fermented shark shots

Sal is now in London (!!!!) and to start his adventure off properly I took him to a lovely multi-national dinner party hosted by a couple of my coursemates. The hosts are both from Iceland, and introduced us to a local favorite treat called Hákarl - small chunks of fermented shark. It's fermented, she explained, because sharks don't pee and thus the ammonia gets all trapped in the meat and you have to let it out via decomposing.
Wait, it gets better.
We were to follow a bit of shark with a shot of 'black death', or Brennivín - a type of schnapps so nicknamed because it was about the only safe thing to drink during the Black Plague.
The shark was kind of tasty for the first few seconds - but then something terrible started happening with my nose. Suddenly shark was everywhere - I could see, hear, and smell in shark. I took the shot of black death. It made me brave. I took some more shark. The room started to swim.

You know what we brought to the party? Chili. Or, rather, what Sal calls 'white people chili.' He toned the spice level down to accommodate the Nordic/European delicate palate. That was a mistake. I'm bringing stuffed cayenne peppers next time. These people are badder than we ever imagined.