What is it that attracts us to the further reaches of the olfactory spectrum? Why do we chase the ripest of bries, the strongest of cheddars, or the goat cheeses that smell most strongly of the barnyard? Is it part of a search for the new, for the next thing in the line, for something a little bit more than the last thing we tasted? Or is it just that for some of us, our taste buds are only sufficiently stimulated by only the most pungent of flavors?

Please forgive m e this momentary flight of fancy. I don’t have the answers to these questions, which is why they are of interest. On May 27th, the results for Britain’s Smelliest Cheese competition were announced, following a competition held during the Royal Bath and West Show which featured over a thousand different cheeses from around the British Isles. The judging panel was made up of a small group of professional tasters and five children, supposedly chosen for the sensitivity of their noses.

The winner? Well, described as smelling like a sports team’s locker room, the winner was declared to be the appropriately named Stinking Bishop, a cheese from Gloucestershire in the west of Britain. The name comes not from its odor, from the variety of pear that is used to make the pear cider in which the cheese is washed (tangent – the pear is named for a famously drunk and ornery farmer who once shot a kettle when it took too long to boil).

Now, as luck would have it, I have tried this cheese. A few years back, I came across some in a local delicatessen, and, knowing of its reputation, I decided that I was too much of an opportunity to pass up, and I bought a small slice. Now, I have tried a number of cheeses from around the world, and I’d never found any of them to be too much for me. Stinking Bishop, on the other hand, had my number. It smells like a teenage boy’s bedroom. Which has been kept airless and sealed up. For ten years. I did actually gag when I tried to eat it. Whilst it in no way shares a similar taste, or smell, the only other thing that has provoked this reaction in me is the durian fruit. And I managed to eat that, eventually.

One thing it does share with the durian fruit is that the smell lingers like nobody’s business. I made the mistake of first putting the cheese in with my shopping, and then in my fridge. It took a couple of weeks to get the smell out, and, it’s fair to say, I was less than popular with my roommates for more than a few weeks. Still, you have to try it, no?

I’ve not actually had the dubious pleasure to partake of what is officially the world’s smelliest cheese, Le Vieux Boulogne of France; Stinking Bishop is easily the most disgusting thing I’ve ever had in my mouth. What about you, though? Have you ever tried anything that’s so extreme that you just couldn’t keep it down?