Pology Magazine  -  Adventures in Travel and World Culture.
Travel and World Culture   
Image: Japan
  Photo: Rob Law
Image: Japan
  Photo: Juergen Sack

Fatty Tuna Eye Socket: Culinary Adventures in Japan (cont.)

Chigaimasu yo! No, no, that’s not right. One moment please.” Now we’re getting somewhere. Miho has reached into her purse and pulled out an electronic dictionary. She punches the keys, scrolls, knits her brow, scrolls some more and sounding a little unsure reveals, “sea cucumber!?”

“Christ! A SEA CUCUMBER! Aren’t they poisonous?”

I never found out the answer to this question but since I’m still alive to tell the tale over a year later, if it was poisonous, it must have been skillfully prepared. Speaking of poisonous delicacies requiring skilful preparation, many of you will have no doubt heard of fugu (puffer-fish). Chefs who prepare it are required to undergo special training and are certified under the Japanese government’s Food Sanitation Law. Fugu restaurants are usually distinguishable to those unable to read Japanese by display tanks full of the thick-lipped, bug-eyed fish, often piled in so thick that they can barely move (not that they seem to be trying) as they await certain death. These restaurants offer set menus that are a celebration of the many ways fugu can be prepared. Our fugu bonanza featured it marinated, fried, boiled and, of course, raw. The highlight was the sashimi, which was sliced so thinly that it was transparent, allowing the designs on the plate to be visible through the flesh. The only part of the meal in which the star ingredient didn’t make an appearance was desert.

Upon trying the appetizer of marinated cartilaginous fugu skin, I swear I felt a bit of numbness in my mouth and had an elevated heart rate. For just a moment I thought I was done for, ingloriously felled by a puffer fish, but looking around the table at my happily munching companions and hearing their approving cries of “oishii desu ne” (delicious isn’t it) I realized that I was probably just psyching myself out and kept on eating. Once I got over my little scare, I found fugu to be quite tasty, though not so much better than really fresh red snapper as to justify the expense (about fifty dollars per person, without drinks, which I was told was really cheap).

These were just a couple of many run-ins with unusual Japanese foods. A few times I found something that I really enjoyed from the first taste, like the fatty meat that encircles a tuna’s eye, or tako-wasabi, raw octopus with finely diced fresh Japanese horseradish. Other foods, I developed a taste for after repeated exposure. Natto, the infamous fermented soybeans of the bubbling, stringy goo and the smell of thrice worn gym socks, belongs to this category. I think the reason for my initial aversion to natto was that I tried it mixed with raw squid and okra, which has to be one of the slimiest concoctions ever devised. Incidentally, It’s delicious with spicy kim chee. A couple of times I was disgusted retroactively by something I had eaten, like when a friend and I found out after the fact that we had just downed several morsels of grilled pig’s heart (we knew we were ordering hearts, we just thought they belonged to chicken).

If you find yourself in Japan, try everything you can get your chopsticks on. Eat first; ask questions later. You may find some unusual things you really enjoy or, at worst, you’ll come away with a good story to gross out your more culinary prudish friends with.

 

Page 2 of 2   Previous Page

 

All contents copyright ©2005 Pology Magazine. Unauthorized use of any content is strictly prohibited.