Slow Food – Japanese Style – Blow Fish

Someone remarked that eating Blowfish is like playing Russian Roulette. Blowfish, which is known in Japan as Fugu, are the world’s second most poisonous vertebrate. The poison is in the skin and the liver and it has no known antidote. Several Japanese are killed by eating Fugu every year, in spite of the fact that there is a strict law requiring that Fugu may only be prepared by chefs with a special licence.

For obvious reasons wives are not allowed to prepare it at home for their husbands.
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There must be something really special about a food for which people are willing to risk their lives. Which is why I jumped at the chance to try it at a sushimi restaurant in Fukuoka. Fugu is eaten raw, very thinly sliced. I’m afraid to say that my unsophisticated European palate couldn’t discern anything extra special about it. But it was thrilling to try it and something of a relief to wake up the next morning alive and well.