Unusual Japanese cuisine: not for the faint of heart! The Japanese eat live snakes In Japan, they are sometimes eaten alive.

Many of us do not eat lobsters because they are boiled while they are still alive. If they are dead before you start cooking them, they can be quite dangerous, since the bacteria living in them multiply much faster. While some believe that the way they are cooked (in a saucepan that is slowly brought to a boil) does not hurt them at all, it is still up to the chef.

It is quite another matter when the animal is still alive at the moment when they begin to eat it. Below are ten examples of animals that are cooked and eaten alive. Attention - some of the points are difficult to understand.

10. Sannakji

Sannakji is a dish served in Korea and is probably one of the most famous items on this list due to videos circulating on the Internet. Usually served with sesame seeds and butter, the main ingredient is nakji, a small octopus. Usually, tentacles are cut from a live octopus and immediately served to the client, although sometimes the octopus is served whole.

The main "attraction" of this dish is that the tentacles are still moving when they are eaten. However, because of this, the suction cups of the tentacles are also still active and the tentacle can stick to the throat of the one who eats the octopus.

9. Sea urchins


Enter the sea, dial yourself sea ​​urchins and immediately to eat became popular in Italy, where hedgehogs are called Ricci di Mare. Due to the fact that the edible part - milk and caviar - is inside the hedgehog, there is a special device for opening the hedgehogs, although this can be done with ordinary scissors.

Sea urchins can be eaten with a spoon, but many prefer to lick them with their tongues. However, due to the fact that sea urchins are very prickly, people need to be careful when eating.

8. Odori Ebi


Odori Ebi is a type of sashimi that uses young shrimp. The shell and sometimes the head are removed from the shrimp. These pieces are sometimes deep-fried and served with the rest of the shrimp, which still moves its legs and antennae while it is being eaten. Shrimp is dipped in an alcoholic drink sake to "intoxicate" it so that the shrimp can be easier to eat. The shrimp finally dies when chewed. Odori Ebi is a rather expensive dish in restaurants due to the fact that in order for a shrimp to be alive, it must be skillfully and quickly cooked.

7. Drunken shrimp


The Drunken Shrimp dish is similar to the previous item, but this dish has its own differences. The dish is served in China, not in Japan, and the shrimp are not always alive at the time of eating. However, when the shrimp are alive, they are served in a bowl with Baijiu, an alcoholic beverage with an ethyl alcohol content of 40% to 60%.

Serving size is another difference: this recipe uses adult shrimp, not young shrimp. Plus, usually about 10 shrimp is served, which makes the dish more basic than Odori Ebi, whose portions are quite small.

The biggest difference is that shrimp are much more active. They jump, try to escape, and the client has to catch them and stuff them in their mouths before the shrimp escapes. Creatures can continue to move even after they have been swallowed - unless, of course, the person has chewed them to death. It's charming.

6. Noma Salad


Noma Restaurant, mainly operating in Copenhagen (although there have been temporary Noma restaurants in other countries recently), has been named the best restaurant in the world for three years in a row, so it is not surprising that the restaurant has its own innovative ideas.

Unfortunately, one of those ideas is their salad - their ant salad. The restaurant serves a salad in which ants crawl, which have been chilled to crawl more slowly, and which should taste like cymbopogon (lemongrass). Chilled or not, the fact remains that ants are crawling on the salad. Yes, many crops eat insects, but few ask $ 300 for an insect salad.

If someone still wants to try this "chic" dish, pour some sugar on the ground - and it will cost you much less.

5. Casu Marzu


Casu marzu is a traditional Sardinian cheese made from sheep's milk. Milk is, of course, not an animal, so you are probably wondering what it is eaten with. The answer at the moment is the most disgusting - it is eaten with larvae.

The cheese is brought to the stage of decay. Then the larvae of cheese flies (Piophila casei) are introduced into the cheese, which should reduce the fat content of the cheese. The larvae eat the cheese, soften it and release a liquid called lagrima (tear). Some people harvest the larvae before eating the cheese, but many people eat it with the larvae. Those who eat this cheese are advised to close their eyes, as the larvae may try to jump out of the cheese in an attempt to escape.

4. Sashimi with a frog


This is a relatively well-known dish, as video of how it is prepared made a lot of noise last summer. To do this, keep a frog in the kitchen until someone orders a sashimi with a frog - at this moment the frog is taken out and cut on a cold plate. Some parts used in sashimi are extracted from it, and soup is made from the rest of the frog.

Obviously, if a person orders this dish, he will not be jarred at the sight, like a living frog is gutted in front of him and cooked for dubious culinary pleasure, but this does not end there. The dish also contains the still beating heart of the frog. Despite the taste of the dish, there is a bit of craziness in it.

3. Ikizukuri


Ikizukuri (translated "cooked alive") is another type of sashimi made from fish. Typically, as with crayfish, a restaurant has a large aquarium where customers come up and choose the fish they want to eat. Even this is already unpleasant for many people, but ikizukuri goes even further in the section of cruelty.

When the fish is selected, the chef will process it and serve it almost instantly. This point differs from the others in that the meaning of the ikizukuri is that the chef cuts off a few pieces from the fish, but most of it remains intact. Moreover, parts are cut off from the fish so that the person who will eat this dish can see how the fish's heart beats and its mouth moves.

This is some kind of secret conspiracy aimed at ensuring that people become vegetarians out of guilt.

2. Ying Yang Yu

Everyone is familiar with the concept of yin and yang, which in this case means "dead and living fish." The dish is similar to the previous one, but with one big difference. The ikizukuri is sliced ​​and served alive, and the yin yang yu is completely deep-fried except for the head.

The dish is served with sweet and sour sauce- the fish is currently alive and its head is still moving. The fish is cooked very quickly so as not to damage the internal organs, and it remained alive for half an hour. The reason live food has become popular is because restaurants can now brag about how fresh their food is. This dish has generated a lot of controversy in recent years, but it is still popular among some people.

1. Oysters


Oysters came to the top of this list to at least slightly smooth out the impression from everything read earlier and because most people who eat oysters do not even realize that they are still alive (in fairness, this is difficult to determine).

Oysters are usually served alive due to the fact that they decompose much faster than other animals. Even after their shell is opened, oysters can survive for quite a long time. Oysters only begin to die when their flesh is separated from the shell - which is why they are usually sucked right out of the shell. While less dire than the previous points, eating oysters is much more common. Perhaps some of you have already eaten oysters and no one warned you about this fact - now you can decide for yourself whether there are oysters next time or limit yourself to something else.

Exotic dishes considered in different countries delicacies, sometimes completely different from what we are used to seeing on our dinner table. Let some dishes of Russian cuisine to residents of other countries may also seem strange - for example, Europeans are very surprised by such dishes as pickled cucumbers, jelly, or, say, jellied meat, but be that as it may, our culinary traditions are much more humane in relation to consumers and ... dishes. Why - you will find out from this collection.

1. Octopuses

© JEJUNG YEON-JE / AFP / Getty Images

In Korea, this delicacy is called sannakchi. The dish is a live octopus flavored with sesame seeds and sesame oil. Immediately before serving, the animal is cut into small pieces, and then still wriggling tentacles are eaten.

The muscles of the cooked octopus retain the ability to contract for some time, therefore, when eating the dish, special attention should be paid to ensure that, in its death throes, the animal with its suction cups does not catch on the tongue or mouth cavity and does not block the human respiratory tract. There have been cases when gourmets died of suffocation while carelessly eating live octopuses.

2. Frogs

Eating live octopuses is not the only culinary tradition in Asian countries that can seem disgusting. In China, Japan and Vietnam, a dish is quite popular, the main ingredient of which is a live frog. You can admire how the Japanese woman masterfully deals with this exquisite dish, but it is better not to watch the video during your lunch break - you risk ruining your appetite.

Most often, the "delicacy" is prepared from specially grown frogs, the process of its preparation is not complicated - the skin is removed from the frog, gutted, then cut into pieces and laid out on a plate with a side dish, the main decoration of the delicacy is a still living frog's head. Sometimes a beating heart is served separately as a "highlight".

3. Tarantulas

Sophisticated gourmets can hardly be surprised with delicacies made from, say, deer testicles or a bull's penis, but the British Louis Cole's gastronomic addictions will shock even experienced gluttons.

Cole regularly records videos of him eating various "dishes", including live tarantulas and scorpions. The Briton has already shot 36 videos, one more disgusting than the other, you can familiarize yourself with them on his official channel at youtube.com. However, you better not see it.

4. Bats

Asia again and again - culinary delights, the preparation and eating of which is just right to equate cruelty to animals.

The fruit bats are one of the most popular delicacies in Asian cuisine. Fruit bats, which are also called flying dogs (not to be confused with bats!), Are eaten in Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand, Vietnam and other countries of the Asia-Pacific region, and the cooking methods are very different - they are stewed, boiled soups, deep-fried and cooked Grilled. Those who have tasted flying dogs claim that their meat is similar to chicken - there is practically no fat in it, but a lot of protein and it is easily digestible.

I must say that in almost all Asian countries fruit bats are killed before cooking, but there is an exception: one of the dishes of the national cuisine of Guam is live fruit bats in coconut milk. The animals are caught, washed (and thanks for that), and then the whole, along with the wool and wings, are immersed in vats of boiling water, making sure that the bats are always alive when they are served. The finished dish is seasoned with coconut milk, vegetables are used as a side dish.

If you are ever "lucky" to cook this dish yourself, keep in mind that fruit bats emit a specific smell of urine and feces - flying dogs spend most of their lives upside down, so there is always a certain amount of feces on their bodies. To get rid of the "wonderful" aroma, fruit bats should be thoroughly washed, and during cooking, you can add garlic, onion, chili pepper or ... beer to the water.

5. Snakes

Eating live snakes is still exotic even for India. Farmer Sutari Nayak, a resident of the Indian state of Orissa, is considered to be the main expert in the "snake kitchen". In 2007, a farmer, then 46 years old, became famous for devouring live snakes - in his own words, "just for fun." The man admits that he began to eat reptiles in childhood, after his friend was bitten by a poisonous snake: "If snakes bite us, why can't we bite a snake?"

The nayak eats the snake alive, without any heat treatment. For several years now, the farmer has been considered a local "star" and even manages to earn money thanks to his gastronomic passions.

6. Larvae

Casu marzu is one of the most unusual delicacies to be eaten in Italy, it is considered a specialty of the island of Sardinia and is popular with both tourists and locals. The dish is nothing more than sheep's milk cheese, in which live insect larvae swarm. The larvae contribute to the rapid breakdown of the fat contained in the cheese, which makes the product surprisingly tender and soft. In the process of decomposition of fats, a liquid is released from the cheese, which is called lagrima (in the translation from sard. - "tears"). Before eating, you can cleanse the cheese from a specific "seasoning", but true connoisseurs of Sardinian cuisine leave everything as it is, trying to enjoy each larva.

7. Ants

If you are not too squeamish about food and you happen to travel around Denmark, be sure to drop by the capital's restaurant "Noma" - they serve a delicacy of lettuce leaves seasoned with chilled (to crawl more slowly) ants. The delicacy is not cheap - about $ 300 per serving, the institution positions it as a gluten-free (proteins found in cereals) alternative to croutons. Judging by the reviews of the restaurant's visitors, the ants taste like ginger, cilantro or lemon sorghum (a genus of cereals).

8. Shrimp

What is common between the Japanese food odori ebi (which can be translated as “dancing shrimp”) and the Chinese delicacy called “drunken shrimp”? In both cases, shrimps are served on the table alive, only in Japan are children used to prepare this variety of sashimi - the animals are fried over low heat so that they do not die and are immediately eaten by dipping in sake, and in China the dish is prepared from adults shrimp and served in a heated "soup" of baijiu - a strong Chinese alcohol.

To fully enjoy a Chinese or Japanese delicacy, you need a fair amount of skill - the animals are quite agile, actively wiggle their paws and even try to get out of the plate. Also, it is necessary to chew each shrimp thoroughly, otherwise they will continue to move in the stomach.

9. Cockroaches

As you know, in the United States, contests are often held on eating various dishes for speed, and American eaters are ready to absorb in huge quantities not only big macs and hot dogs, but also, say, insects. Such competitions are not only disgusting, but also life-threatening - for example, 32-year-old Edward Archbold, a participant in one of such events, died after eating several dozen worms and a whole bucket of giant cockroaches.

In some way, Archbold's death can be considered heroic - he hoped to win the main prize of the competition - a living python to give it to his friend. An autopsy showed that the American died of suffocation - his airways were clogged with cockroach paws.

10. Acne

Japanese national cuisine is famous for its originality - apart from frogs and shrimps (see points 2 and 8, respectively), the inhabitants of the Land of the Rising Sun eat eels alive. According to Raymond Blanc, the famous chef, while traveling in Japan, he had to taste this unusual delicacy - to set off the taste, eels are seasoned with vinegar and sake, and then swallowed whole.

Most people prefer to keep their food fresh, but there are some peoples and cultures that take this too literally. Attention, impressionable readers and greenpeace members: here is a list of animals that are eaten while they are still alive. If you don't like the fact that lunch can run out of your plate, read on!

Octopus

Sea urchin

These echinoderms may not look particularly appetizing given their spiky exterior, but they are prized worldwide for their fishy-tinged caviar and meat. Although they are often eaten raw, such as in sushi - sea urchin caviar is commonly called "Uni", some people choose to eat them alive, right after the shell is cut open.

Larvae and insects

If you've ever seen the reality TV show Fear Factor, then you've probably witnessed the eating of live insects. This practice is fairly common in many parts of the world. Insects and their larvae offer excellent sources of protein, and many who were brave enough to try them will insist that they taste good too! One example is the witchetty GRUB - a gem of Australian Aboriginal cuisine, these grubs can be eaten live or cooked.

But the Dutch scientists consider insect larvae to be much cheaper and more environmentally friendly protein food, while not inferior in value to meat and poultry. In their opinion, insects, more precisely, their larvae, should solve the food problem. So, for example, for the production of a kilogram of protein from larvae in total (taking into account the area of ​​planting of forage crops, etc.), approximately ten times less territory is required than the production of a kilogram of beef protein, and several times less than obtaining an equivalent amount of pork or chicken. squirrel. At the same time, breeding of larvae emits much less greenhouse gases than any type of animal and poultry farming.

Oysters

Irish publicist Jonathan Swift is famous for saying, "He was a brave man who ate oysters first." But for our Western beliefs, oysters are the most common living thing to be eaten raw and alive. In fact, oysters are considered healthiest when eaten raw in half a shell.

It is very easy to check if she is alive, just squeeze out a couple of drops of lemon. The oyster should stir.

Champagne or other light dry wine goes well with this exquisite appetizer (Riesling or Chardonnay are especially good with oysters, Spanish dry sherry is good).

Bon appetite!

Impressed by such an unusual "live" dish, we studied a little Japanese cuisine and found a lot more shocking and interesting at the same time. Out of the ordinary for many, the world of Japanese cuisine has a long history dating back centuries, its own unique traditions and unshakable customs. Perhaps, it is the Japanese cuisine that is an example of originality, variety and usefulness, which is why it came to the liking of people living in different parts of the world.

A note about this video caused a storm of emotions

- At the same time, the materials of this post may turn out to be unacceptable for many "non-Japanese". Please go to another page if you are very sensitive to vegetarianism issues.

1. Dancing squid "Odori Donu"
Only fresh squids are used to prepare Odori Donu, as they are cut up, leaving only the tentacles intact. To make the squid "start dancing", you need to pour soy sauce over them. Due to the fact that sodium ions contained in soy sauce, react with the still living cells of the squid, - the impulses make the muscles of the squid contract.

2. Dish of raw horse meat "Basashi"
The Japanese poetically call horse meat sakura. This dish is said to taste very good, like sushi!

By the way, meat in Japan was sometimes eaten in the past, but it never became a part of traditional cuisine, which was built entirely from vegetables, fish and seafood. Until our time, beef, pork and even chicken did not occupy a significant place in the Japanese diet. Although the Japanese in the mountain villages ate the meat of wild boars, deer, other animals and birds, in the country as a whole, meat was considered a special diet, for example, for the sick. One of the reasons for the lack of meat in Japanese cuisine is the adoption of Buddhism, which forbade the eating of four-legged animals, although the Japanese were never fundamentalists in religion. But people who were engaged in butchering meat were considered unclean. A more important reason is probably the lack of space - scarce and precious arable land has been completely devoted to rice fields. In Japan, there was simply no place for breeding livestock, and the Japanese obtained the necessary proteins from seafood and soybeans.

3. Natto
This is Natto. Natto is a traditional Japanese cuisine made from fermented soybeans, usually eaten with soy sauce.

This dish has a strong smell, but it tastes good. Tourists say: "If you have never eaten this, you should definitely try it !!!"

4. Inago is not tsukudani
In rural areas in Nagano and Gunma, a dish called "Inago no tsukudani" can be found. Inago is a type of grasshopper that is stewed in soy sauce with added sugar. In many souvenir shops you can find this delicacy packaged to be bought at home or to your loved ones and friends as a souvenir.

5. Shirako
What do you think this product is? And this is one of the oddities of Japanese cuisine, because "Shirako" is the semen of fish! It can be steamed or deep-fried, but no amount of processing will take away the awkward silence when you tell your friends you ate it;)

6. Ikizukuri (live sashimi)
In general, Sashimi (sashimi) is a traditional Japanese dish made from fresh, raw fish. Usually sashimip is served as a first course and symbolizes the beginning of the meal. In Japan, this dish is not prepared to satisfy hunger, but, first of all, to demonstrate the culinary skills of the chef. Very often, various compositions in the form of flowers and hieroglyphs are formed from thin slices of fish.

Ikizukuri is the practice of making sashimi not just from live seafood ... When the fish is selected, the chef begins to gut it and serve it almost immediately. Aerobatics in this case is that the cook carefully cuts off several pieces, however, the fish itself at the same time remains relatively intact.

Moreover, everything is cut off so that a person, eating pieces of sashimi, sees how the heart of the fish works, and how it moves its mouth while it eats.

On the one hand, this may seem like a kind of provocation or an attempt to force people to become vegetarians.

Live sashimi served

7. Odori Ebi
Odori Ebi is also a type of sashimi, which consists of small baby shrimp. Their shells are often removed, and sometimes their heads. The shrimp are fried and served along with the rest of the body, which continues to move with its legs and antennae while eating.

Odori Ebi live in serve

- The shrimp can be immersed in an alcoholic drink, it will become intoxicated, and it will become easier to eat it. She dies only when they start chewing on her. This dish will cost you quite a lot in a restaurant, because in order for the shrimp to stay alive, it needs to be cooked very quickly and skillfully, and this is far from being possible for any chef.

Products must be fresh, this is an unshakable rule of a healthy diet. But live food is a different matter entirely. And we are not talking about those animals that are killed before being delivered to shops and restaurants. No. It's about animals that are served on a plate alive. Sounds awful. But in many countries such dishes are considered a delicacy. Here's an overview of the world's most sadistic dishes.

Adherents of "live dishes" believe that meat tastes better if the animal is alive, partially alive, or breathed its last breath right on the plate of the person who was going to eat it. Calling such delicacies amazing simply won't turn your tongue. They are not what they are, and it is impossible to look at them in a photograph without shuddering. Not to look faint and impressionable.

Huge fat larvae may be delicious food at least for the Australians. It's no secret that there is a problem with food in the desert, so you don't have to choose much. The natives enjoy eating caterpillars as a wonderful source of protein. Moreover, they do not need to be cooked at all. We just find it, tear off our head and chew until they stop wriggling in our mouth. However. A similar dish can even be served in a restaurant in a soup or omelette. Eating them turns into a real ritual.

In Italy, while walking along the sea coast, it is customary to collect sea urchins and eat them right there. These are such tennis balls in thorns, which do not look appetizing at all. But in fact, they have fleshy and tasty, as they say, gonads (sex glands). Therefore, if you want to try a delicacy, you need to chop a prickly nut and eat everything with appetite while it wriggles.

Now it's time to talk about delicious octopuses, not in the form of a frozen seafood cocktail, but about the sannakchi dish, which is served in Japan and Korea. It is a live octopus, served cut into pieces or whole. Its tentacles still wriggle when the plate with the dish is placed on the table. The attraction of a sannakchi lies in the sensations that people experience when chewing on a poor animal. However, not everything is so simple. The dish is quite dangerous, it is not for nothing that it is prohibited in some countries. The tentacles are covered with powerful suction cups that can suck inside the throat and simply choke the eater.

Bloody molluscs produce an increased amount of hemoglobin, and when the shell opens, rivers of blood simply cannot be avoided. Most people just boil them for 20 seconds and eat them almost raw. You just need to remember that 14-16% of gourmets have a chance to get hepatitis. Because of this, the dish is banned in China, but in New England it is served with citrus sauce.

At the Noma restaurant in Copenhagen, they decided that a salad with ants was a great idea. They even set the price accordingly: $ 300 per serving. Ants are served with crème fraîche and are offered as a substitute for croutons as a gluten-free ingredient. They taste like a mixture of ginger, lemongrass and cilantro. And they froze them so that they would not run so fast.

Fruit bats are eaten with pleasure in many Asian countries, such as Guam, Singapore, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam. They are low in fat, high in protein, and taste like chicken. However, on the small island of Guam, locals serve a very unusual dish: a bat with coconut milk soup. The captured animal is washed, thrown alive in boiling water and served on the table. You need to eat everything except bones and teeth.

In some eastern countries, mainly in Japan, China and Vietnam, a live frog, cut into fillets, with a still beating heart, can be brought for lunch. For this delicacy, special ox frogs are grown. Those who are very impressionable should not order a dish, since the skin from a live animal will be removed right in front of the visitor.

Probably, in Japan and China, they decided that it was impossible for a sober animal to come to terms with the idea of ​​being eaten alive. Therefore, here they decided to ease the plight of the shrimps and give them water. They are soaked in either sake or Chinese alcoholic beverage baijiu, and shrimps start jumping across the plate and table. We free the live shrimp from the shell and dig our teeth into the flesh.

Eel fry, Japan

In Japan, eel fry is also eaten in the same way as shrimp. Chef Raymond Blanc advises adding vinegar and sake to get them jumping too. It remains only to swallow them whole. However, in the land of the rising sun there is one more traditional dish, which is called "Tofu hell", "Hell loach". To prepare it, you need to boil water, put a piece of tofu cheese on the bottom and immediately throw small loaches into the pan. They will swim to the still cold cheese in the hope of escape and bury themselves in it. They have no chance of survival. As a result, the dish looks like Swiss cheese, except that the holes in it were made by small fish, not fermentation.

Ikizukuri, which translates to live-cooked, is a type of sashimi that is served as soon as the fish is pulled out of the aquarium. The cook will only gut it and serve it on the table. The whole process takes place before the eyes of the client, who can observe the beating heart of the fish and the opening and closing of the mouth.
However, this is not the whole list, the culinary preferences of people never cease to amaze.