On an average evening in Japan, 3800 restaurants will serve discerning customers pieces of potentially lethal "river pig."
For Westerners, the apex of dangerous eating usually involves eating an expired Snickers. But in the untamed Orient (antiquated patronizing language intentional), culinary brinksmanship is best represented by the fugu.
According to one article I found on the fugu, or blow fish, there are "13 tips you must know before eating [it]." Thirteen things? The maximum amount of things I've historically had to know about even the most alien foods has fallen between one, in the case of couscous (the texture of couscous is repulsive) and perhaps four, in the case of sushi (sushi should be fresh, salmon roe makes good impromptu confetti, don't fill up on soup and salad, Meijer gets an 'A' for effort but not much else when it comes to sushi). I'm not sure I ever want to eat a course that requires a syllabus. But maybe you will. So what do you need to know? I'll tell you what you need to know... and a whole mess of stuff you don't.
The blow fish, or puffer fish, or fugu, is filled with tetrodotoxin. Several species of fish carry the toxin, and said toxin is in fact named for them. In fact, the toxin also lives in a species of octopus, a type of newt, and a species of flatworm. "Lives, you say?" Yes, yes I do. Tetrodotoxin is a bacterium, living symbiotically in the blow fish and his gang of poisonous friends. As a side note, you know who has developed a resistance to the toxin? You friendly local garter snake.
If you're not a snake, how much blow fish toxin will kill you? Your mileage will vary, but it's far, far more toxic than cyanide. Given the choice, I would sooner eat a plate of couscous than tetrodotoxin.
Ever attracted to the counter-intuitive, humans began messing with the puffer fish sometime before 2000 BC in China. The ancients knew that the fish was toxic, but believed that the right amount of toxin could actually be curative. Why? Because people just love when something is counter-intuitive, I guess.According to Engelbert Kaempfer's A History of Japan (1727), the Japanese knew the fish was toxic, and even used it for suicide, when they weren't making it a delicacy. In fact, soldiers were not allowed to eat the fugu for many years.
In 1774, Captain James Cook learned what many Easterners already knew. When his men ate some puffer fish and fed the rest to their pigs, the result was a pile of dead pigs. The men survived, despite some difficulty feeling and breathing for a spell.
Despite its toxicity, the people of Japan have eaten the fugu for centuries. Despite being outlawed entirely at times, eat it they did. When the shogunate relaxed regulations, they at it some more. The Meiji era (1867-1912) saw the fish banned entirely, but the tradition carried on. Because it's so delicious? Well, I've never had it, but people say it tastes like chicken, with a "raw fish" kind of texture.In modern Japan, anyone can eat fugu—except the Emperor. (I wonder if he ever resents his lot in life.) The only stipulation—introduced in 1958— is that fugu must be prepared by specially certified chefs. As a part of their training, these chefs must indeed eat their own fugu preparation. It's nice that the program sort of weeds out the amateurs. Only about a third of prospective chefs pass the course.
Despite the fact that the tetrodotoxin is a potent neurotoxin, some folks enjoy eating the fish with a tad of the good stuff still inside. This apparently adds a tingling sensation about the lips to the dining experience, which is part of the charm for some people. Each year, a handful of people in Japan die from fugu poisoning. There is no antidote.
People are currently hard at work breeding diet-controlled poison-free fugu. This is called "cheating." Even still, this might be the way to go if you're curious about trying a slab of gelatinous poisonous chicken-tasting fish. Or you could eat a chunk of raw chicken breast, which actually checks most of the same boxes.
If you live in the U.S., your restaurant fugu options are all located in New York, Los Angeles, Bethesda, and Seattle. It usually costs a few hundred dollars for a serving.
As long as there are symbols of annihilation, man will thumb his nose at them, that is certain. Beyond the thrill of privilege and the draw of rarity, I think eating the puffer remains popular because we don't like to be told what we can and can't do, as a species. It's humankind's way of asserting its dominance over common sense. The resulting sense of empowerment is delicious. That said, I'm not Japanese, and I have no idea what I'm talking about, really.
That said, Foods For Living is proud to announce that the deli will soon be featuring... all the same stuff, and no blow fish.
Be well.
