts. Some of them are simply statements of universal ethical principles like, do to others what you would have them do to you, or don’t lie, or don’t covet your neighbor’s possessions. But from a moral standpoint most of them are simply useless or even embarrassing. Especially if you think God could have used the space to say don’t have sex with anyone who doesn’t want you to, or wash your hands after you go to the bathroom.

• Do not wear clothing woven of two kinds of material. Leviticus 19:19
• Ye shall not round the corners of your heads. Leviticus 19:27

3. Silly food rules. The early Hebrews didn’t have an obesity epidemic like the one that has spread around the globe today. Even so, one might think that if an unchanging and eternal God were going to give out food rules he might have considered the earnest Middle-American believers who would be coming along in 2014. A little divine focus on amping up leafy green vegetables and avoiding sweets might have gone a long way. Instead, the Bible strictly  forbids eating rabbit, shellfish, pork, weasels, scavengers, reptiles, and owls. As is, Christians simply ignore the eating advisories in the Old Testament, even though they claim that edicts like the Ten Commandments and the anti-gay verses still apply. 

• All that have not fins and scales in the seas, and in the rivers, of all that move in the waters, and of any living thing which is in the waters, they shall be an abomination unto you. Leviticus 9:10
• Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother’s milk. Exodus 23:19

4. Holy hangups about genitals. God, or the Bible writers, is hung up about sexual anatomy in a way many modern Christians, fortunately, are not. In The Year of Living Biblically, the author, A.J. Jacobs,  attempts to obey Mosaic laws about menstruation. When his wife finds out what those laws actually are, she gives him the middle finger by sitting on every chair in the house.

• When a woman has a discharge, if her discharge in her body is blood, she shall continue in her menstrual impurity for seven days; and whoever touches her shall be unclean until evening. Everything also on which she lies during her menstrual impurity shall be unclean, and everything on which she sits shall be unclean. Leviticus 15: 19-20
• When men fight with one another, and the wife of the one draws near to rescue her husband from the hand of him who is beating him, and puts out her hand and seizes him by the private parts, then you shall cut off her hand. Deuteronomy 25:11-12

5. God’s temper tantrums. Modern Christians may talk about God as a loving father, or even a Jesus buddy, the kind you’d want to play golf with, but in reality Bible-God goes out of his way to be intimidating. Worse, he appears to lose control of his temper at times, lashing out like an oversized thwarted three-year-old; and his earthly representatives—including Jesus—do the same.

• Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some boys came out of the town and jeered at him. “Get out of here, baldy!” they said. “Get out of here, baldy!” He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the boys.  2 Kings 2:23-25 NIV
• Early in the morning, as Jesus was on his way back to the city, he was hungry. Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except leaves. Then he said to it, “May you never bear fruit again!” Immediately the tree withered. Matthew 21:18-22 NIV

6. Times when the Bible God is worse than Satan. In the Bible, Satan is described as a roaring lion who prowls the earth, seeking whom he may devour. But if you actually read the stories, Satan doesn’t do much other than to tempt people into disobeying the dictates of Yahweh, who acts like a heavenly dictator with borderline personality disorder. God, by contrast, professes his undying love, kindness and mercy, but then commands his minions to commit brutal atrocities when he isn’t up for it himself. Some of the stories are so bad even Hollywood, with its passion for  glorious biblical sex and violence, won’t touch them, especially the plentiful Bible stories about sexual slavery and human sacrifice.

• Now therefore, kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman who has known man intimately. But all the girls who have not known man intimately, spare for yourselves. Numbers 31:17-18
• He [Josiah] executed the priests of the pagan shrines on their own altars, and he burned human bones on the altars to desecrate them…. He did this in obedience to all the laws written in the scroll that Hilkiah the priest had found in the LORD’s Temple. Never before had there been a king like Josiah, who turned to the LORD with all his heart and soul and strength, obeying all the laws of Moses. And there has never been a king like him since. 2 Kings 23:20-25 NLT

7. Instructions for slave masters. The reality is that the Bible says much more in support of slavery than against it. Even the New Testament Jesus never says owning people is wrong. Instead, the Bible gives explicit instructions to masters and slaves. It all seems a little awkward.

• You may purchase male or female slaves from among the foreigners who live among you. You may also purchase the children of such resident foreigners, including those who have been born in your land. You may treat them as your property, passing them on to your children as a permanent inheritance. You may treat your slaves like this, but the people of Israel, your relatives, must never be treated this way. Leviticus 25:44-46 NLT
• Slaves, obey your earthly masters with deep respect and fear. Serve them sincerely as you would serve Christ.  Ephesians 6:5 NLT

8. Bizzare death penalties. If the Bible was law would you qualify for the death penalty?” There are at least 35 different offenses that earn a person capital punishment in the Bible. Hint: You probably qualify.

• If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die. Deuteronomy 21:18-21
• If a man has sex with an animal, he must be put to death, and the animal must be killed. Leviticus 20:15 NLT

9. Denigration of handicapped people. The yuck factor is probably wired into humanity at the level of instinct, a way to avoid contamination and pathogens. Our revulsion at illness and injury fuels a whole Hollywood horror industry. The Bible writers had the same instincts, but unlike modern health professionals, who have the benefit of germ theory, they had no idea what was contagious and what wasn’t, and they blurred the ideas of physical purity with spiritual purity. Modern Christians largely escape their denigration of physical handicaps. 

• No one whose testicles are crushed or whose penis is cut off shall be admitted to the assembly of the LORD. Deuteronomy 23:1 NRSV
• Whosoever … hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. For whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach: a blind man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or any thing superfluous, Or a man that is brokenfooted, or brokenhanded, Or crookback, or a dwarf, or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his stones broken … He shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because he hath a blemish; that he profane not my sanctuaries. Leviticus 21:17-23 KJV

10. Moral edicts that demand too much. If much of the Bible gets ignored because it is morally irrelevant, immoral, outdated, or factually wrong, another portion gets ignored because it sets the bar too high, like putting divorce on par with—omg—homosexuality. If you want to send a conservative Bible-believer into a froth, try suggesting Jesus was a socialist. Then, when he goes all Jehovah on you, quote from the book of Ephesians. 

• Anyone who has two shirts should share with the one who has none, and anyone who has food should do the same. Luke 3:11 NIV
• Nor should there be obscenity, foolish talk or coarse joking, which are out of place. Ephesians 5:4 NIV

11. Passages that are a waste of brain space and paper. Most of the Bible is neither horrible nor inspiring. It is simply dull and irrelevant: long genealogies written by men obsessed with racial purity; archaic stories about ancient squabbles over real estate and women; arcane rituals aimed at pleasing a volatile deity; folk medicine practices involving  mandrakes and dove’s blood; superstition that equated cleanliness with spiritual purity and misfortune with divine disfavor; outdated insider politics.

On top of that, it’s badly written, with some stories garbled and others repeated, though rarely in complete agreement about the facts. The Bible’s supposed author seemed like a  psychological mess, and I find myself irritated. With a finite number of pages to set the course of human history, this was the best that the supreme being in the universe could do?

Thank God Bible-believing Christians don’t take the good book as seriously as they claim to.

Scotland’s Attempt to Settle In the New World

Scotland is now preparing for an independence referendum. It’s a good time to look at the late 1690s when an independent Scotland launched an ambitious plan to create a colony in what is now Panama.

The story of the ill-fated Scots colony at Darien survives in the oral history of the Kuna Indians, who are the only people who have ever settled successfully in that inhospitable place.

In 1698, a fleet of five ships sailed from Leith docks near Edinburgh carrying 1,200 settlers to found a colony in Panama.

It was a place where the poet John Keats would later locate “stout Cortez” gazing at the Pacific for the first time, “and all his men looked at each other with a wild surmise, silent upon a peak in Darien”.

The Scots found a large sheltered harbor with a supply of fresh water. They went ashore and built a fort they called Fort St. Andrew.

Darien Fort

Three centuries later a trench they had dug to provide the fort with a defensive moat can still be found. It is a wide gash, filled with sea water, cut through solid coral rock by 17th Century hands, the first canal in Panama built by Scotsmen under a punishing tropical sky. It is pretty much all that is left of the colony they named Caledonia, and the town they called New Edinburgh.

Even before they made landfall, the colonists had begun to die.

Tropical diseases – malaria, yellow fever, something they called the bloody flux – cut them down even faster on land.

Somewhere beneath the tangle of jungle there is a Scottish cemetery with hundreds of graves. No-one has ever found it. The forest is too dense. Within nine months of setting sail from Leith, on a wave of national euphoria, most of the colonists were dead. A second fleet sailed in 1699, not knowing that the colony had already been attacked and burned to the ground by the Spanish, and abandoned by its few survivors.

The disaster helped end Scotland’s independence. For the colony had been funded by public subscription, an early example of a financial mania.

Public bodies, town corporations, members of parliament, landed gentry, and thousands of private citizens, from sea captains and surgeons, to druggists and ironmongers, sank their life savings into the scheme.

etween a quarter and a half of the available wealth of Scotland was spent, and lost.

And it was the role of England that was most bitterly resented.

Scotland, though an independent country, shared its head of state with England.

King William was monarch of both kingdoms. English merchants and the English parliament saw the Scottish venture as a threat to the trading monopolies they enjoyed.

King William issued a decree to all the English colonies from Canada to the Caribbean: there was to be no trade with the errant Scots and no assistance – not so much as a barrel of clean water was to be offered to them.

Few of the 3,000 Scots who went made it home. Those who did found an impoverished country which, within a decade, accepted union with England.

The Treaty of Union of 1707 included a clause in which the English government agreed to pay a sum of money to the Scots, to compensate the Darien investors for what they had lost.

The sum of money England paid to the Scots was known in the treaty as the Equivalent, or the Price of Scotland.

Darien still resonates, as Scotland prepares to vote on independence.

Pro-union Scots see in it a cautionary tale about the dangers of over-ambition. But when a nation is rethinking its future, as Scotland now is, it also looks again at its past.

Some now argue that the story reinforces the case for independence, for it proved that when Scotland and England place themselves under one government in London – as they were under King William – that government will, when the interests of the two countries conflict, inevitably favor the cause of the larger and more powerful partner.

The poet Robert Burns was scathing about the Scottish parliament that voted to accept union with England. “We’re bought and sold for English gold,” he wrote decades later, “such a parcel of rogues in a nation”.

The Richest Woman In the World

Her $29 billion mining fortune is $3 billion greater than Christy Walton’s, the widow whose inherited wealth comes from the retail giant Wal-Mart.

Gina Rinehart has ridden Australia’s resources boom like no one else, her wealth ballooning by an unparalleled $18.87 billion in the past year, according to BRW magazine’s annual rich list. That equates to $1,077,0540 every 30 minutes of every day.

The huge increase comes from foreign investment in new projects, increased production, and a recovery in the iron ore price over the past six months, BRW says.

And much more could be on the way.

“If the demand for natural resources remains strong, additional multi-billion mines are almost inevitable,” BRW Rich List editor Andrew Heathcote said.

“There is a real possibility that (Ms) Rinehart will become not just the richest woman in the world but the richest person in the world.”

That title is currently held by Mexican telecommunications mogul Carlos Slim Helu, with $69 billion.

“A $100 billion fortune is not out of the question for (Ms) Rinehart if the resources boom continues unabated,” said Heathcote.

Three of Ms Rinehart’s four children – John Hancock, Bianca Rinehart and Hope Welker – launched a lawsuit against their mother last September in a bid to oust her as trustee of the multibillion-dollar family trust established by her late father Lang Hancock.

Unlike many wealthy heirs, Ms Rinehart has not just maintained her fortune but multiplied it many times over.

When she made her debut on the rich list after her father’s death in 1992, her net wealth was estimated at $75 million. Now she is worth 386 times as much.

Internet Explorer

Afterlife

Treasures Found At Yard Sales and Thrift Shops

More often than not, one person’s garbage is also another person’s garbage. These are the exceptions to the rule.

1. ITEM: FLOYD LANDIS’S BICYCLE – $5

Sold For: $8000

Although Floyd Landis was stripped of his Tour de France title, it didn’t stop him from cycling. In 2008, a gust of wind blew one of his bikes off the vehicle transporting it. It was found on the side of the interstate and sold to Greg Estes at a garage sale.

2. 17TH-CENTURY PAINTING “PREPARATION TO ESCAPE EGYPT” – $215

Sold for: $27,630

In 2007, a German student visited a Berlin flea market and came home with a new pullout couch. When she opened it, she didn’t discover loose change or a lost remote control—she found a Venetian painting.

3. PAINTING BY ANTHONY VAN DYCK – $660

Not yet sold: Estimated at $660,000

Father Jamie McLeod, a Catholic priest, bought the painting at an antique shop, but only for its gold frame. Later, Antiques Roadshow confirmed it was the work of the top court painter of King Charles I.

4. ANDY WARHOL CHILDHOOD SKETCH – $5

Worth: Estimated $2 million

Andy Fields bought five crappy sketches at a Sin City garage sale. One picture boasted Warhol’s preteen signature.

5. 11TH-CENTURY CHINESE BOWL – $3

Sold for: $2.2 million

In 2013, a New York family bought a dish no bigger than a cereal bowl at a garage sale. The piece was actually 1000 years old!

6. ORIGINAL COPY OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE – $4

Sold for: $2.42 million

In 1989, a Philadelphia man bought a cruddy painting at a flea market. While he was investigating a tear in the canvas, the frame broke apart and out fell a small folded document. It was one of 24 surviving copies of the original 1776 Declaration.

7. ORIGINAL VELVET UNDERGROUND DEMO LP – $0.75

Sold for: $26,200

Roving a Manhattan flea market in 2002, Warren Hill found a sleeveless LP with “Velvet Underground … 4/25/66” scrawled on the label. It was the same demo disc Columbia Records had rejected!

8. ANSEL ADAMS NEGATIVES – $45

Worth, if authentic: About $200 million

Rick Norsigian bought these negatives depicting American landscapes at a Fresno garage sale in 2000. Some experts insist they belonged to Ansel Adams, while others think they were snapped by Earl Brooks.

20 Health Benefits of Sesame Seeds

Sesame seeds may be tiny, but they have huge health benefits. They were worth their weight in gold during the Middle Ages, and for many good reasons.

1. Full of Great Protein
Sesame seeds are full of high quality protein making up 20 percent of the seed with 4.7 grams of protein per ounce.

2. Helps Prevent Diabetes
Sesame seeds contain magnesium and other nutrients. Sesame oil has been shown to prevent diabetes. Sesame seed oil can also improve plasma glucose in hypersensitive diabetics

3. Reduces Blood Pressure
The same study above reveals how sesame oil lowers blood pressure in diabetics. Sesame seeds are full of magnesium – a key nutrient known to help lower blood pressure.

4. Lowers Cholesterol
Sesame helps lower cholesterol levels because it contains phytosterols which block cholesterol production. Black sesame seeds are especially high in phytosterols.

5. Good for Digestion
The high fiber content of sesame seeds helps the intestines with elimination.

6. For Healthy SkinThe high zinc content helps produce collagen, giving skin more elasticity and helping repair damaged body tissues. Regular use of sesame oil can reduce skin cancer. Learn more about Sesame Benefits For Your Skin.

7. Boosts Heart Health
Sesame seed oil can help heart health by preventing atherosclerotic lesions with the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compound known as sesamol.

8. Prevents Cancer
Sesame seeds contain anti-cancer compounds including phytic acid, magnesium, and phytosterols. Sesame seeds have the highest phytosterol content of all seeds and nuts.

9. Helps Lessen Anxiety
Sesame seeds contain the stress relieving minerals magnesium and calcium. Sesame also contains the calming vitamins thiamin and tryptophan that help produce serotonin, which reduces pain, assists moods and helps you sleep deeply.

10. Alleviate Anemia
Black sesame seeds are particularly rich in iron, so they’re highly recommended for those with anemia and weakness.

11. Protects from Radiation Damage to DNA
Sesamol in sesame seeds and sesame oil, has been shown in to protect against DNA damage caused by radiation.

12. Relieves Arthritis
The high copper content in sesame seeds prevents and relieves arthritis, and strengthens bones, joints and blood vessels.

13. Protects Your Liver from Alcohol
Sesame helps protect you from alcohol’s impact on your liver, helping you maintain healthy liver function.

14. Prevents Wrinkles
Sesame seed oil prevents harmful ultraviolet rays of the sun from damaging your skin, thus preventing the appearance of wrinkles and pigmentation.

15. Encourages Bone Health and Prevents Osteoporosis
A handful of sesame seeds contains more calcium than a glass of milk! Also the high zinc content of sesame boosts bone mineral density.

16. Help Your Baby’s Health
A sesame oil massage improves growth and improves sleep. Rashes on a baby’s skin — especially where the diaper is — can be protected with sesame seed oil by rubbing it in. As a bonus, sesame also helps reverse dry skin.

17. Good for Eye Health:
In traditional Chinese medicine there is a relationship between the liver and eyes. The liver sends blood to the eyes to support functioning. Black sesame seeds are the best for this.

18. Good for Oral Health:
Oil pulling, has been used for oral health for thousands of years in Ayurveda to reduce dental plaque, whiten your teeth and boost overall health. Learn How To Do Oil Pulling

19. Good for Respiratory Health:
The magnesium in sesame seeds helps prevent respiratory disorders by preventing airway spasm and asthma.

20. Hair Benefits:
Sesame seed oil is full of nutrients which are needed for a healthy scalp and hair. Learn more about Benefits Of Sesame For Your Hair

Sesame seeds deserve to be highly honored as an affordable food that deeply nourishes the body on many levels.

Hongeo, the Fish Meal That Smells Like a Bad Public Toilet

Fermented foods are famous for their rancid smell and flavor, but South Korea’s popular ‘hongeo’ has to be the worst of them all. It’s definitely classified as one of the grossest foods in the world, even for ‘foodie daredevils’ who like trying out weird dishes.

What makes hongeo so bad? Well, for starters, it’s made from a fish called skate, and like sharks, they have no bladder or kidneys. Its digestive waste simply oozes out of its skin in the form of uric acid. That’s why sharks and skates, if eaten at all, need to be eaten fresh. But the Koreans seem to enjoy defying the norm in this case.

What they do is leave dozens of fresh skates, a cartilage-rich fish that resembles a stingray, stacked up in a walk-in refrigerator. Then they wait, sometimes as long as a month, for the fish to acquire a distinct ‘aroma’, reminiscent of a public urinal. When the smell reaches its worst, the skates are ready to be taken out, sliced up and served raw.

When skate flesh is fermented, the uric acid in its skin intensifies into ammonia. And if you’ve ever been in direct contact with ammonia, you’ll know that its gag-inducing stench is not something you want in your mouth. The smell won’t leave you for hours after you’ve had the dish, lingering on your clothes, skin and hair, raising some serious questions from the people around you.

But for seasoned hongeo eaters, the stinking, glistening, dark-pink fish steaks are a real treat. “Some people start to crave it as soon as they smell the ammonia,” said Shin Ji-woo, who works in a seafood store in Mokpo. “There’s no need to advertise how intense the smell is. Everyone already knows.”

The origins of hongeo are not clear, but experts say it might have been invented in the days prior to refrigeration. Food that could keep for a long time without rotting was popular back then. So a clever fisherman must have discovered that skate doesn’t spoil as easily as other fish. The traditional method to make hongeo involved putting the fish on a bed of hay inside a clay pot, piling on more hay on top, and leaving it to ferment, for several days.

The store where Shin works has two refrigerators dedicated to fermenting skate. If you walk into one of them, the blast of ammonia will burn your eyes and nose, all the way down to your lungs. The skate is placed in the first refrigerator for up to 15 days at 36 degrees fahrenheit, and then moved to the second one for another 15 days, at 34 degrees. Several shops in Mokpo supply custom-fermented skate to restaurants and individuals around South Korea. Over 11,000 tons of hongeo are consumed annually in South Korea.

Let’s face it , no one is born with a natural affinity for ammonia, I’m sure it’s an acquired taste. First timers have a generally horrible experience with hongeo. They try sandwiching it with as much garnish as they can. Red pepper paste, salty mini shrimp, raw garlic, strong kimchi, chili salt, and slices of boiled pork. Yet, they squeeze their eyes shut before shoving it into their mouths, with tears streaming down their cheeks. When the gag-reflex kicks in, not many are able to hold it down.

Hongeo tastes just as awful as it smells. It has an extremely chewy texture, with spongy flesh and hard cartilage, making it difficult to swallow. Joe McPherson, who writes for the Korean food blog ZenKimchi, said: “It’s a freaking punch in the face. Like everyone else, I gagged the first time. Even with some of the most powerful flavors in the world to put up against it, it does not cover up the flavor at all.” Surprisingly, Joe is now a huge devotee of the dish.

According to fans, all it takes is four trials to become hooked on hongeo. The locals actually insist that hongeo must be eaten plain; they complain when restaurants serve it up with elaborate garnishes to disguise the taste and smell. Some believe that the strong kick of ammonia induces a non-alcoholic buzz that they can’t get enough of.

They even follow a specific technique while eating it, which is a lot like smoking, breathe in through the mouth and breathe out through the nose. This helps fight some of the smell and provides a minty sensation in the throat. Some Koreans say that their craving for hongeo is quite similar to a smoker’s desire for a cigarette. It tastes like rubbish, but you want it anyway.