My sis sent me a link to the Disgusting Food Museum in Stuttgart, which apparently has been around for several years. The idea originated with a museum of the same name in Malmö.
Could be fun to explore on a visit. Apparently, Berlin’s got one as well. Might hafta check it out next summer 
I wonder if the locations all showcase the same foods. There’s likely a high number of these foods that inspire fear and apprehension in most people, so would make sense. But I imagine that maybe certain foods sound more or less scary and “disgusting” depending on your local cuisine and palate too.
Stinky, rotting food that is so strong even animals gag - probably universal (that’s looking at you, surstromming). LIVE maggoty cheese isn’t high on most people’s list. But I know a lot of tourists vising Peru who tried the cuy and didn’t find it bad at all.
I tried fried crickets on my last visit to Vietnam. I’m not rushing to try them again but they weren’t as bad as I initially thought they might be.
And I’ve had stinky tofu. It’s quite common to find at restaurants throughout Taiwan, China and HK, but there are varying grades of stinkiness and fermentation. I’ve had ones that were pretty mild and they taste good in how they were prepared. There are some places that are noted for having super-fermented, and made especially strong that I wouldn’t rush to try.
Durian has a lot of very ardent fans! I can’t take the smell at all, but my mom loved them and they are a popular flavor in a lot of Chinese and Southeast Asian desserts, sweets and pastries.
There must be an element of cultural conditioning as well as individual perception. In my original cultural heritage, a pickled preparation of dried fish (shutki) is considered a heavenly delicacy. But right across the border there are people of similar heritage who think it is an abomination, only fit for consumption by poor country bumpkins. But my mum, despite being nominally a poor country bumpkin who should adore shutki, will start retching if she smells any fishy odours. She’s the outlier in the family.
I had fried grasshoppers and worms at the Thai park in Berlin. The grasshoppers tasted like & had a similar mouthfeel to potato chips, the worms had an unpleasant bitter aftertaste.
My PIC and I bumped into two Mexican brewery owners in Philly at a dive bar once, who were happily munching away at spicy chapulines & were nice enough to offer us some. The bartender’s reaction was stunningly unprofessional and — dare I say — childish.
I have tried Durian several times over the years and the durian they serve in Bangkok’s Chinatown now is a milder version of what they used to serve in the South of Thailand. I really like the creamy, milder new version better. It may be that durian gets milder as it “airs out” because I usually got durian freshly cut from the fruit in the south of Thailand but in BKK I got it wrapped in those styrofoam containers… Not sure.
Ditto here for fried insects in general. Tried them in Cambodia (see my icon)–they were crispy and spicy when prepared. However, no one else on the tour tried them, and we forever became “the ones who ate the bugs”.
I bet a lot of them had no problem with soft-shell crabs.
Or lobster or shrimp.
But you peel the shell off lobsters and shrimp before you eat them (unless you’re Madison in SPLASH).
Same bugs tho 
I’ve traveled a bit, and certainly like trying different foods, even the ones that many find…mmmmmm…controversial.
Love durian.
Have certainly had my fair share of fried crickets and grubs…kinda tasty actually.
Have eaten balut, but not interested in having it again. It’s the consistency more than the taste that bothered me.
One thing I do NOT like and won’t eat again is natto.
I love natto! But my fermented slime tolerance is very high. I think the only thing I’d write off altogether is squid intestines. That’s a one and done.
My neighbours went to South Korea and showed us a video of the eating live octopus. That’s something I would not be able to participate in.
I am with you on that.
I am a pretty happy carnivore/omnivore, but octopus are so smart and curious that it makes it hard for me to eat them. So I stick with calamari.
On edit: Yeah, the live part would be a big deal killer!!!
I think it might be more the fact that they were alive, not that they were octopi — but no doubt @medgirl can chime in to clarify.
Pigs are terribly smart, too, but unfortunately also very tasty. I feel the same way about octopus.
Yes, I found the live bit disgusting. I do appreciate the fact octopodes (a very pedantic colleague of mine insists this is the correct plural for octopus) are intelligent creatures, but I have been known to enjoy them in cooked form.
Right on the plural. Forgot it’s a Greek word.
Lastly, we can’t help that we’re top of the food chain. If octopodes were that smart, why do they keep getting caught & cooked? 
By catching and cooking the dumb ones, we’re thinning the herd and improving the species!
Strange coincidence, that a random recommended post on Instagram actually showed the person going to the Disgusting Food Museum in Germany (I assume it’s the Stuttgart location @linguafood mentioned). In addition to showing you the food, history, culture, etc. they had stuff for you to smell and taste. What’s funny is that they provide you with a ticket that doubles as a vomit bag upon entry. 
And yes, the video showed that in use on a few occasions.
