Tokyo chefs swell with anger over new blowfish laws

[MADem]

*I've eaten this junk--really!!!! Not that I'll get another opportunity, I should think, but never again!!!!!!

...For more than six decades, dicing blowfish in Tokyo has been the preserve of a small band of strictly regulated and licensed chefs, usually in exclusive restaurants.

But new laws coming into effect from October are opening the lucrative trade to restaurants without a license, making chefs like Hashimoto see red.

"We have spent time and money in order to obtain and use the blowfish license, but with these new rules anybody can handle blowfish even without a license," said Hashimoto, a blowfish chef for some 30 years...

The poison known as tetrododoxin is found in parts of the blowfish, including the liver, heart, intestines and eyes, and is so intense that a tiny amount will kill. Every year there are reports of people dying after preparing blowfish at home.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/03/us-japan-blowfish-idUSBRE83202P20120403

[Javaman]

1. sounds like engineered darwinism. nt

[MADem]

2. I've eaten the stuff (didn't know what I was doing at the time)

Details in this thread-- http://www.democraticunderground.com/1103671#post7

It's not all that special, really--it's mild tasting fish. I never had bad sashimi or cooked fish in Japan, and I ate a lot of the stuff, too.

I wouldn't do it again, even with a licensed chef at the knife. Ignorance was bliss! I sure as hell wouldn't touch it if some clown without credentials was doing the carving, not for any amount of money!

[AsahinaKimi]

3. This can not end well...

I would never eat fugu unless it was prepaired by a licensed chef.

[MADem]

4. I agree (now that I know what I know, that is)

The first time I ate fugu, I didn't know what it was, thought it was tasty if mild, and mistook the enthusiasm and admiration of my fellow diners for Standard Cultural Politeness! This was before the internet, before pocket translators, I'd left my little dictionary-phrasebook at home, and my translator wasn't up to the task!

I lived to tell the tale, but every time I see a tv show or book plot that has "Death by Fugu" as a plot/subplot, a goose walks over my grave!