Raw Chicken Sashimi?

This post is inspired by something written by “Naoko” over at Heenai Heenai. She’s a Japanese mom, who blogs in English, and does a very good job of it. Recently she wrote about eating raw chicken sashimi, which was quite a surprise to me. A long time ago, in a Korean restaurant in the US, I ate raw beef once, but I didn’t like it very much. I had no idea that Japanese cuisine also has raw meat as sashimi. The chicken is raised differently than regular chicken, and professionals warn that you should ONLY eat raw chicken if prepared by a license professional.

Sound familiar? Reminds me of Japanese fugu, the pufferfish sushi that can be extremely poisonous if not prepared right.

In high school, I worked in a local Japanese restaurant and the sushi chef, or itamae-san (板前さん), was licensed to make fugu, even though we didn’t have it at the restaurant. I guess it was probably too difficult to get in Seattle. In any case, the chef was excellent, and the sushi was surprisingly good for a small, cheap teriyaki restaurant like that.¹ To be a licensed sushi chef definitely proves you are professional, and that you take food safety seriously.

Still, I am not comfortable with the idea of eating dangerous foods for the experience or thrill. I’ve tried exotic foods before, especially as a student in Vietnam, but the experience wasn’t really worth it.² I do like regular sushi quite a bit, but I don’t think I would try anything particularly dangerous or unusual just for the experience. If I was single, things might be different, but I have a family now, and my wife would get annoyed if I got sick and died. Who’s going to do the dishes? (Just kidding, dear!)

P.S. Go visit Naoko-san and say ‘hello’. It’s hard blogging in a foreign language (I tried, and it’s really, really hard), so send her some encouragement.

¹ I also remember one time, he let me borrow the big sushi knife for slicing oranges in the back kitchen. It was like slicing paper! That knife was extremely sharp. He also use to sneak me dishes of curry or miso soup sometimes; he was a pretty nice fellow. Sadly, he passed away a couple years ago, R.I.P.

² I actually feel really guilty when I think about eating frog legs and such back then. Yes, it does taste like chicken, and no I wouldn’t want to do it again.