hahaha ... sorry, i'm not laughing at your discomfort. but I bet he was korean and he had a bag of dried squid - a common and tasty snack. but very smelly!
Ew, that's the one thing guaranted to make me upchuck on a flight. I'm allergic to seafood, and the smelly stuff is enough to trigger my gag reflex.
The only recent offender I had was a woman with a fragrant sandwich that smelled like day old canned tunafish that had been soaked in vinegar. I reached for the bag on more than one occasion, but thankfully managed to restrain myself.