Live Octopus in Korea

[spork]

By coincidence, I saw a Zimmerman episode yesterday. Korea. He ate them, just squirming tentacles. He said it's one of the more fun bizarre foods he's ever had. I've also heard that they should be well chewed. If not, the still functional suckers can grab your throat and become a potentially deadly choking hazard.

 

[FrankZ]

some korean marinated baby octopus, anyone?

Yes please, and thank you.

 

[Timothy]

some Korean marinated baby octopus, anyone?...about the size of a quarter each, overall.

They have those at the Chinese Buffet I go to. I always get a few. Love the flavor but not the chewiness.

 

[buckytom]

frank, you'd love them. a little sweet, a little spicy.

tim, i love how japanese restaurants call any chewy fish "challenging". tako is definitely one of them.

did you ever have tako su?

 

[Timothy]

frank, you'd love them. a little sweet, a little spicy.

Tim, i love how Japanese restaurants call any chewy fish "challenging". tako is definitely one of them.

did you ever have tako su?

Yes! The Japanese are very talented in politeness, courtesy, and picking word usage to avoid any possible conflict. It's one of their customs that I find most appealing.

I've seen Tako on the menu in many restaurants, but because of my dislike for overly-chewy foods, I've always avoided ordering it.

I'll have to try it once to see what I've been missing. It sounds really good, flavor-wise, and looks good also:

Tako-su or TAKO no SUNOMONO is an appetizer serve in any Japanese restaurant. Tako-su is a cold plate of sliced, cooked octopus garnished with sticks of pale green cucumber, bathed in ponzu sauce and topped with sesame seeds, sliced scallion and a drizzle of wasabi mayonnaise; the sauce has an engagingly smoky, citrus taste that complements the octopus.

 

[vitauta]

By coincidence, I saw a Zimmerman episode yesterday. Korea. He ate them, just squirming tentacles. He said it's one of the more fun bizarre foods he's ever had. I've also heard that they should be well chewed. If not, the still functional suckers can grab your throat and become a potentially deadly choking hazard.

i guess that's what they mean when they refer to octopus as "challenging"?

 

[Timothy]

i guess that's what they mean when they refer to octopus as "challenging"?

Ha! You just reminded me of that new heartburn advertisement where the food is slapping people in the face. That ad makes me laugh.

Bang-Pow-Slap....Is your food fighting you?

 

[buckytom]

i saw that episode of bizarre foods. i've had something like it, a little less alive though.

tony bourdain just had an episode in a korean joint in queens, ny, where they tossed a live octopus on a hot pot. he made a big deal of how it died slowly on the simmering pile of seafood before they scissored off the twitchy legs.

 

[vitauta]

Ha! You just reminded me of that new heartburn advertisement where the food is slapping people in the face. That ad makes me laugh.

Bang-Pow-Slap....Is your food fighting you?

...and winning?

 

[Kathleen]

frank, you'd love them. a little sweet, a little spicy.

tim, i love how japanese restaurants call any chewy fish "challenging". tako is definitely one of them.

did you ever have tako su?

We do love the baby octopi made in several ways - one being marinated.

I love octopus too, but do not think I could try it when it is still moving. It feels oddly disrespectful to the animal to me. I'm not at all opposed to eating animals, so I'm really unsure why it hit me this way. Maybe it was simply the video...

 

[Timothy]

We do love the baby octopi made in several ways - one being marinated.

I love octopus too, but do not think I could try it when it is still moving. It feels oddly disrespectful to the animal to me. I'm not at all opposed to eating animals, so I'm really unsure why it hit me this way. Maybe it was simply the video...

I felt exactly the same way, Kathleen. I just couldn't figure out a way to say so. It's weird, because killing an animal to eat it is really the worst imagined cruelty in reality, (imagine someone telling you they would kill and eat *you*), but the eating of dead, non-moving meat has never bothered me. Even Lamb and Veal, which are both immature, "Baby" animals.

But the sight and thought of eating an animal that even though dead, still moving, bothers me at a primal depth and makes me feel like it's cruel. What a weird thought process.

 

[Dawgluver]

I see this eating of a still living animal as cruel too. I liken it to being drawn and quartered. Raw oysters, however, are a different matter!

 

[vitauta]

is that why vegans think eating plants is acceptable--as opposed to, say, octopus? because plants don't move (as fast or as noticeably) as animals? oysters--live, raw, bring 'em on....

 

[spork]

I can understand that primal feeling, too. It's like, giving thanks before a meal, and having the meal reply, "wait a sec... I haven't offered myself." Almost feels sacrilegious. Having said that, I would certainly try it.

Tim, that dish looks really tasty. Sometimes, I order tako at a sushi restaurant when my wallet's a bit thin. By the time I'm finished with it, my jaw is exhausted, and I spend less afterward.

 

[Timothy]

is that why vegans think eating plants is acceptable--as opposed to, say, octopus? because plants don't move (as fast or as noticeably) as animals? oysters--live, raw, bring 'em on....

I think so, vitauta. My oldest sister is vegan and I think she would pass out if she were to see someone eating something that was still moving. She might even throw chunks. My Brother is also a type of vegetarian, but he eats seafood. I can't figure that one out. He says he doesn't eat "Red Meat". Heck, when I fillet freshly caught seafood, it bleeds red....???

Tim, that dish looks really tasty. Sometimes, I order tako at a sushi restaurant when my wallet's a bit thin. By the time I'm finished with it, my jaw is exhausted, and I spend less afterward.

Now that's funny! You just gave me a hell of a laugh! I'm going to have to try it! I spend WAY too much in sushi places!

 

[shnooky]

I've never had octopus but I don't think I will be trying it after this video, haha.

 

[Chief Longwind Of The North]

I had octopus, raw, but not alive, in Pusson Korea. I didn't care for it at the time. But the other restaurant patrons loved it.

I coudn't eat live critters as I know too well how foods are digested. And I can't imagin biting a live critter to kill it. I've been bitten by little children (little munchkins that could barely walk), and by an angry house cat, and a couple of dogs. The pain was excriciation. I couldn't put an animal through that. And to swallow them whole would be to place them in a hostile environment that dissolves the flesh from them while they are alive. Again, I've felt the pain of chemical burns.

I will continue to eat meat from land critters, fowl, and from the sea. But I have to say that I honor life too much to suject another sentient creature to agonizing pain, just so I can try something unique to me. And yes, I did pull the wings off of flies, and torture a cock roach as a youngster. I have become more sympathetic and empathetic to the creatures around me as I've grown older. Can't help it. I'm a softy.

There are only two times I ahd to hurt someone in a fight, though I had many an opportunity to do so, and to kids who deserved it. I just walked away and let myself be called a coward rather than hurt someone intentionally. The kids I fought left me no choioce. I won the fights, and was untouched, but probably hurt more inside than did the kids who lost the fights. I'm not ashamed to say that afterwards, when they went crying home, I cried myself, as I walked home because I had to fight and hurt them.

And yet I loved Judo, Kuk Sul Won, and wrestling, even with all of the submisison, and chokeholds, and the throwing, punching, adn kicking techniques. How does that work!

Ok, I quit. Don't know how all of that wordage spewed forth. I just won't eat live critters. Let's leave it at that. And I won't judge those who choose to eat them. We all have to live by the standards we set for ourselves.

Seeeeeeeya; Goodweed of the North

 

[Constance]

That's awful. Octopus are intelligent...those little guys KNOW they're being eaten.

 

[Dawgluver]

That's awful. Octopus are intelligent...those little guys KNOW they're being eaten.

I totally agree! I've met some in person, in the wild, and octopus are one of my favorite animals.

 

[buckytom]

c'mon, embrace your cavewoman side.

pigs are about as smart as dogs, but i doubt everyone's going to give up pork. i'm certainly not.

if we're going to decide what to eat based on i.q., i have a few co-workers who would be candidates.