Traffic rushes past you and pedestrians scramble on foot in the loud and incredibly dense Tokyo city streets. Japan has a culture and language you know little about, but after all, you came here to learn. First things first, though. You’re so hungry, you could eat a zebra. You walk into the nearest building that looks like a restaurant. You’ve decided you’ll take anything they have.
As you wander in, your eyes adjust to the dim lighting. You quickly realize you’ve entered an elegant seafood restaurant. Brilliant saltwater aquariums line the walls. Each one has a colorful variety of sea creatures thriving within. You see stark white tablecloths, origami folded napkins, and a professional looking staff. Momentarily, you wonder whether or not your checkbook can handle this place. Then your stomach reminds you that you definitely can.
The hostess greets you politely and realizes you speak little Japanese. She signals you to the aquariums and asks you to choose an animal. As you scan the tanks, a baby squid catches your eye. It reminds you of the greatest calamari dish you had ever eaten back home. You make your choice and settle in at a table. The staff catches the baby squid with a net and carries it into the kitchen. Mere moments later, the hostess returns with a tray and sets the dish on your table.
The baby squid is not fried. It isn’t even cooked. Rather, its tentacles squirm around the dish, threatening to wiggle right off the top and onto the table. The chef has chopped off the top of the squid’s head and spread out the tentacles festively on a steaming heap of house-made glass noodles. You admire the presentation. The squid is surrounded by freshly steamed seaweed, orange caviar, wasabi, and pickled ginger with various sauces on the side. You’re starving, and heck, you’ll try anything once.
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Ikizukuri is the process of preparing raw fish from live seafood. This is a true (and expensive) delicacy enjoyed by the Japanese palate. Other countries sometimes serve live food, including Thailand, China, and the Koreas. However, Japanese chefs take special pride in Ikizukuri. They see it as an honor and a challenge. Ikizukuri thrives within Japanese culture because sushi is a dietary staple, and live sushi is of the highest quality available.
Most Ikizukuri dishes feature seafood, often including fish, octopus, shrimp, lobster, eel, and the aforementioned squid. Squid and octopus dishes have gained popularity. However, they’re not a great meal to order after a few drinks. The tentacles can create suction to the tongue or throat. This can cause asphyxiation. Another popular dish in Japan consists of baby shrimp or prawn you dunk in wine. Then you briefly set them on fire to marinate and impair them. This reduces their ability to jump from the dish. The scorched shrimp remain alive until eaten.
Setting a living shrimp on fire but not killing it until you crush it with your teeth sounds cringe-worthy. Many cultures consider serving these living dishes a form of animal abuse. A fair portion of American culture supports compassion towards living creatures. Accordingly, several organizations, including PETA, have raised serious concerns about serving live dishes. PETA thrives in the United States due to the heavy social stigma towards animal cruelty. The concern, here, is that every living creature feels pain. In 2010, PETA caught word that a high-end Sacramento restaurant offered a live “dancing prawn” dish. The proper way to eat it was to rip the prawn’s protective shell off in order to splash the creature with fresh lemon juice. The acidity from the lemon causes the prawn to writhe, or “dance.”
The restaurant removed the dish from their menu due to pressure from PETA. The guilt behind eating live food, even if the freshest seafood sounds delicious, would deter many from ever trying Ikizukuri. Still, the Japanese would heavily disagree with PETA. Instead, they insist that the dishes are a high-end meal that chefs prepare with honor and skill. In this way, Japanese and Western culture clash in their beliefs. PETA members and Japanese sushi chefs disagree intensely in this regard.
Raw food consumption has been around for a long time. Meat’s introduction into our ancestral diets cause evolutionary change. It resulted in increased intelligence and a bigger brain. Meat packed hefty nutrition and offered increased amounts of concentrated energy. LIkewise, people spent less time scavenging for seeds, nuts, fruits, and plants. Some scholars think our ancestors dropped food in the fire accidentally and thought cooked food tasted great. To this day, humans remain the only creatures on earth that cook food before consumption. The Western diet now consists mainly of cooked food. Likewise, many cultures stray further and further away from the traditional raw ancestral diets.
Often, experts warn us to never eat raw meat. I have heard about its capability to make us quite sick. Surprisingly, the human body has no trouble digesting raw meat, much like other carnivorous species that catch and eat their food raw. Sushi and steak tartar are both raw foods. Eating raw meat doesn’t automatically create problems. Food safety is the issue. Cooking meat before consumption severely decreases the chance of eating dangerous bacteria. You’re less likely to contract food-borne illnesses because the bacteria cannot survive in the hot conditions. Therefore, raw meat increases contamination risks. This is when meat can become a haven for poisonous bacteria. Still, the butcher’s handling of the meat determines food safety. Japanese chefs treat the process carefully. Therefore, raw meat consumption rarely has adverse effects.
Raw food yields greater benefits for the body as it allows the body to extract nutrients more easily. All raw food, including Ikizukuri, contains enzymes. These are substances that aid in the digestion and absorption of nutrients. Without enzymes, the body can’t maximize food utilization. Moreover, enzymes can’t survive temperatures above 115 degrees Fahrenheit. Cooking food completely voids these very important substances.
Enzymes are essential for nearly every cell process within the body. They allow the body to heal and maintain proper balance. Studies have shown that those who eat a diet full of enzymes and raw food get sick less often. The immune system becomes stronger. It can more easily ward off infection and inflammation. Ikizukuri and similar raw dishes are staples in the Japanese diet. Thus, the Japanese don’t worry about getting a fair helping of enzymes. Westerners should take note of this.
In Japan, sushi chefs will often train for years in order to properly and efficiently serve Ikizukuri dishes. Due to sushi’s vast popularity, Japanese chefs must constantly compete to serve the highest quality sushi possible. In such a competitive market, chefs continuously look for ways to stand out. This is probably a reason why live sushi exists. You get dinner and a show. Sushi preparation is time sensitive. The chef must cut and serve the animal before the animal is dead. This necessity allows a chef to show guests how fresh their seafood is.
One dish that truly shows the mark of a master chef is a living, carved fish served in a decorative manner. The chef carefully chooses a special knife to start cutting into the live fish’s belly, and delicately carves the meat off of the fish into thin, bite-sized square sections to prepare for eating. If the chef makes the cuts properly and precisely, the fish’s organs will remain intact and working as the fish and its meat is placed on the plate for serving along with various elaborate presentations. The fish’s head and eyes must still be moving at the customer’s table. Otherwise, the chef has failed.
Of course, whether or not you agree with the practice of Ikizukuri is entirely up to you. I do feel a sense of disgust and guilt when I imagine myself trying Ikizukuri. Animal cruelty remains a large part of that feeling. Still, sushi lovers order sashimi in the United States all the time. They should consider that the chef used a live fish and cut into its meaty bits before killing it. The chef just served it too slowly for the chef to bring out a moving fish head along with it. Honest diners should note this minor distinction the next time they visit a sushi restaurant.
Animal cruelty exists in most places, but not in a way that is “honorable” by any means. At least the Japanese have that on us. Furthermore, the tradition of eating raw meat connects us to our ancestral roots in a small sense. After all, raw meat existed long before cooking. It also can serve as a reminder to the importance of providing proper nutrition to the body. Humans are the only species on earth that cooks food. All other animals eat their live food right after catching it. Maybe, just maybe, the Japanese aren’t as bizarre some people think.
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As you pay your tab, you reflect on your first fine-dining experience in Japan. Initially, you couldn’t believe the chef had the audacity to serve you a moving creature in this beautiful restaurant. Then you poured traditional soy sauce on your squid, bit off a few tentacles, and felt differently. You loved the incredible taste of the freshest seafood you have ever experienced.
Now you understand why they serve this controversial food. There was something oddly primal about seeing your meal alive right there in front of you before you ate it. You briefly ponder if you would do it again. This makes you feel deeply uncertain and a little uncomfortable. Then it’s back into the busy Tokyo streets, where you know another adventure awaits. After all, there is much more to learn about this strange, uncertain planet.
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Kelsey Gregg is a writer from the Colorado Springs area.
