When faced with an unfamiliar funky scent wafting into their apartment, some neighbours in France apparently called the police to investigate the smell.

Turns out their neighbour was just cooking sambal belacan.

Neighbours called the police for "bad smell"

On April 11, one Twitter user @thezulfo responded to someone asking "what was your worst kitchen failure?"

In his viral tweet, he described his wife's experience grilling belacan in her apartment in France and how French police supposedly knocked on her door shortly after.

Apparently, the authorities had received a report from her neighbours, who complained of a "peculiar small that they've never smelled before".

They also supposedly said it smelled bad, and suggested that it could be the smell of a corpse that was left to rot for a while.

These are his tweets:

Pengalaman kawan wife aku yg tinggal kat France, dia excited dapat belacan, lepas tu grill belacan kat apartment sebab nak buat sambal belacan sekali polis ketuk pintu nak siasat sebab ada terima report dari kejiranan ada bau mayat 😂 https://t.co/b8srO3LKVu

— 𝐳 𝐮 𝐥 𝐟 𝐨® (@thezulfo) April 11, 2019

"This is my wife's experience living in France. She was excited to receive belacan so she decided to grill the belacan in the apartment and grind her own sambal belacan. Suddenly, the police knocked on the door to investigate after receiving a report from her neighbours after they complained that they smelled the smell of a corpse from the apartment."

Let me clarify, sebenarnya kejiranan tu report pasal bau busuk yg pelik, yang tak pernah dieorg bau selama ni. So dieorg report kt polis as “bau busuk, could be mayat yg lama ditinggalkan” lebih kurang macam tu la.

— 𝐳 𝐮 𝐥 𝐟 𝐨® (@thezulfo) April 11, 2019

"Let me clarify, actually the neighbourhood reported of a peculiar smell that they've never smelled before. So they reported to the police as 'It smells bad, could be the smell of a corpse that was left to rot for a while' a little bit like that."

Amused by this incident

In response, some people on Twitter were amused by this incident.

One pointed out how it was "so sad" for the smell of belacan to be compared to the smell of a rotting corpse.

bau mayat? weh sedihnya belacan kita dia samakan dengan bau mayat 😂😂

— SR (@syeerazak) April 11, 2019

"Smell of a corpse? So sad for the belacan to be compared to the smell of a rotting corpse"

Another said that dead bodies couldn't possibly smell like belacan:

Lol~ tak kan mayat dorg bau belacan kot 😅

— idgaf 🌼 (@hairileeyana) April 11, 2019

"Lol, dead bodies can't possibly smell like belacan"

@thezulfo also suggested that cooking bamboo shoots would perhaps have been more acceptable since the smell of pee "is normal in Paris":

Come to think of it, what if kau hidup kat Paris lepas tu masak rebung yg bau hancing tu. Pee smell is normal in Paris, aite? 😂

— 𝐳 𝐮 𝐥 𝐟 𝐨® (@thezulfo) April 13, 2019

"Come to think of it, what if you lived in Paris and decided to cook bamboo shoots which smells like piss. Pee smell is normal in Paris, right?"

It's all in the cultural perspective.

Top photo via Instagram hey.elin & Flickr user Irwandy Mazwir