Cruel Delicacy: Live Sushi

1. gert
   October 22nd, 2007 at 4:03 am

   unnecessary. decadent. sick.

2. VMC
   October 22nd, 2007 at 4:08 am

   Anyone else think, “It’s okay to eat fish, cause they don’t have any feelings.”?

3. Ally
   October 22nd, 2007 at 7:59 am

   That is really awful, it’s bad enough that we eat them, why add to the equation by eating them live???

4. shadowfirebird
   October 22nd, 2007 at 8:35 am

   Ew.

5. Anita
   October 22nd, 2007 at 8:45 am

   What’s really bad is the folks sitting around laughing at the situation. I don’t have any problem with people eating meat/fish/poultry/etc, but teaching your kids that its a funny situation isn’t a whole lot better than sticking firecrackers in a fish’s mouth …

6. Retrokatze
   October 22nd, 2007 at 10:27 am

   Needless cruelty for a difference in flavour that’s imagined anyway. Fish may not feel pain the way we do but they still get stressed when something’s wrong with them.

7. Justin
   October 22nd, 2007 at 11:31 am

   That’s nuts!

   I don’t think I could handle that well. Whenever I prepare fish I always make sure to kill them as quickly as possible. It’s probably just some illogical anthropomorphic thing, but I can’t help but feel bad for them when they are flailing around.

8. Jesse
   October 22nd, 2007 at 11:47 am

   Americans, and Europeans for that matter, are complete pussies and want to spread their pussification all over the globe. If you don’t like it, don’t order it.

9. biltmore
   October 22nd, 2007 at 11:58 am

   Mmmmm … oishii desu ne?

10. c-dub
    October 22nd, 2007 at 12:11 pm

    I think in Jesse’s p****fication debate, I’d prefer to come down squarely on the side opposite Jesse. No matter what side that happens to be.

11. Andy
    October 22nd, 2007 at 12:13 pm

    @Jesse,
    How does not wanting to torture a fish so you can see it’s head flopping around while you eat it make you a pussy?

    The fact is, this is completely unnecessary. There is NO WAY that it would make a difference in freshness or texture, or any other sensory difference, if the fish was alive or dead. It takes all but two seconds to kill it before you start chopping it up. In fact, it’s probably hard to fillet while it’s alive, so you’d save in preparation time and be done quicker, hence a fresher fish.

    Stupid shit.

    To clarify, I am in no way a vegetarian but I prefer if we could kill our food as quick and painlessly as possible. This is just ludicrous.

12. Dan
    October 22nd, 2007 at 1:03 pm

    I’ve had this served to me, accidentally, in Forest Hills, NY. There’s a sushi restaurant there the offers live scallops. I didn’t know this, and ordered scallops, because I love (regular) scallop sushi.

    The chef informed me he was out of scallops, but he did have razor clams. OK, I said, sure, that sounds fine. While I was waiting, I got to thinking: Razor clams are nothing like scallops. Why is he offering them to me as a substitute? Checking the menu, I saw their specialty was live scallops.

    Just about then, the chef put a plate in front of me with two squirming clams on it.

    They were delicious.

13. matt
    October 22nd, 2007 at 1:56 pm

    There’s no way that tastes different then if it was just beheaded a few minutes prior.

14. Jess
    October 22nd, 2007 at 2:26 pm

    It’s funny that this makes people so angry, and yet most americans eat meat that comes from animals who were not only killed in a less-than-humane way, but who spent their entire lives in totally miserable conditions. I’d rather be a fish that gets eaten alive but gets to swim free for most of my life than a chicken who is debeaked and kept in a cage barely bigger than my body for my entire life.

15. AK-00
    October 22nd, 2007 at 5:36 pm

    Ah, yes… “Fish don’t feel things the way we do.” Wasn’t so long ago we said the same thing about anybody who wasn’t white. It’s a transparent justification for expedient ethical laziness. In other words, it’s easier and more comfortable to pretend they aren’t suffering than it is to admit they are, but that we don’t care.

    Seriously, though, it’s stuff like this that gives Western imperialism a good name.

16. Mathieu
    October 22nd, 2007 at 8:15 pm

    “In fact, it’s probably hard to fillet while it’s alive, so you’d save in preparation time and be done quicker, hence a fresher fish.”

    Actually, that would devalue the delicacy. The difficulty and time spent is part of what makes it a luxury - and it is. It’s not regular Japanese fare. That’s why they’re smiling and enjoying it - it’s unusual.

    I had twitching sashimi lobster in Sydney once. Kind of freaked me out a bit. But I would still give this one ago After all it’s food. Remember, fish eat live fish too (in the wild).

17. Silveira Neto
    October 23rd, 2007 at 12:10 am

    Disturbing

18. lisa
    October 23rd, 2007 at 12:12 am

    the japanese are the cruelest, wackiest people on earth

19. malthusan
    October 23rd, 2007 at 1:31 am

    I’ve had it, and it was the best sashimi I’ve ever had. True, I was a bit freaked out when I reached for a piece and the fish twitched on the platter, but I got over it pretty quickly. I was more disturbed by the fish-eye custard.

20. L
    October 23rd, 2007 at 3:14 am

    “The difficulty and time spent is part of what makes it a luxury - and it is. … That’s why they’re smiling and enjoying it - it’s unusual.”

    Interesting reasoning, Mathieu. So if a constipated person craps on a plate, people should line up to enjoy the delicacy? It’s difficult to make, takes a long time, and is an unusual thing to eat. What’s the difference?

    Just because you can put something in your mouth and swallow it (and have it come out the other end without it completely destroying your innards) doesn’t mean that it should be eaten.

21. Nora
    October 23rd, 2007 at 7:39 am

    ugh completely needless suffering. I’ve seen something similar with fish. Only instead of slicing it alive, they fry the body while the head is still alive. Gross gross gross.

    I hear theres some sort of facial paracite worm people can get from fresh sushi. I can only hope people that do this get one HELL of a nasty case of face worms.

22. Sid Morrison
    October 23rd, 2007 at 7:49 am

    Does it really surprise people that the Japanese cooked (yuk yuk) this up? Come on folks, these are the same people who brought us similar tales of their skilled blademanship (except on people) in Nanking and Bataan.

23. dan
    October 23rd, 2007 at 9:27 am

    by all these hypocrites’ logic ALL the fauna in the world is so EVIL!OMG THEY EAT ANIMALS THAT ARE ALIVE!!

24. kerozene
    October 23rd, 2007 at 4:32 pm

    Dunno what message you were shooting for Dan, but I think you failed.

25. Mathieu
    October 23rd, 2007 at 7:25 pm

    “Interesting reasoning, Mathieu. So if a constipated person craps on a plate, people should line up to enjoy the delicacy? It’s difficult to make, takes a long time, and is an unusual thing to eat. What’s the difference?”

    The difference is, um, one is safely edible and one is crap?

    Things eat things - it’s part of life. Get over it

26. Mathieu
    October 23rd, 2007 at 7:30 pm

    “Does it really surprise people that the Japanese cooked (yuk yuk) this up? Come on folks, these are the same people who brought us similar tales of their skilled blademanship (except on people) in Nanking and Bataan.”

    Actually they’re not the same people, those people are (mostly) long dead.

    You’ve obviously never been to Japan

27. Sid Morrison
    October 24th, 2007 at 8:07 am

    @Mathieu-
    The fact that most of the WWII era Japanese war criminals are now dead is irrelevant. Such worship of blade mastery is a part of Japanese culture. Ikizukuri is NOT something that was just dreamed up recently by these guys’ descendants; rather, it’s been around for decades, if not many generations. The cited Wiki article mentions the practice was featured in Ian Fleming’s 1964 novel “You Only Live Twice”. By no means were most of the sword & bayonet “practice on people” guys dead at that point — rather they were leading Japan’s rebirth as an economic superpower (and eating out a lot). While the Japanese may have civilized themselves in a lot of ways since M-cArthur forced a Western-style constitution upon them, retaining this bit of heritage is a nod to their brutal Bushid? past.

28. Sid Morrison
    October 24th, 2007 at 8:12 am

    That should say “Bushido” (with a bar over the long o), but the editor choked on the diacritic.

29. Donnie
    October 24th, 2007 at 5:29 pm

    “I’ve had this served to me, accidentally, in Forest Hills, NY. There’s a sushi restaurant there the offers live scallops. I didn’t know this, and ordered scallops, because I love (regular) scallop sushi.

    The chef informed me he was out of scallops, but he did have razor clams. OK, I said, sure, that sounds fine. While I was waiting, I got to thinking: Razor clams are nothing like scallops. Why is he offering them to me as a substitute? Checking the menu, I saw their specialty was live scallops.

    Just about then, the chef put a plate in front of me with two squirming clams on it.

    They were delicious.”

    Lol, thats Awesome, great story!.

30. Nancii
    October 26th, 2007 at 10:55 pm

    *pukes*

    Everytime I see a fish open.. its gills.. and you see weird scales.. inside.

    It makes me really sick, and have an urge to save the poor fish.

31. Sam
    February 7th, 2008 at 7:57 pm

    The Japanese are just plain sick people.

32. dia733
    March 25th, 2008 at 11:45 am

    http://www.firstscience.com/site/editor/024_ramblings_05092003.asp

    Fish feel pain

33. Mizu
    April 22nd, 2008 at 8:26 pm

    Huh.
    I think I’d try it… if I could.

    I’m not so sure I’d be able to stomach it, but I sure as hell would try.

    As for the ethical issues being debated — my opinion is that it’s really just part of the cycle of life. We eat food. Those fish ate living things before they were… ehm… “killed” and fed to us. I will agree that it is slightly barbaric, but not everyone will rip the throat out of a chicken just because they’re dying of hunger — some just like the rush of the kill.

    And that, I think is why we do this. Because there is nothing like going back to the way things once were and eating as though not everything has to be perfect to all standards.

    I’m sort of beside the point, but, I guess my point is that it’s just a different way of eating.
    Some people look down on others for killing an animal with their bare hands.
    Some people just like the taste of blood.

    (for the record, I AM a vegetarian)

34. Sirus
    April 19th, 2009 at 5:16 am

    Even if eating a farm-raised animal is just as cruel as this, people should not eat live things purely for psychological reasons.

    That kid is going to bury someone in a desert someday and be comforted by the memory of that breathing fish head.

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