Swedish cuisine is known around the world for its Swedish meatballs, crayfish parties and smorgasbord lunches, but there’s one traditional delicacy that rarely makes it beyond the country’s border.

More than a decade ago, NPR's Ari Shapiro attempted to eat a fermented Swedish herring called surströmming, one of the most pungent foods in the world. It did not go well. Twelve years later, on a ...