Post #4 – Fugu

Fugu
December 11, 2007

Raw fish…… the thought of eating a dead, uncooked fish scares away many.

Haunting visions of the goldfish won as a kid at third-grade school fair appear… of the day you found it floating, dead in the jar….

Chewing on raw fish must seem absolutely horrific…

At one point in time, some people will overcome their fear of trying sushi and end up acquiring a liking for it…

“but wait…. isn’t it unsafe to eat uncooked things? can’t you get sick from bacteria and microbes living in the fish?”….

i suppose, to some extent, technically it IS safer to eat cooked fish… but then again, you don’t hear of many people being hospitalized because of bad fish… i mean, come on…. if it’s really that unsafe, why are there so many sushi restaurants in LA? Ever driven down Ventura Boulevard? There are at least two dozen places serving raw fish on that street alone…. Sushi is HUGE is Japan… and the Japanese live the healthiest lifestyles on earth and have the longest average life expectancy of any country..

“…but wait, you said that eating raw fish does increase your chances of food poisoning…” …..
YES it does… especially if you eat sushi a couple times a week, chances are you will [probably] someday end up with your head in the toilet……… you know, the whole ordeal of body aches, loss of appetite, vomiting and all that other good stuff….

food poisoning does suck, but the bottom line is that you will survive….

okay………… the topic of tonight’s food blog is fugu.

What the fuck is fugu and why did i read that lame rant about the safety of sushi?

Fugu is the japanese name for Pufferfish (also known as Blowfish or Porcupinfish). It is often served raw as a delicacy.

but there’s a catch…… Fugu qualifies as the world’s most dangerous food.

By danger i don’t mean risking infection or food poisoning… Illegal in most countries, Pufferfish contains lethal amounts of the poison known as tetrodoxin, which is a neurotoxic chemical that puts cyanide to shame. Human consumption of this poison will paralyze the muscles, leaving the unfortunate fellow in a fully conscious but paralyzed state until he dies of asphyxiation…… not a pleasant sight.

In the pufferfish, only the liver and the ovaries contain this poison… the rest of the fish is perfectly safe to eat…..

In japan, a special license is required to serve fugu. To get this license chefs have to complete a three year training program where they learn the correct way to cut the fish to avoid releasing the poison… However, accidents can happen. One hundred people die each year in japan from badly prepared pufferfish.

Most of the fugu in the world is consumed in Japan, but a small share of it is exported to the United States.. as of 2005, there are about a dozen places in the entire US that have FDA permits to serve Fugu, with most of them located in New York….

This thing qualifies as the world’s most dangerous food…… Trying this is like playing a game of “Japanese Roulette.” To add to the excitement, there is no known antidote.

Knowing the dangers of Fugu, who the hell would wanna risk trying it?

hah

This afternoon, I called to confirm reservation at Restaurant Nippon in Manhattan. On Christmas Day they expect to serve a special order of Fugu Sashimi.

From what i hear, the taste of Fugu sashimi is quite mild, and ponzu sauce is generally poured onto it to give it flavor…If served correctly, the sashimi is cut to contain tiny amounts of the poison, which will cause a Novocain-like numbing of the mouth and tongue… If cut incorrectly, well… you know the story….

to be continued…. (maybe)