This made me jump the first time I saw it: sushi that's so fresh it's still alive!
This type of food is called Ikezukuri, or the preparation of sashimi (raw seafood) from a living animal. Wikipedia explains:
Ikizukuri usually begins with the customer selecting, from a tank in the restaurant, the animal (shrimp, octopus, lobster, assorted fish) they wish to eat. The chef, almost always a sashimi chef who has undergone years of training and apprenticeship, takes the animal out of the tank and filets and guts it, but without killing the animal, which is served on a plate, sliced, with the heart still beating.
Needless to say, this food preparation method is controversial. Many people consider ikezukuri as inhumane and needlessly cruel, whereas aficionados claim that the flavor, quality, and freshness justified the procedure.
Hit play or go to Link [YouTube], warning: disturbing images - via Random Good Stuff
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.
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.
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.
Seriously, though, it's stuff like this that gives Western imperialism a good name.
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).
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.
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.
The difference is, um, one is safely edible and one is crap?
Things eat things - it's part of life. Get over it
Actually they're not the same people, those people are (mostly) long dead.
You've obviously never been to Japan
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.
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!.
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.
Fish feel pain
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)
That kid is going to bury someone in a desert someday and be comforted by the memory of that breathing fish head.