Maggie's Farm

"It smelled like a mix of aged road kill and aged wet dirty socks"

Because, essentially it is. The stink is a combination of the dead bacteria and the live bacteria body waste. An enormous number of human volunteers before us tested foods and either lived or died because of them. So we know that (most) stinky foods that we eat are edible. But something Ann Landers wrote many years ago stuck with me. A reader had become sick from something they ate and was asking Ann for advice. And Ann said if it doesn't smell good don't eat it. There is a reason god put your nose right above your mouth. My food advice is if you go to a potluck or a picknick that it is probably safe to eat most things when they are first put on the table but after a few hours avoid prepared foods and anything that should be refrigerated. Time is not on your side with most food. So I will go back for a handful of chips but no dip.