Eating Food That's Still Alive

[russ parsons]

i'm doing a little string-gathering. anyone got any favorite alive dishes? i'm thinking of things like sushi bars etc. are there other places? oysters are obvious, scallops a little less so. whole fish definitely on the rim.

[jaybee]

Somehow the idea of eating something while it is alive is repellent to me.  Very recently dead--no, but alive somehow seems , I don't know, sort of decadent and arrogant.  Irrational, I know, but there it is. Caviar's dead isn't it?

[cabrales]

Russ:

The A Balic thread contains a description of certain lobster and fish being served alive.  Shrimp are another common item eaten alive.

Click Here

-- The following is an excerpt from The Daily Telegraph, October 11, 1996 (unclear which country this publication is attributable to, likely Australia) ("RSPCA fights for ban on 'live' food," by Simon Benson): "The businessmen who chose lobster at a seafood lunch never expected it to walk out halfway through their meal. They called the RSPCA to report they had been served a live lobster. Their complaint was among the 12 a week registered by the RSPCA from people visiting restaurants  where crustaceans are either cooked or served while still alive. . . ."

-- Below is an excerpt from the Courier-Mail, an Australian paper (June 27, 1997): "Queensland may follow a New South Wales decision to ban the serving of live crustaceans, including lobsters and prawns, in restaurants. . . . The  dishes,  popular delicacies in some Asian  restaurants  in Sydney and Brisbane, include lobsters which have had their shells cracked and which are presented live on the plate as fresh sashimi. . . . 'Drunken prawns' or 'screaming prawns' -- live green prawns soaked in alcohol and set alight at the table -- is one popular dish in good Chinese restaurants in Brisbane.  The Japanese term for the same dish, readily available in Japanese restaurants in Sydney, is 'Ebi no Odori-gui', which roughly translates as 'eating prawns while they dance'. . . ."  (State of legislation not yet verified)

Can members provide input on whether Japanese cuisine includes the ingestion of "live" sea slugs?

                                    ----------

Bourdain describes his experience in Vietnam of eating the heart of a snake (cobra?) while it (at least the heart) is still beating a bit.  It was taken with some type of wine, among other things (?). Does that count?

I have heard third-hand-plus about another potential Vietnamese dish in which duck eggs that have been fertilized somehow have their contents sucked out. I cannot find information on this, and there may be controversial issues (analogous to abortion-related matters) as to when an egg becomes "alive", etc.  If I were in your shoes, I would not expend too much effort on locating the preparation of the Vietnamese duck egg dish as I heard about it in an indirect and not particularly reliable manner.  

If you are willing to include fertilized eggs as being "alive", perhaps there might be more dishes on which members can provide input.

[Jinmyo]

I think Morimoto does odori (dancing shrimp) at his new restaurant. There's a similiar Thai dish called gkoong dten or something like that. In neither case are they set on fire as far as I know.

cabrales, re the slugs. I don't think so but might be wrong.

[tsquare]

There are many "live" food devotees - but they are not speaking of things animal. What is the definition of live? Are sprouts live?

[jaybee]

There are many "live" food devotees - but they are not speaking of things animal. What is the definition of live?

It moves or makes a sound when you stub out a lit cigarette in it.

[Jinmyo]

tsquare, for the purposes of this discussion probably not. But it would make its own interesting thread.

Or it could take place here.

I used to do a lot of sprouting.

But as I hope people are aware, a lot of nasty bacteria and such can infest packaged (commercially boxed sprouts or left in a home bottle too long) sprouts. This can result in a lot of "food poisoning" ailments.

As I use sprouts only occasionally (as a garnish or even more occasionally as a component in a sandwich like mustard and onion and radish and daikon sprouts with blue cheese and proscuitto in a sandwich) I hardly do it anymore. I usually just purchase them (from open containers) unless I have some plan for them when I begin the sprouting.

[Jinmyo]

jaybee, how about: "It tries to run away."

Gah.

[cabrales]

Russ -- I thought about your request a bit more, and came up with live octupus common in Korea (at least South Korea).  Here are some article excerpts on the practice:

-- The Mirror, April 30, 2002 (Live Meal Is a Killer): "A diner choked to death after swallowing a live octopus at his home.  The 62-year-old gasped as the eight-legged creature jammed in his throat. . . . Live octopus  is a popular but often fatal feast in the Asian country [south Korea] -choking six people a year."

-- South China Morning Post, June 1, 1997 (Bugged by weird cuisine, by Susan Jung): "Octopus,  sliced up while still  alive  and eaten while moving, is considered a delicacy in Japan and  Korea. The fact that the suckers on the tentacles stick to the roof of your mouth adds to the enjoyment."

-- The Boston Globe, September 19, 1994 (A debate on food that's alive, kicking, by Charles Radin):  "The current culinary sensation in South  Korea  is san nak-ji - live octopus. . . . Chinese from Shanghai south are wild about zui xia - drunken shrimp. . . . The most expensive gourmet delicacy in Japan is ikizukuri, or 'made live' seafood brought to table still quivering with what Banks would call life. . . .

Yoo [ilhan, press attache at the South Korean embassy in Tokyo] noted that 'many very expensive Chinese dishes' start with lobster killed at the table."  Please retrieve the complete article on your own for review. Also, the article ends with a vague reference to monkey brains. I wonder if that is another dish involving "live" aspects.  

[Ruby]

There are many "live" food devotees - but they are not speaking of things animal. What is the definition of live? Are sprouts live?

Yes, sprouts are live food. There are a growing number of people who only eat raw foods; some call it live food because (as I read one explanation) if you throw it back in the ground it keeps growing. The live food or Living Foods diet consists of eating lots of uncooked vegetables and fruits, supplemented with raw nuts and seed and sprouted grains such as wheatberries. One of the first pioneers of wheat grass-the stuff that's made into juice-and living foods was the late Ann Wigmore. There is a website if you'd like more info.

[mamster]

the late Ann Wigmore.

See where it got her?

[Ruby]

I stopped eating live raw oysters and clams some time back. Just lost my taste for them.

I don't want to sound alarmist because I know how people love raw oysters and clams but here's a report called "Death on the Half Shell" put out by a group called Center for Science in the Public Interest based in Washington, D.C. that concerns shellfish from the Gulf of Mexico. There's also lots of interesting stuff about taking food safety precautions at home.

http://www.cspinet.org/reports/vibrio_vulnificus/index.html

[Ruby]

the late Ann Wigmore.

See where it got her?

Oh no! She died from smoke inhalation while trying to put out a fire a few years ago at her Living Foods Center in Boston. When her name is mentioned in the company of people who follow the Living Foods diet, they bow with reverence to her.

[=Mark]

I've read of a Chinese dish where small fish are added to a bowl along with a small block of soft tofu.  Very hot water is added, causing the fish to try to burow into the still cool tofu.  The whole thing is eaten while the fish are still alive.

[col klink]

How sadistic!  :wow:

At least with my sweet shrimp which are torn in half whilst alive are given a quick death. I'm sure that the post-trauma twitches are simply nerve reactions.

[cabrales]

On "live" seafood, I would be interested in sampling all available varieties. For me, that applicable seafood items' death process is extended by the period of the diner's consumption (with attendant possibilities of a limited amount of "pain", to the extent the seafood item has sufficient mental capabilities to experience pain) would not outweigh my selfish desires.

While having a living item does facilitate fresh seafood, the primary appeal to me would be the intellectual acknowledgement of the brutality of taking flesh from a living item.  It is not a "power trip", but more the thrill of capturing the sacrifice for me of the other living item -- a fact which is present in non-live seafood and animals eaten.  

[Jinmyo]

cabrales, my dear friend, I am in excellent health. I can also run quite fast.

[cabrales]

Jinmyo -- Well, I'm glad you're not diseased.  

[Jinmyo]

:confused:      

Cough. Cough.

[Shiva]

Luckily the photos are out of focus: Click here for fertile duck eggs (cooked though).

My Filipino mountain biking buddies claim they're just the ticket for a hangover.  I'm not sure if they mean causing a hangover or curing one.

[John Whiting]

In the 19th century, the directors of the Regent's Park Zoo set out to amass the largest possible collection of animals. They were motivated in part by anticipation of their private dinners in which they corporately consumed the brains of every available species. I don't know whether they were still alive or how soon after death this may have been.

I have a hazy memory of a South Pacific custom of sitting around a table through the center of which protrudes the open skull of a live monkey, from which the brain is consumed with horn spoons. But I have another hazy memory of this having been a hoax invented by a bored journalist. Russ, if it is the latter, perhaps this might be a good time to reinvent it!  

[Jinmyo]

John, I have heard the live monkey brain legend told about the Koreans by Chinese, about Chinese by Koreans. Both Chinese and Korean people have told it about the Japanese.

This is the first time I have heard it told about South Pacific islanders. Or did you mean a production of the musical?

[John Whiting]

I said it was a hazy memory. As for South Pacific, perhaps I was thinking of the practice of eating from a protruding stomach, known as Belly High.

[Shiva]

The live-monkey-skull-clamped-in-the-center-of-the-table-while-diners-scoop-the-brains-out film is called 'Faces of death' and has been soundly shown to be a hoax.

Or maybe not...

[cabrales]

I am quite skeptical about live monkey brain indications as well.  However:

-- The Independent (London), June 11, 2001 (Interview with Anthony Bourdain: Living On a Knife Edge): "One last question, then. Anything you wouldn't  eat,  Anthony [bourdain]? *Well, he could have tried live monkey brains  in Asia.* But? 'I didn't want to look at the little monkey's face as they were popping his skull and getting his brains out.'"

Russ -- If you are interested in confirming that Bourdain could have pursued live monkey brains, you could Messenger him. I do not know how frequently he checks the board.

-- Newcastle Herald (Australia), June 2, 1999 (Disgusting/delicious): "n an upmarket Bangkok restaurant . . . . He'd watched as waiters set up a big dish of crushed ice in the middle of a neighbouring table. Then they'd tipped dozens of small and very much alive crabs, about 5cm across the back, over the ice. [Guess what happened to the crabs!] . . . [T]he owner of a Newcastle Chinese restaurant . . . told me about the  eating  of live  monkey brains  - certain restaurants [in China] had special tables, the top of the monkey's head protruded through a hole in the table, the top of the skull was cut off and the diner got into it. . . .  Yes, he'd seen it, he assured me when I told him I had believed that to be a  Hollywood invention. Another delicacy he mentioned were small live mice, taken by the tail and dipped into chilli sauce. The diner would throw back his head and lower the mouse into his open mouth. The diner didn't chew the mouse. The particular satisfaction was in having the mouse, stung by the chilli, scramble down the throat, down the oesophagus and into the cauldron of acid. Yes, he had seen it."

Please note that I lack even second-hand information on the above.  I include the excerpts only for Russ' follow-up, should he be so inclined.