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Jerry Johnson
20th November 2000, 08:22
Hello,

I was just wondering if anyone has eaten fugu?

kenkyusha
20th November 2000, 13:20
:up: Keep thinking that I will prepare it to serve to certain 'friends'...

Them: "hmm, this is tasty, what kind is i... ach!!"
Me: Oops, must not have prepared that correctly... back to the drawing board...
:shot:

Be well,
Jigme

Gary Dolce
20th November 2000, 16:21
I had fugu for the first time last year during a visit to Japan. A friend and I had just taken a grading exam and were feeling happy it was over and a little let down afterward so it seemed to be a good time to take a bit of a chance. :)

Other than the the slight thrill, I didn't think there was anything special about it - good sashimi but none of the side effects I have heard about.

Far more interesting was the meal the woman sitting next to us at the bar was eating - a live fish which periodically flopped on her plate. I think I'll skip that experience.

Earl Hartman
20th November 2000, 18:35
I was tricked into eating fugu once a long time ago. I had a fugu nabe (stew-pot) as opposed to sashimi. I don't remember it as being anything special.

However, I have heard that Japanese men like to have the gonads of the male fish ground up and served in sake as a kind of "virility" drink. It's kind of a Russian Roulette, since, apparently, the gonads and the liver (where the poison is) are indistinguishable except to a master fugu chef. I suppose it's the thrill of cheating death ("I hope he was paying attention when he made this...") that makes such a drink desirable. Otherwise, it seems just like any other fish.

Margaret Lo
20th November 2000, 18:58
Earl - if what I know about proteins is correct, the cooking of the fugu may have rendered any toxins in it non-toxic, since heat scrambles proteins in exactly the same way it scrambles eggs.

I await confirmation or refutation from the biologists.

M

PS Is there a food Japanese women like to eat to enhance fertility?

Earl Hartman
20th November 2000, 19:23
Margaret:

That's a really good question. I'll ask my wife. She is an obstetric nurse, and she has said that there are dietary regimens and specific methods for the conjugal act that both partners should follow to get a boy or a girl. I have no idea if they work.

I have heard that there are fertility shrines in Japan where infertile couples will, supposedly, make offerings to, or pour libations over, stones in the shape of human genitalia (usually female, from what I have been led to understand). Again, I have no idea how effective this is.

I have also heard of some sort of "phallus festival" in Japan where a large log carved into the shape of an erect male member is paraded around in place of an omikoshi. To the chagrin of the foreigners who have attended this festival expecting some sort of orgy, it is apparently all very chaste and decorous, which seems right in character.

Margaret Lo
20th November 2000, 19:38
Earl, the festival you mention reminds me of a story I heard of a hot springs resort somewhere in Japan - exact location escapes me - which has as a tourist attraction a "Penis Museum".

Friends who visited regaled me with hysterical stories of a diorama which should make Disney attorneys foam at the mouth. Apparently they have an animated diorama of Snow White and the Seven Dwarves doing various nasty acts. (HA HA HA!)

Do you know where it might be?

Uh-oh, thread drift.

M

Earl Hartman
20th November 2000, 20:11
Margaret:

No, I don't know where the museum is (sounds like it might be curated by R. Crumb), but I'll sure as heck do my best to find out next time I go there.

So, what's the problem? A little thread drift never hurt anybody...

Further thread drift alert:

For a wedding present, my father-in-law gave us some small sake cups, the interior of which were decorated with what are delicately described as, ahem, "Spring Pictures".

Steve Williams
20th November 2000, 22:54
Originally posted by Jerry Johnson
Hello,

I was just wondering if anyone has eaten fugu?

Yep, had it once a few years ago.

Taste was good, although no better than much other sushi/ sashimi, made my tongue a little numb :eek: . A bit strange at the time, but a lot of alcohol has the same effect and is probably cheaper :laugh:


Hey Gary, had that "live sashimi" as well, now that was a great taste... :up:

Harold James
21st November 2000, 01:51
I went with some friends two years ago to a chanko-nabe joint owned by the cousin of one of my friends. One of the many goodies we had before the chanko was a small square of gelatinous fat. It was really pretty too. Clear at the top and progressively orange towards the bottom. Inside was fugu skin. Progressively through the meal, my right foot became numb from the big toe back halfway down the right side and all of my heel. It remained numb for three full days, and I swear that you could have hit my big toe or heel with a hammer and I wouldn't have known it.It was hard to walk.

One of my wife's friends said it was a very mild case of fugudoku (fugu poisoning). They said it can be your mouth, hand or foot that goes numb. I never went to the doctor or anything, so if it was actually fugudoku I don't know, but it is the only thing I can think of... and it has never happened before or since.But then I have also heard that mild cases of it is not at all rare.

Personally, the sashimi version is very over-rated. Too expensive for the taste... better to spend that money on Otoro!!!!!!

Gary Dolce
21st November 2000, 14:07
I guess I should feel disappointed that I didn't get any numbness from the fugu I had. :(

Not to drive this too far off topic, but I believe the museum that Margaret refers to could be in Uwajima in western Shikoku. It is associated with a penis shrine there. It was on my list of places to visit (sounds like a real hoot)while in Shikoku last year but I only made it as far as Matsuyama.

Speaking of Shikoku and getting back to the general topic of food and drink, there is a great brewpub in Matsuyama just across the street from Dogo Onsen. Excellant beer, great bar food, and a beautiful classic Japanese interior.
I can't remember the name of the place, but their motto was something like, "there's nothing better than a cold beer after a hot bath". :toast: I can't agree more. The same people also have a sake brewery with its own restaurant that was also very nice.

Harold James
21st November 2000, 22:27
In the rsort town of Atami (about 1 hour from Tokyo) next to Atami-jo (Atami Castle) there are two, yes two sex museums, one on each side of the castle. One museum is just Shunga. Small but a great place, and you have to be 18 to get in (both places). I did get some really great phone cards as omiyage for friends.Going by those old prints, I would say the Japanese are decreasing not only in population but in... well, you'll have to look at a print to see what I mean.

The other place is a varity of sex related stuff, not all of it Japanese in origin but all of it from Japan. Plus, the whole town is full of onsen.

Why is it food often gets related to sex? Of course, everyone has seen the late Itami's "Tanpopo" right?

Later...

Earl Hartman
21st November 2000, 22:34
Ah, yes, the egg yolk scene...

Margaret Lo
22nd November 2000, 14:37
Perhaps the paralyzing effects of fugu can be blamed for the decline in the Japanese population. ;)

"Not tonight honey I ate too many neurotoxins"

M

Dave Lowry
23rd November 2000, 02:44
The inspiration for the scene in question from "Tampopo" came from some old sex manuals, Tokugawa era. I'm not at my office right now and can't remember the title of one that has it, but the technique itself is rather involved and is referred to as something like "asa o kaeshi" or "asa o kaeru": "returning sunrise."
It's one of a whole bunch of interesting veneral diversions of similar nature.

Rob
23rd November 2000, 09:21
Mr Lowry

You get to keep Japanese historical sex manuals in your office ?

Man I am in the wroooonggg job !