I remember that time when I was little that my mother cooked this unfamiliar side dish, it is not favorable with its smell nor with its looks. You wouldn't like it if you would taste it the first time but I have learned to like it and now it is one of my favorite foods, it is the fermented rice with fish.
At first as I smelled it I wouldn't even touch it but since my mother is eating it I tried it and still didn't liked it. After sometime she cooks it again and I experimented in eating it like my mother does, having it with some fried fish and rice. Then I didn't noticed it I finished my meal and thought it wasn't bad afterall.
I have learned to have an acquired taste for the fermented rice with fish. Among with my siblings I was only the one in my family who really liked it very much and would ask my mother to buy me in the market where we buy our daily foods.
The fermented rice with fish or shrimp tastes not fishy but sour and yummy (for me) but not all have the same quality as some just tastes like vinegar (the maker cheated with adding vinegar) and some are not good-tasting while some are overly fermented which is not good since it is very sour and hard to eat even though you will eat it with rice.
My favorite is that one that is made from tilapia or the snakehead fish because I prefer their flavor unlike with other types of freshwater fishes or shrimps. Aside from the fermented rice and fish I like the fermented green mangoes, mustard greens, or even Kimchi if I would put some sugar before I eat it, it is all delicious and healthy too.