Food fantasies

Although I love eating fish and seafood, upon seeing fish swimming in a restaurant aquarium, or eels squirming in a barrel I've never yet started salivating. So I was amazed at a Japanese friend's observation of cultural differences today. She and her English husband went to the Osaka Aquarium with her in-laws. They were standing in front of an aquarium admiring the fish. Whilst the English family were saying ‘Aah, how cute..’, the Japanese family nearby were saying ‘Oishi ne..’ or ‘It looks delicious’! She admitted that seeing fish made her want to eat it too ! I asked her whether this reaction extends to four-legged animals or poultry, and she said that although seeing a cow would not necessarily make her want shabu shabu, seeing a chicken might make her crave yaki niku.

It must be a deeply cultural response, I’ve never heard that kind of reaction back home. I've always felt kind of sorry looking at fish circling the tank, waiting to die. And although I'm happy to eat them, or even to kill, gut and skin them, until they're sizzling under a flame or fried in garlic I just don't get the rumbling tummy ! I could understand that a live fish might translate into fresh and therefore desirable sushi, but seeing a chicken pecking and scratching around suddenly morph cartoon-like into Sunday lunch? I suppose that's a diehard meat-eater's reaction !

Image taken from Indymedia Bulgaria