我在美国吃过最臭的“气死”（干酪），洋人大多闻到就要掩着鼻子，不过对我来说其实没有什么，比臭豆腐差远了。
Perhaps the author is purposely using characters which have their own extreme meaning - above is what my Pleco dictionary says.
This appears at the end of an account of the "five tastes" of Chinese food, wondering if there isn't perhaps a sixth, "stinky." The example is the "stinky tofu" whose aroma befouls many a Shanghai alley, and the author finds it similarly repellant, but is also proud of having managed to eat some. I have eaten the smelliest "quisi" (cheese) in America. Western people cover their noses when they smell it but to me it was nothing - it doesn't come close to "stinky tofu." I have to agree!
