If you live in Korea or Japan you’re well aware of the extreme levels eating raw seafood can go to. Personally I love raw fish and eat it almost any chance I get, but I know in doing so that I’m going to occasionally put myself into a situation where I see something a bit on the gnarly side.
My wife and I often get fish straight from a live fish market where they pull the things out of the tank, slash the gills and cut the thing up right in front of you. I don’t know the neuroscience behind the whole process to include it here, but it’s not uncommon in these fish markets to see the fish heads over in a corner of the floor, still moving and gasping for several minutes after.
Japundit has a post concerning ”live sashimi” (sashimi is the Japanese word for raw fish), which I’ve also run into a time or two. This is fish cut up in the back of a restaurant, then brought to your table…with the head still on the plate. Often the cut up pieces are configured to look sort of like the body of a fish. A lot of Koreans and Japanese (maybe other Asians too?) really get off on this. It’s a sign that the food is fresh, but it’s also viewed as something very masculine, or, I suppose, primal.
This is often the food company men eat while getting plastered before heading off for some whoring. You get the idea. I’m not necessarily condemning it. Just doing some show and tell.
However, I will judge this, which is an infamous scene from the film Oldboy by Park Chan-wook. It’s one of my favorite Korean films, though, this a good example of something I didn’t like about it. This scene is so masturbatory it’s kind of ridiculous. I’m sure it’s possible to do this in Korea, but I think it’s a better reflection of some of the ideas behind eating live seafood than a realistic portrayal thereof.
The set up here is that the guy has just been released from being held captive for several years. He’s looking for something studly and fresh, something that shows the viewer he’s ready to do anything to get revenge…so he eats a live octopus on camera.
If the character had whacked off in front of the camera or taken a gun and mowed down a bunch of people it would have meant about the same. Of course, this scene was a very hot topic when the movie was released worldwide. Koreans have a worldwide reputation for this kind of extreme seafood eating. The Koreans I’ve talked to about it are a little shy about such a reputation, but for the most part they kind of enjoy it.
But I digress. I did a quick search on YouTube for a video a friend took of a live-ish baby octopus served to us at a raw fish restaurant a year ago. I couldn’t find it because there are hundreds of these videos on YouTube, 99% of which were taken in Korea. I think it’s fair to say I’m living in the raw seafood capital of the world.
There’s an interesting discussion to be had about the way different cultures view animal products and the eating thereof. My wife will look at a tank of fish swimming around and say it “looks delicious.” I don’t naturally think of the appearance of my fish (or other meat) prior to eating it. This is the way we are conditioned to view meat in the west — as two entirely separate objects.
There’s a strong statement to be made here about wars broadcast television as well, but I don’t have the time or inclination to go into it. Sorry to bail out of this just as it’s getting started. But this was just intended to be a little ditty about eating raw fish in Korea.
10 responses so far ↓
1 Gus Lonzo // Mar 6, 2008 at 7:17 pm
I guess there are two ways to look at this: The one is the “Gandhi” way, if you will, which states that you can judge a people by the way that people treats its animals (technically, fish are animals in that they are “breathing” things ) and then there’s the “Cobain” way, if you will, which states, “It’s OK to eat fish, cuz they don’t have any feelings.” Mind you, the Cobain way doesn’t say anything about the manner in which those fish are to be eaten, though I can’t see old Kurt sitting down at one of those tables. Regardless, I gotta go with Gandhi on this one. At least, after watching that clip I do. That just seems cruel to me. Cruel and unusual.
2 Simon Currie // Mar 6, 2008 at 8:29 pm
Man, but iki-zukuri is so damn fresh! Cruel, but it tastes so good.
Anyways, I see the same reaction when I go diving. When I’m with a group of Japanese divers, inevitably they come back up on the shore or the boat and talk about how delicious looking some of the marine life they saw was. But when I dive with a group of Westerners, it’s not unusual to hear “I can’t eat fish anymore” (similar to the post-Fast Food Nation reaction people seem to have).
3 Brian // Mar 6, 2008 at 8:39 pm
When I first heard that Nirvana song when I was in grade school I thought he was singing “It’s okay to eat fish cause they don’t have any feet.” Same message, I think.
Anyway, whenever I go out with coworkers they usually order live octopus, and it’s brought out and cooked on the grill in front of us and served while it’s still moving (so not exactly Oldboy). And of course the coworkers all go “와~~~ë§›ìžˆê² ë‹¤~!” (wow, that’s gonna be delicious) when it comes out, then they don’t even eat half of it.
4 Joel // Mar 6, 2008 at 11:32 pm
I won’t say I have a problem with people eating raw fish that’s still moving its mouth, but I won’t eat it myself. I take the Gahndi high road.
But I will say that I think if most people knew what was happening to their beef and chicken on the way to their mouths then a half-dead fish moving it’s gills on a plate wouldn’t bother them so much.
I say this as someone who likes raw fish.
5 itchy // Mar 7, 2008 at 12:27 am
If you eat meat or fish in any form, is it even possible to count yourself a member of the Gandhi camp?
6 Shinsano // Mar 7, 2008 at 6:20 am
If you eat meat or fish in any form, is it even possible to count yourself a member of the Gandhi camp?
Hilarious.
I’ve heard of monks in Korea eating dog. Always wondered how they rationalized that one.
7 yoshi // Mar 7, 2008 at 4:07 pm
i felt obligated to leave a comment about this post. as i am writing, there is an advertisement on this exact page of andrew zimmerman and his tv show, bizzare foods. a new season just started this week and he was in beijing. the first place he stopped at was a royal palace where he ate CAMEL PAW. imagine that. the next stop was a restaurant that specialized in animal penises. i didnt want to put that one in caps. how about the filipino food BALUT. it is a chicken egg with the baby chicken in its embryo stage. tried it once, most likely pass the next time.
8 Shinsano // Mar 7, 2008 at 4:45 pm
My sister’s best friend was on a reality show and had to eat boiled deer penis.
Since the subject came up…
9 TD // Mar 8, 2008 at 12:02 pm
Raw fish is actually one of the healthiest foods you can put in your body. I don’t think I’d want to eat it off a plate where the mouth was still moving, but it’s a very fresh feel when you eat that.
10 Zammer // Mar 9, 2008 at 4:21 am
It’s dead. It may seem alive, but it’s very dead. I’d only look at this as cruel if the person eating took personal satisfaction in the death of the fish. Thoughtless, but not cruel.
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