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I'm not sure there were any people pictures...uh oh! Kristin's first pictures came out great. It's a good thing I was the only one not using a camera. I'm hapless. I had eaten chicken sashimi beofre, but only in an izakaya setting. This was really something special. I think Palladion and prasantrin each took a lot of pictures, so there should be more coming. Off to catch a plane to Korea...more when I am back on Thursday. Definitely agree the foie was something else... lightly grilled on a skewer with a little charcoal flavor, but not overcooked or oversmoked at all. Don't let Kristin or Palladion get away without telling you how skillfully they use toothpicks as chopsticks to divide tiny portions of chicken brains into five servings! Jim

About once every two weeks, I eat 鮪　づけ丼 (tuna zuke donburi) from Mitsukoshi. I know it is slightly older tuna and probably from lesser varieties of tuna, but at 500 yen it sure is cheap for a nice whopping big container of well-seasoned raw tuna. The version I get also includes a good dose of shiro goma and I'm a sucker for sesame in any form. Actually, it's more of a ju than a don, but I've never seen any depachika call the square containers anything but "don" or "donburi". Jim

Sorry to confuse. Anju simply means food to have along with "ju" or drinks. I agree that soju is best consumed the way it comes from the bottle, from small shot glasses. It goes particularly well with many elements of Korean foods -- spiciness, carbonization from grilling, strongly flavored fermented bean products, garlic, etc. Jim

A bottle of soju contains exactly seven shots if you use the standard-sized sohu shot cups that most places provide. So...let's say 30 to 40 cents per shot. Soju is about half the strength of most western distilled spirits, so a soju shot is equal to something near half a serving in terms of the way most westerners think of a serving (glass of wine, beer, standard shot of liquor, etc.). That makes 60 to 80 cents per full serving. Beer runs anywhere from 1,500 to more than 10,000 won, depending on location, brand, atmosphere, etc. Western spirits are significantly more expensive, especially if you want to drink them in a bar, rather than buy them from a package store. The other "good value" drinks are things like makkoli and dong-dongju, both rice-based products of a milky color and slightly spritzy texture. Ordinary makkoli, bought at the convenience store/simple restaurant in recycled PET bottles, is only marginally more expensive than soju. More refined restaurant versions of makkoli or dong-dongju are served in ceramic pots and can be a bit more expensive (though still very reasonable). Don't ask me what the exact difference between dong-dongju and makkoli is...not until next week. I going to Korea for three days on Monday and I'll ask my friends there. Jim

Sorry I haven't chimed in here yet. (The new baby excuse is going to grow old and worn quite soon, isn't it?) In Korea, soju in not used in mixed drinks the way Japanese shochu seems to be here in Japan so frequently. Soju is basically a cheap, volume product. (In fact, Jinro, the largest producer of soju in Korea, is one of the largest alcoholic beverage companies in the world.) Depending on the outlet, a bottle of soju goes for between 2,000 and 3,000 won (most restaurants, groceries, and combini). Other than the vermouth-like flavored beverages to which skchai refers, I can only think of a few other flavored or mixed-type soju concoctions. (1) Oi-soju (ordinary soju poured into a dobin-like pot over julienned cucumber) is said to be softer in taste and reduce the chance of a hangover. I don't buy the hangover bit, but the treatment does seem toround out the taste a bit. (2) O-ship seju is a combination of 1/2 ordinary soju and 1/2 baekseju. Baekseju is a (slightly) premium distilled beverage flavored with some bitter components and then sweetened. Baek seju costs approximately 5,000 - 6,000 won in most outlets. Baek seju is most popular among women, but some men also drink it. The name o-ship seju is a play on words. Baek means 100 in Korean and the idea is that baekseju is a long life drink. Ordinary soju adds no "years" so when teh two are mixed, you get o-ship seju or 50-year seju. The two beverages are often mixed together in a kettle or pitcher. If you are ever in a group and see this process begin, you have an immediate choice to make -- either run for your life or stay for the fun but plan on major paint he next day. The soju kettle never comes out unless serious drinking is planned. The final comment I would make on soju is that it should not even be approached without a little bit to go along. The idea of soju (or maekju or any other alcoholic beverage) without a little anju is unimaginable. Jim

Couldn't agree more. We went there on ecr's recommendation and it was the food highlight of our trip. Good enough that we wound up going twice in a three-day trip. Enjoy, Jim

Perfectly uncooked ayu?!?! Jim

[drum roll] It means [/drum roll] .... "I'm sorry."

There's a hotel in Chinatown...maybe it's Grand China Princess, but my memory could be off. It had the best Thai Chinese food I've had...probably the best "Chinese" I've had in Asia outside China. A huge group of us...Thai/chaochiu friends, my visiting parents, other farang friends...went on the night of the Man U - Thai National team exhibition match in 2001. Place was absolutely deserted. Gotta say, an empty Bangkok chinatown is a wierd, wierd sight. Jim

Hiroyuki: Thanks for the tip. Where in Osaki? I live in Kami Osaki (上大崎) 2-chome, so an Osaki shop is potentially close enough to hit for Saturday lunch. Jim

Speaking of matcha shio...I went to party for one of the sumo stables (in which my family is very involved) to celebrate the end of a pretty good grand summer tournement...what should appear at the party but ayu tempura with matcha shio?! Bonus!!!...it's always nice when you go to a party not sure what to expect and encounter perfectly cooked ayu. Jim

I would definitely be up for that. So would I. In addition to wanting to try the restaurant, I would love to meet some of you guys. Now we're up to three...any more? Jim

wrote beans. I will completely bypass any comments on affinities between nicknames and reading choices...and move on to a story. If you actually click on The Little Book of Farting, you'll see this page, which pairs the book with a little title called Walter, The Farting Dog. My 5-year old son James attends an international school in Tokyo, with kids of any number of nationalities. One of the benefits of this sort of exposure is that one gains an insight into certain quirks and fetishes particularly strong in each culture. Among Koreans, there is an astoundingly strong and deep penchant for toilet humor. (One disclaimer -- Anyone who knows me also knows that I am a huge Koreaphile, so I hope no one will take any of this the wrong way.) The school has a program called "Mystery Reader", which features a parent making a surprise appearance to read a couple of his or her child's favorite books. The day that the Kwon parents were invited to read, James came home talking about this book that he absolutely must acquire -- The "Varting" Dog. After a good deal of questioning, I realized it was The Farting Dog. (*) To this day, when James wants to be really naughty, he makes a "vart" joke. Jim (*) The hangul alphabet has no v or f, making b and p do double duty and creating occasional bits of humorous confusion.

I've gotten hooked on a takeout soba dish from the depachika in the Mitsukoshi by my office. I'm sure I pay more than I need to by eating there, but the dish is under my skin (and it is so convenient). Zaru soba with sauce ... onsen tamago ... okra ... aonegi ... kaiware ... nattou ... katsuobushi. I've eaten it three out of four days this week for lunch. Jim

jschyun wrote: I imagine meong-ge and sea urchin must be related in some fashion, but I don't know closely. On a few occasions I was fortunate to find live sea urchin available for purchase in Noryangjin. Took them home, cut them open, gently scooped out the five lovely fingers of roe/milt...sheer heaven. Another great find is monkfish liver (ankimo/agu kan). Koreans don't eat it, but it is a Japanese delicacy. If you negotiate a bit, you can buy for a song from the agu vendors at Noryangjin, but you need to be there in the morning for that. jschyun also wrote: Similarly, behemoth wrote: Nope...that's an animal. Supposed to be good for the male...vigor...can you believe that?!?!? It is typically eaten sliced and raw, as are haesam and meong-ge. As jschyun notes, haesam is also often eaten cooked. I'm not crazy about the Korean- Chinese, brown sauced preparation, but I do like it cooked with a lighter, less gloopy sauce...especially stuffed with seasoned pork. Perhaps this is a reasonable segue point for another food "must try item". I'm not a fan (at all) of what passes as fancy Chinese food in Korean hotels and banquets, but I absolutely love the thoroughly assimilated Korean Chinese food. Things like ja jang myeon (자장면), jjambong (짬봉), and similar items are just awesome. There's a great place in the bottom of the Asiana/Kumho Group Building. It was a frequent lunch spot for me when I worked nearby. Also...about your hotel. Are you staying in the Lotte on the north side of the river? Or the one in Jamsil near Lotte World? The one on the north side is right by Lotte department store, which will have a good food floor. The Jamsil one is at a department store, as well as Lotte World, an indoor amusement park. I know the neighborhood around the former really well, the latter not much at all. Jim

I think Big Bunny has inadvertantly hit it on the head...Korean-owned. Kim bap is basic, value-oriented Korean fast food. It is essentially a hosumaki made with whatever you might put on a siple fast sandwich, plus a few other things. Ham, seasoned beef, canned tuna, mayo, pickle, kimchi, orangish processed cheese, and similarly ghastly items all make an appearance. The rice also tends to be underseasoned. Koreans will generally treat kim bap as picnic food or like a fast food burger in the US...food eaten without much thought or concern. It is also a big favorite with kids. I will admit that I used to get pretty good cheap fresh binchou maguro and make a tuna salad roll with QP mayo, sesame oil, wasabi paste, and scallions as a dressing. Typically, I would do this for a platter for big, informal cocktail parties. As Jinmyo might say, Goofi-maki just makes me go ガー! Jim

Pieman wrote: That's a great idea. To the extent I can, I am happy to write out food names in hangul for you, though you would do better to have someone like skchai do it. meongge : 멍게 haesam : 해삼 kaebul : 개불 All three of these are great but "challenging" foods. You can see all of them live at Noryangjin, buy them, and have them served to you in one of the adjacent restaurants five minutes later. Pieman is dead right. Noryangjin is a don't miss experience (even if you don't go in for the items pictured above). Enjoy, Jim

Kristin: I'm going to have to make my way to this neighborhood soon. I took my son today to Showa Kinen Park out at Tachikawa. What a great park!!! We had an absolute ball. If anyone with preschool or elementery aged kids hasn't been there, you must go soon. I realized, though, that one thing was sorely missing...deokbokki. I've been spoiled by Korea. Even though I love Japanese snack food, an amusement park or a zoo or a big play park just isn't right without deokbokki. I just read the article you had linked to and have one comment...5,000 yen for budae jjigae? There are two stories about the development of budae jjigae (budae in Korean means military unit). The first is that immediately post war, when the country was impoverished by the war, the stew was invented to use up leftover US military rations (such as hot dogs and other processed meats). The second story is that the stew was created near military bases to provide familiar low-end food to American troops and that it prospered initially because it was also cheap enough for Korean soldiers. The key point is that both of these stories play up the low-cost, frugal nature of the dish. The idea of paying 5,000 yen for four people to eat budae jjigae is just unimaginable. I know all things are supposed to be expensive in Tokyo...and that Korean food is generally expensive here (especially yakiniku). But yakiniku is also expensive, special occasion food in Korea. Budae jjigae should not cost more than 500 (maybe 600) yen per person in Seoul (and all the banchan would be free there). Longing for deokbokki and ready to start exploring Korean groceries in Tokyo, Jim

Actually, last time I had coffee in Seoul that was some of the best I've had anywhere. It was definitely not instant, and it was served in fancy china with cream and sugar in little pitchers on the side. It also cost something like $10 a cup. Have things changed for the worse? jschyun: No, I wouldn't sayt hat things have changed for the worse. But I would say the fact that you paid $10 for that great cup of coffee is indicative of the coffee situation in Seoul. You can find...here and there...a great cup of coffee. The reason you find it, though, is because someone who really has a passion for coffee has created the opportunity for you. The market hasn't led them there. Nine out of ten Koreans I know are perfectly happy with tabang coffee, or with the equivalent from the 200 won machines. When they do drink something that's not instant, it will typically be in the form of mocha or something similar. And here I'm talking about food conscious, stomach oriented Koreans who were my guides during two years of eating in Seoul. Again, good coffee does exist, but it is not the norm and it will come at a premium. Tea on the other hand...lots of great herbal and fruit teas in Korea. They range from frightfully expensive in fancy hotel lobbies to downright reasonable in Korean tea houses. Jim Edited for spelling and a wee bit of content.

Behemoth: First of all...enjoy your trip. Korean food is great stuff, with a tremendous variety not easily found in overseas Korean restaurants. I'll make a number of suggestions below, but please understand that many Korean restaurants don't have particularly distinctive names and the best food is found on "this corner" or in "that little place, whatever its name is". As such, I'll present a number of options without names or useful directions. Let me know which ones particularly appeal and I will follow up to get you some more concrete directions for those. jschyun has already given you the best general advice, which is to find a young, English speaking Korean to be your guide. Depending on whether you want to go for more traditional, "difficult" food or not, this may also be a hindrance, though. Traditional foodways are dying out among many young Koreans. I found myself introducing Korean friends of mine to traditional foods they had never eaten before. Finally, I lived and worked on the north side of the river (Kangbok), so many of my recommendations will be concentrated there. If you let me know where you will be staying, I may be able to target your area more. On to the food! Good street food exists in Korea, but it is much less a part of the culture than it is in southeast Asia. The one thing that I would suggest you must try from the street is deokbokki, a saute/simmer of rice cakes with a chili flake and paste based sauce, along with green onion, oden, and other ingredients. There are as many recipes for this dish as there are cooks. See this thread for a discussion of deokbokki. There is a great street stand selling deokbokki, twi gim (Korean-style tempura), oden, dumplings, and sundae (Korean sausage) that is right near the Kolon Building in Gwanghwamun. The other things are good, but the deokbokki there is especially so. Then again, you can find these foods, along with ramen, simple stir fries, kimbap (low-end, picnic food sushi rolls) and similar bunshik at cheap prices in small shops all over Seoul. For upscale barbecue, I would make two recommendations. On the north side of the river, I think Jeil Garden (near the above-referenced street stall) does a good job. On the south side of the river, there is a place I'll have to look up directions for. It is more expensive, but also better. If you do upscale bbq, you'll have a lot of meat choices. The most popular is probably saeng kalbi, which is fresh, unmarinated beef ribs. Along with this, I would try ggot dung shim, literally "flower sirloin". It is my favorite. Also available and liked by many is an shim (tenderloin). I am not as fond of it for Korean sut bul cooking. One of the highlights of upscale bbq is all the ban chan (side dishes). You'll be presented with many, but I think the best is ge jang (raw crab partially "cooked" by its marinade). There are two varieties, both good. One is soy sauce based and the other is red pepper based. You are more likely to encounter the latter. You will also have an opportunity to try one of the great cold foods after dinner. Typically, in one of those places, you will be offered a noodle/rice choice after dinner. The choices will vary, but bi bim naeng myeon will usually be one of them. This is a dish of cold noodles with a pretty spicy pepper based sauce. I love it. Another common alternative after dinner is doen jang jji gae (bean paste stew). You must try the latter at some point during your visit. Fortunately, it is available somewhere on every city block in Seoul. There are other bbq options as well. It's a debatable point -- and the Koreans admittedly don't do anything with brains, kidneys, sweetbreads, lungs -- but one could argue that the Koreans are the masters of innards. Certainly, they do an amazing job with stomach and intestines. If these kinds of things interest you, let me know and I'll do a rundown on the different varieties and my favorite places to eat them. Finally, you might want to go to a sam gyeop sal place. These are cheaper and are great places to spend a long evening eating and drinking. Sam gyeop sal literally means "three layer meat". It is also often referred to as Korean bacon. The best is actually o gyeop sal (five layer meat). The layers refer to alternating fat and lean meat. There's a great o gyeop sal place north of the river. South of the river, there's a trendy sam gyeop sal place that specializes in meat marinated in wine, as well a bean powder dip. It is slightly more expensive, but, despite its trendiness, the food is very good. Good dumplings are all around. I would just stop and get them wherever they look good. Bunshik restaurants will normally offer several varieties of dumpling. One thing you might enjoy is to go to a chain that offers three main things -- kal guk su (knife cut noodles in a clam broth), wang mandu (king-sized steamed/boiled sumplings), and to jong bossam (special pork, sliced and served with kimchee and condiments). I can't remember the name of this place, but there is one outside one of the Gwanghwamun metro entrances, next to the Sbarro or Pizza Bell or whatever it is. I have to admit that I am not nearly as much a fan of "yangban" food as I am of everyday food. That being said, you probably should try it. I would go to one of these places and simply order a set course. It will come with many, many things. Two places I would recommend are: Yongsusan (for the food) and the restaurant in the base of Seoul Tower (for the views, though the food is pretty good too). The concierge at your hotel will be able to direct you to one of these. Yongsusan has branches on both sides of the river. Unfortunately, I don't have a specific recommendation in Seoul. You would be well-served to take a trip out of town to Andong(?), where there are several great temples and accompanying vegetarian restaurants. I've mentioned naengmyeon above. It also comes in milder varieties, such as mul naengmyeon. You can find this many, many places and it will generally be good. My favorite cold summer dish is "kong guk su", noodles with pureed beans. Simply phenomenal to me. I'll come up with a recommendation for a place if you are interested. I'll get criticized for saying this, but they don't exist. Korean food is some of the best food in the world. I would swim the ocean for it. However, there is hardly a western restaurant in Seoul that I would cross the street to eat at in almost any other city. It's a long, philosophical discussion as to why, but this thread here (out of which I intentionally stayed) discusses it. There're plenty that one can enjoy, but there's just nothing to get excited about. And none of it is authentic, in the way that Italian or French places can be in Tokyo/Bangkok/Hong Kong/Singapore/etc. Now, having said that, you still need somewhere to recharge or seek refuge. There are plenty of non-descript spaghetti restaurants around that will fit the bill. They're not really bad -- no worse than the comparable item in Tokyo -- but nothing to look forward to. Just walk through any crowded area with young people about and you'll find one. Just pick at random, as one's as good or bad as the next. Can't really help you here, except to suggest a couple of neighorhoods -- Daehangro and Apgujang. The former is more studenty. The latter is more young and trendy. Just walk the neighborhoods and pop in to one or two. You will find both Korean and western coffee places absolutely everywhere. Korean style for coffee (tabang coffee) is with lots of milk and sugar combined with instant coffee. Taken or what it is, it's not bad, but it's not really coffee either. Traditional coffee shops are called tabang and used to be social centers for business meetings and such. The waitresses were often "available" as well. I don't know how much that is still the case, though I am told it is often still so near military bases. American-style coffee places abound and are no different than the Starbucks in Anytown, US. I would prefer snacks from the convenience stores or, better yet, a quick stop in a bunshik restaurant. You'll pay a fortune to buy snacks from Starbucks or the Coffee Bean. I eat a fair bit of Indian food, but am not an expert. I've never travelled in India, so I don't have the same reference point I do for many other Asian foods. That being said, I found Indian food to be the only foreign food in Seoul that was really well done. I would try a place called Dahl (near the Kyeongbok palace) or Ganga (locations in Seoul Finance Center and in Kangnam). They're expensive and not something you can't find in any good-sized city in the US, but they're good nonetheless. One warning though -- most Indian restaurants in Seoul (these included) typically use short-grain Korean rice. That, to me, is a major failing. My advice is to forget about sushi, but I mean that quite literally. Sashimi can be fantastic in Seoul. It's just the rice part that I've never seen work in Seoul. You might enjoy a trip to Noryangjin, the (much smaller) Seoul version of Tsukiji market. You can choose your live fish(es) out on the main market floor and have them cut by the vendor, then go to any number of adjacent restaurants who will charge you for banchan, setup, drinks, while you eat what you bought from the market. At the end of the meal, they will make maeun tang, a wonderfull spicy fish soup, from the carcass and innards. Don't let the vendor keep or throw away the remnants when he cuts you fish! You'll need it for the maeun tang. There are two other sashimi places I would suggest. First the expensive one -- a place called Badaui Gyohyangshi (literally "Symphony of the Sea", the name of a popular song from the 1970s or so) does an excellent job and, for a price, can provide special things like live giant crab and live lobster. There are tons of interesting things to try. I'm a bit of a fish nut and used to give tours of the market (to Koreans and foreigners) so let me know if you want suggestions for best/unique local seafood to try. I won't bore you with this if you don't ask. I would definitely try a chamchi place as well. These are tuna-only restaurants where you eat every part of the fish (from eyeballs to toro). A set meal is around $20-$25 exluding alcohol. I always gave out before the food did. It's not honmaguro (normally either yellowfin or bigeye tuna), so it's not the pinnacle, but for the price it's damn good. See street stalls, bunshik, etc. The triangle onigiri (samgak kimbap) from the convenience stores are pretty good for a quick snack. Don't get me started! Beware! A few quick thoughts, on which I'll expand if you are interested: (1) It'll be dog season. If you decide to do it, I would suggest toma gogi rather than boshintang to have it at its very best. (2) A good, Korea-only experience would be to go to a Cheolla-do restaurant. Specialties include saebal nakchi (small live octopus, literally "four leg octopus") and hong eo (fermented skate -- challenging taste, with a strong ammonia smell but a great taste). Have these with kkat kimchee (mustard plant kimchee) and makkoli a spritzy rice beer. This is Korean soulfood at its best. One out of ten young people, if that many, eat these foods these days. (3) If you encounter beef liver sashimi anywhere, definitely try it. I'd never had it before moving to Seoul and I wish I had found it much sooner in my time there. Here's a thread that discusses liver sashimi in Japan and shows some pictures. (4) It's not a summer food, but I think one of the world's great stews is gamja tang, soup of potatoes, pork backbone meat and its broth, pepper (black and red), and deul ggae (the seeds of the shiso/perilla/beefsteak plant). (5) Perhap my single favorite Korean food of all time is sun dubu jjigae, a stew of fresh, silken tofu in a peppery broth. Typically, it is served with rice and vegetables. The hot soup is spooned over the rice and vegetables and stirred in. My favorite versions all have a raw egg dropped into the soup at the last minute. My very favorite has fresh oysters in the broth as well. The ultimate version of gul sundubu jjigae (oyster version) is from Woori Jib near Gwanghwamun. Unfortuntely, Woori Jib just means "Our House" or "Our Place" and there are a thousand restaurants with the same name. I coul go on forever, but I will spare you. As soon as I hit send, I will think of ten more things I should have recommended. As you can see, I am passionate about Korean food and Korea. Please give me some indication what was interesting in my response and I will expand on those areas and suggest additional similar foods. I've just got to stop somewhere before I overload the board! Hope this helps, Jim NB: Please forgive grammar, formatting, spelling. I want to get this off to you, but haven't had time to proof read. Something about the call of a six-day old child seems more compelling than proofreading, says the proud papa.

You know, somehow I missed the part about smacking the child the first time I read this. Leads me to think this guy is more troll than anything else. If he is serious, then I definitely have nothing appropriate to say. (Wouldn't my mother be proud?) There's a great folk expression about pigs that applies equally well to trolls. "Never teach a pig to sing. It only wastes your time and frustrates the pig." Damn, that's a sig line if there ever was one. Jim

Quoth the Minister of Drink, in the thread on dogs in restaurants: Word to Miss Anthrope (aka MOD): You're supposed to put the milk on your Corn Flakes, not the yellow stuff! Seriously...while I will agree that dogs are indeed allowed in many fine (and other)restaurants in Europe, I have to admit that my dogs and my child have, over the years, presented equal degrees of difficulty in the control and quiet department. During James's infancy, we took him to any number of great restaurants in DC(Citronelle, Obelisk, et. al.). He slept quietly in a bassinet under the table and, when he would begin to agitate for sustenance only mommy can provide, we'd take him outside for a bit. He is now five and loves dining out. He is a fan of everything from tavern-type burgers and fries to foie gras. If he could type, he would be contributing to the recent thread on the Upperline in New Orleans, since he happily gorged himself last visit. He did think Bayona was a little off the day he went. Between about six months and three years, do you know where he went? He went only to family-type places, because he was not in a phase where he could be quiet for long periods of time and behave appropriately in a formal or serious establishment. Taking him out for a Grammercy Tavern meal at that point would have been about as rude as showing up at a restaurant that keeps a stock of crayons for frequent young diners and then bitching about the kids. But none of us would do that, would we? Peace brother -- you're not as important as you think you are. Neither am I and neither was that meal. A little patience for those around you is, however, pretty important. Jim NB -- This is not meant to minimize the importance of teaching children to behave appropriately in restaurants (and everywhere else, for that matter). It's just that I've seen as many spoiled middle aged whiners as I have teething aged ones.

I found your remarks interesting for two reasons: 1) I have never heard of anyone allergic to alcohol. I suppose that you simple mean you can't hold your liquor, which means that your liver cannot decompose acetaldehyde fast enough. You can become allergic to pollen, house dust, buckwheat, eggs, and other substances, but not to alcohol. Or, am I wrong? 2) In Japan, sake is said to be more likely to give you a hangover than other types of alcohol such as shochu. After running through several websites, however, I have found that this is not necessarily true. All types of alcohol give you a hangover if you drink too much of it. Alcohol Allergy Allergic reaction to alcohol is rare, but can occur. Most often, in testing, it is identified as an allergy to one of the breakdown products of alcohol, such as acetaldehyde or acetic acid. There are relatively few documented instances in the public, layman's literature. I'm not an MD, a substance abuse counselor, or indeed a scientist of any stripe, so my understanding is limited and open to correction. Ethanol levels of .01 to .03 mg/100 ml of blood are naturally produced by the body's ordinary functions, so total alcohol allergy is unlikely to occur (but is theoretically possible, I imagine). By definition, an allergy is the reaction of the immune system to a substance (allergen). Most often, the allergen is a protein. Ethanol is not a protein; neither are acetaldehyde or acetic acid. Thus, one would expect alcohol allergies to be realtively rare. Intolerance to alcohol is much more common. Intolerance reactions can range from mild to severe, but do not involve the immune system, hence they are not technically allergies. Antabuse (a drug sometimes used to treat severe alcohol abuse -- somewhat on the model of behavioral therapy, by creating an extremely unpleasant physical reaction to alcohol) creates an intolerance reaction, not an allergic reaction. Alcohol can also be a powerful cofactor in anaphylactic reactions where allergy to another substance is involved. Those Damn Hangovers In the narrowest sense, a hangover is the body's reaction to excessive alcohol intake and the process of alcohol metabolism (and byproducts thereof). Hangovers can be exacerbated by other substances in the alcoholic beverages. To make matters more confusing, these exacerbating reactions can be allergic reactions (such as to histamines or sulfites) or intolerance/mild poisoning type reactions. Beers and wines are most likely to produce allergic reactions. Sake falls into this category, though I have never heard of allergic reactions to sake. Are sulfites commonly used in sake production? If one were to drink "perfectly" distilled, undiluted spirits, any reaction one had would be to the alcohol, as there are no foreign substances (except for small amounts resulting from the fact that alcohol is unstable and cannot exist in 100% purity if in the presence of air). However, other than "grain" alcohol, almost all distilled spirits distributed for consumption contain other elements. The process of distilling is dependent on temperature. Alcohol evaporates and condenses within narrow temperature bands. If distillation processes capture the product of evaporation within the right band, only alcohol is captured. Pure alcohol, though, is essentially without character. Flavoring in the ultimate product comes from three main sources: congeners, direct flavor additives, and indirect flavor additives. Congeners are substances other than ethanol that are produced by a distillation immediately before and after ethanol (in other words, in temperature ranges near the distillation band for ethanol). It is these congeners that give a spirit any character of the source product (such a hints of the grape/wine in cognac or marc or grappa). They are commonly referred to in the whiskey industry as heads and tails. Direct flavor additives are things like the plums in ume-shu. Indirect flavor additives (my term, not a term of art) are flavor compounds that come from processes such as barrel aging (major elements in brandies and whiskeys). It is these other substances that can make one's hangover worse with one type of beverage compared to another. I hope that the experts from one of the drinks fora will correct my errors (of which there are sure to be many). This is simply an off-the-top-of-the-head layman's explanation. Longwindedly yours, Jim

chefseanbrock asked: and Hiroyuki answered, in part: I've only tried chicken sashimi in izakaya before, never in a specialty restaurant. I would probably never try it in the US unless it was prepared by a chef I knew, from a small production farm with manual slaughter. Absolutely not gonna do it with some piece of chicken from an industrial rendering plant. I didn't find the taste or texture to be offputting. The flavor was a gentle, light chicken taste, absolutely fresh. The texture was excellent...a little more resistance to the tooth than most raw fish, perhaps because there is more of a grain to the meat, but tremedously tender. The place I really want to try is the following: Chicken Specialist in Japan In addition to the pictures on the linked page, there is a lot of other great looking food on the site. Use the dropdown menu in the upper right side of the page to explore the whole menu. I am absolutely drooling to try some of the organ meats and other unusual parts, escpecially the brain sashimi on the "The Limited: Dainty Series" menu. Hiroyuki went on to say: I've eaten venison raw as steak tartare from deer we've killed ourselves in the US, but never eaten it in Japan. Beef, of course, as well. There's a place in the bottom of Kamiyacho station in Tokyo that is great for basashi (horse sashimi). I highly recommend it. I've discussed it briefly in this thread. Haven't tried ostrich or duck as sashimi, but can't imagine why I wouldn't, if I had the opportunity. Jim

This is indeed a problem. Unfortunately, the people who traipse happily to Snotdripper's Sushi and Salad Bar are not going to be deterred by the little question of whether the place complies with an FDA freezing guideline. Also (please note that I am about to make this assertion based on instinct rather than empirical fact), I suspect the other health risks created by poorly trained sushi prep workers are much greater than the health risks of parasites. I shudder even to imagine what kinds of creepy-crawlies are running around on those counters. I eat things that make most people blanch, but I am extremely picky about where I will eat sushi or sashimi. That pickiness, however, has nothing to do with freezing. Again, I acknowledge that there is a large and growing problem with poorly trained sushi prep workers. I hope the various health departments will continue to enforce food safety laws agressively. But I have a hard time getting worked up over freezing and parasites when there are vast proportions of the population growing up on McDonald's fries and Lunchables. And I promise you, I'm not one of those Center for Science in the Public Interest Naderite types. I am embarassingly far to the right of most on this board. I just watch people all over the world poisoning themselves and their children every day with the processed crap. I'd love to give them all a nice big plate of unfrozen sashimi. They'd be much better off for it. Sorry for going off, but it just pisses me off to see the FDA spending time and my money on these issues when there are real problems to address. Enjoy, Jim