Older
columns (opens
in a new window)
Past
Story: Hiroshima 1943
My
Friend is a Dracula
My
friend is a vampire. She roars at a live prey dissected wide open
with its fresh nerves still quivering. She shrills with joy at
the sight of succulent flesh and gorges on raw intestines. My
friend is Japanese.
The
other day, my friend and I went out to a restaurant. It was a
nifty hideout that served various Asian-fusion dishes. After "kanpai"ing
with the usual nama-chu (draft beer in a jug), we huddled over
the menu.
My Friend: "do you want to order sashimi (sushi minus the
rice)?"
Me: "uuh, okay. I'm not too good with raw stuff though (true)"
My Friend: "Really! Well you just watch me."
She called the waiter and pointed to a couple of items. A few
minutes later, the horror arrived. On the plate was an odd-looking
fish. It was a fish from head to tail, but everything in between
was gone. I mean bare. Open. Its shiny white bones were exposed.
Slices of its meat sat neatly arranged on its ribs. It was wound
in vegetable decorations in place of a burial shroud. Suddenly,
its whole body began to jolt like mini-earthquake. The fish's
eye was big and open. It gazed blankly with its round black pupil
that once probably greeted a fellow fishmate or its sweetfish
in its ocean life. Now it saw nothing, losing focus by the minute,
and I almost heard its whisper: "help me..."
"Mmmmmmm!" said my friend, totally ignoring me sitting
there frozen to my butt. "Isn't the meat so fresh? It's woooonderful!"
This
style of sashimi is called Ikezukuri, or, "slices of flesh
having been cut and put back in place," as my Kenkyusha J-E
dictionary says. It is quite popular and actually considered a
delicacy in Japan. They say the art of sashimi (and sushi) is
in the technique of the knife. Even the slightest difference in
the width of the flesh slice changes the taste. That's why sushi-masters
are often called as shokunin, or craftsmen. Yes, it is tasty (and
we Japanese aren't the only race that eat raw meat), but sometimes,
such inhuman (or infish, whatever) scene offends the animal-lover
in me (so gentlemen, you know what not to order on my date!).
After
a couple of rounds of beer, my friend said she wanted to order
something else. She called the waiter again, and pointed to a
photograph that looked like strawberry jelly. Only, it wasn't
strawberry, it was blood, and it wasn't jelly, it was an organ.
And what arrived on the table was more terrifying than Cannibal
the Hannibal, Dr. Lecter. What I saw, was raw liver. And my friend
ate it. She took a slice of the red chunk, all shiny and looking
full of iron and protein and dipped it in sesame-oil based sauce,
and the flesh disappeared into her mouth. I could not utter a
word. Oh yes, I was a silenced lamb.
The visceral dish above is called leba-sashi, or liver sashimi.
It's available mainly in yakiniku (grilled meat) restaurants and
Korean restaurants. I will never know what it tastes like. But
if you do, don't call me.
Needless
to say, Japan has a very unique and distinctive tradition, which
inevitably includes the food culture. Sashimi and sushi to start
with, tempura, sukiyaki, udon, soba, tofu…name it all. In
general, we Japanese are very perceptive to the subtle changes
of things such as season, environment, mood, atmosphere, etc,
and I guess we like to see such variation in our food too. Because
of our seasonal-preference, we go as far as eating what one may
call a weed, for example, tsukushi or horsetails, because they
grow only in a certain time of the year (in horsetails' case,
spring). We like to feel nature and eat nature, and I guess this
seek for the ultimate nature persuaded our ancestors to eat things
right out from the nature's basket (plus it's healthy too).
Anyway, that's the story of my friend Count Dracula.
Bon appetite!
Top
