Stephen Colbert made a joke about lutefisk last night.

This amazes me. I was tickled pink, in fact. I have never eaten lutefisk, but maybe I would try it. I don't know. Lutefisk, for the non-Norske among us, is fish that has been cured in lye. Then it sits in a barrel for a while, then they rinse it very well, then it is cooked and served with butter.

There are two stories I have heard about the origin of this delicacy. The first one is boring. It was a good way to keep the fish edible on board ships during long sea voyages in the old days. The second story, I may have invented but it's more fun: The Vikings were raiding some village, and the villagers decided to poison their fish with lye. It didn't kill the tough, crazy Vikings, and they liked the flavor and made it their national delicacy. Please tell me if you've heard this anywhere else, it would please me if I didn't invent it.