When I think of “exotic” foods, I tend to think of China, where animals and plants of every variety (even endangered species) are eaten for their medicinal properties. Of course, Japan also has exotic foods and I’d like to share in this thread a few of my experiences eating them, and I hope others will too. Admittedly, much that was exotic to me when I first arrived in Japan, no longer appears exotic after decades of residence, but just a part of Japanese cuisine, though there are still many foods that I find unusual. I’m sure other FTers who reside in Japan, and even overseas “foodie” FTers who often visit Japan for culinary adventures, have even more unusual experiences to share.
Grilled Suzume (Sparrow)
In my first year in Japan, I was taken to a yakitori joint in Nihonbashi and my friend suggested I order grilled
Suzume (whole grilled sparrow), a delicacy of that particular restaurant. I was surprised to see the whole bird (head, wings, and all) and was told to eat the whole thing as is. It was so long ago that I don’t remember its taste though I do remember that it was boney with not much meat, and not as pleasant to eat as meat-only skewers.
Grilled sparrow
Fugu (Puffer Fish) Sashimi
Fugu fish gets a lot of media attention as an exotic and potentially fatal Japanese delicacy due to the neurotoxins in the fish’s liver, but in reality, it is a fairly common dish served as sashimi,
shabu shabu,
karaage, or cooked in
nabe, but despite the media hype, it is quite safe to eat, especially when prepared at restaurants by chefs licensed to prepare it. Fugu can even be bought online and in supermarkets. What really makes it exotic is the potential fatal outcome of eating it due to its poison.
“According to the Japan National Health Ministry a total of 295 people became ill and 3 died after eating fugu on 204 occasions between 2008 and 2018. Almost 80% of these poisonings happened in peoples’ homes when they prepared the fish themselves.”
https://medium.com/japonica-publicat...u-4757a027d63a
A friend in Tokyo took me to a fugu restaurant back in the 80s and ordered fugu sashimi. I was excited and found the fugu very beautifully presented but had a bland and uninteresting taste. Given that, and its high price, I never felt a desire to order it again on my own, but I did eat it again at a friend’s home many years later.
In Japan, people who have accidentally consumed the
fugu’s poison can exhibit all the symptoms of death while still being conscious and can revive many hours or days later in the morgue.
An interesting side note: The poison of puffer fish has been found to be an ingredient in so-called “zombie powder” used by Voodoo priests in Haiti.
https://science.howstuffworks.com/sc...es/zombie1.htm
Fugu sashimi
Ikizukuri (Preparation and eating of live seafood)
Back in the 90s, I was taken to a restaurant in the Ginza by the Japanese distributor of the company I then worked for. There were several fish tanks located at the entry and behind the sashimi/sushi counter of the restaurant, which is not unusual in Japan. We sat down at the counter and because I was the guest, my host ordered for me. The chef pulled a fish out of the tank behind him and proceeded to cut the fish while still alive directly in front of me, slicing its meat into small pieces that were served still wriggling on my wooden plate with the whole fish head cut off and still breathing. My heart sank, and my stomach turned, as I had never seen a dismembered but still living fish before and did not wish to see it suffer. Still, I hid my feelings as best I could and ate it because of the importance of the business relationship, and in Japan, since this was an expensive delicacy and I was the guest, it would have been bad form to reject it. I later learned that
Ikizukuri is banned in certain countries.
These are just a few of my experiences with Japan’s “exotic” foods and cuisines. What are your experiences?