Dancing squid bowl: Could you eat this? (Yes, it's what you think and yes, there's a video)

The Herald Sun (Australia) ^ | July 22, 2011 | Staff

[Stoat]

TAKE one squid, cut off its head and watch the rest dance on a bed of rice and salmon roe. Eat. Or not.

This Japanese delicacy known as odori-don or “dancing squid rice bowl” is a variation on traditional squid sashimi and uses soy sauce to create the disturbing illusion of bringing a dead squid back to life.

YouTube user Richard Fan shot the above video on a visit to Hokkaido’s Ikkatei Tabiji restaurant and explains that sodium in the soy causes neurons to fire, making the muscles twitch.

The dish comes with the head cut into small sashimi slices and the rest joins as a side plate once the “performance” is complete.

Mr Fan said the squid was completely motionless before the sauce was poured on and was definitely “dead at the time of serving”.

This controversial method of preparing sashimi while it’s still alive is known as ikizukuri, and is banned in Australia.

(edit)

[RC one]

and they consider us the barbarians.

[thecabal]

That’s a little too intense for me!

[Roccus]

No, but I’ve seen clam on the half shell curl slightly from lemon juice right before I’ve slurped them.

[goat granny]

Never heard one scream, but had to get 3 sheets to the wind to get the first one down....it was tasty and caught that very morning in the Chesapeake bay. The oysterman sat in the back yard and shucked them for a party my niece’s after wedding reception party after the reception for about 50 people. They were really good, the juice in the shell was delicious...

[PLMerite]

Oh. I thought it was going to be a talent contest, like “America’s Next Great Cephalopod.”

[Misterioso]

Just bring me a PB & J and a glass of milk.

[sayuncledave]

That is NOT the way to play with your food.

[giotto]

I must be a Buddhist at heart, because I can’t stand the thought of cruelty to any creature on God’s earth. Sure, I’ll swat a fly, but I would never torture it or cause it to die a slow painful death. And yes, I know the squid was quickly killed by having its head removed, but how do we know the body is not still feeling the pain, or the head feeling phantom pain? People have really strange ideas about what they consider funny.

[Cronos]

calamari! Yummy!

[Cronos]

Wow. Knowing that it's still alive for a while in my stomach before it dies from the gastric juices would make me think of the movie "Alien".

It would make me think of the Sarlacc from Star Wars! I would never eat an alive animal -- it's wayy too cruel..

[Cronos]

which french dish is that?

[Cronos]

good point. But I wouldn’t eat live oyster either.

[Cronos]

the most extreme are Jains who do not eat any animal products -- forget about meat, but no fish or eggs either. -- buddha got a lot of his ideas from Mahavira, who preceded him by 200 years, I think

[autumnraine]

Uh, I should have taken your advice.

[Big_Harry]

“Hasn’t anyone ever heard a raw oyster scream “oh noooo!” when it slides down your throat? :)”

“When it comes to eating oysters, nothing is slicker, nothing is moister... ...That’s why I like my oysters fried, then I know my oyster’s died.” author unknown

[JoeProBono]

[Vinnie]

I tried calamari..once. Didn’t like the texture, smell, taste.

Think I’ll pass on this ‘delight’.

[Vinnie]

I must be a Buddhist at heart, because I can’t stand the thought of cruelty to any creature on God’s earth.

I'm with you on that one. Some extreme criminals excluded.

[Popman]

I ate squid sushi once it was the only time ever almost tossed my cookies eating something

Gross is beyond description

[elcid1970]

“a small live bird”

IIRC, that French delicacy is an “ortolan”, smaller than a sparrow, and eaten whole while one wears a napkin over one’s head. Not for this Yank, thanks.

Anyway, this thread kind of trumps all those jokes about rare steak (”cook just enough to get rid of the moo, then have to kind of chase it off the plate”). All kinds of raw moving food.

BTW, squeezing lemon juice over a shucked clam and seeing it move merely guarantees freshness. Not the same as those yukky Asian dancing whatevers.