Sushi is not an extreme sport

The BBQ Pit
#1

Every time I go out for Sushi with a group, there’s always somebody who’s a sushi darer.

“Have you had the sea-urchin? I’m getting the sea urchin”

or

“I see you haven’t gotten the mackeral. That’s strictly for the varsity.”

Those quotes are from the person today. I couldn’t really tell them how I felt since my company wanted me to be nice and impress this guy so he’d give us lots of money.

But, I can tell you. And I will.

Listen here you inside out futomaki face, sea slug, I repeat Sushi is not an extreme sport.

I know when you were a kid you were one of those children who would eat poop and dare other kids to eat poop, but that’s kinda passe now.

The point of sushi is not to see who can eat the grossest or the most extreme sort of food.

That is the opposite of the point.

If you have eaten a lot of sushi than the point is to eat good food that you like. If you ahve not eaten a lot of sushi than the point is to explore at whatever level you feel comfortable with.

If you just want a California roll, or the fully cooked tuna tempura, and that’s all you feel comfortable with, or that’s all you want, then that’s fine.

Watching you choke down a sea urchin or an octopus leg that you obviously don’t enjoy is not impressive, nor do I believe you as you stifle a gag and tell me how much you love it.

And for your information, I have had both the sea urchin and the octopus before, so I’ll thank you not to admonish me to try new things.

You stupid putz.

#2

It isn’t?

Shit.

Have you at least tried a shark gizzard roll?

#3

Are you going to eat that sea pickle?

#4

It’s not the actual eating of a piece of sushi that’s the extreme sport.

It’s seeing how much wasabi one can eat in one sitting before your head explodes.

#5

Clearly spoken by a man unfamiliar with the fugu eating contests, popular in some parts of Japan…

#6

The thing that I really hate is when I tell people I generally don’t like sushi, I get that “Oh” that means “Oh you must be very stupid and a completely uncultured hick”.

Not liking a food type is not a weakness of character, and not liking a food type form another culture does not make you xenophopic. I happen to have very good taste buds(which my enourmous gut will corroborate) and they decide what they like and what they don’t like. And I don’t like the taste an texure of most sushi. Growing up in Colorado in the 70% good sea food was an oxymoron, and I never developed much of a taste for it. Raw fish has too slimy of a texture for me it just kind of oozes down the through in a loogie like way. I’m mildly alergic to most shell fish(no life threatening events, just bad stomach cramps that often end up in barfing), and make it not worth it. Squid and octopus remind me of trying to eat a rubber band, and seaweed just tastes odd. Tempura is okay, but not worth going out of my way to eat, the same with the little dumplings.I like the wasabe and the vinegared rice, but in general it’s just a huge waste of money for me to go for sushi.

If someone has prepared it, then I just smile and be polite as I force it down. But, it doesn’t make me low class to know that when I’m making a choice and spending my own money, I would much rather have a nice rare hunk of cow.

#7

I like mackerel.

But no matter how often I have it, uni always tastes like sea foam, with the texture of foie gras. So I have sense enough to leave it alone. Sure, I could suffer through enough of it so that I think it’s pretty good, but life’s too short to eat unwanted gonads.

I let people eat what they want, offer them something I think is good, and if they happen to agree with me, cool. If not, also cool.

Scylla, this guy sounds like the kind of person who’d like kopi kuwak.
“You mean you haven’t had it? It’s passed through the alimentary tract of a civet! Might be a little intense for you tyros!” Yeah, and you’re drinking cat shit Nescafe. How’s that working for you? Grreat.

#8

Am I the only one who likes fresh uni? Especially with the raw quail egg yolk on top of it? Pure rich goodness. It’s not something you chew though, kind of like raw oysters. Just squish it against the roof of your mouth and savour. I like mackerel too, as long as it’s fresh.

[sub]Octopus is useless though.[/sub]

Scylla, I’m surprised you didn’t order a bit of sashimi just to make the point of “We don’ need no stinkin’ rice and sea weed!”

#9

You want to talk extreme sushi? Try walking into a place in the middle of some woman’s full-on, scream-'til-you’re-red-in-the-face meltdown when the manager won’t give her a refund for giving her and her kid food poisoning… and eating there anyway. Food was great, prices were reasonable, and the floor show was very entertaining. Especially when the woman showed up with a slightly embarassed and apologetic police officer in tow and tried to get him to arrest the manager.

Oh, and no food poisoning.

#10

But you shyed away from the mackeral? WIMP!

:smiley:
I’m kidding, of course. I have eaten sushi on 2 occasions. Enough to know that it is clearly not for me. If someone thinks that they can impress me by eating the stuff, well, they can believe anything they want. I will opt for some other style of food.

#11

Oh

#12

I think the funniest thing is people paying quite a bit of money for a half-handful of raw fish and rice. Sushi is expensive, and yeah, people act like they are a cut above for eating it. If you don’t like it, of course its because you are a peon!

Living on the Great Barrier Reef and having a reef boat kind of gives my family a glut of fish, I’d be damned if I’m paying 3 bucks for a strip the size of 2 postage stamps, RAW.

Whats the history behind sushi? It’s funny how ‘traditional’ food, ie the stuff that was eaten by peasants too poor to own dirt suddenly is ‘high class’ food when eaten by yuppies. :slight_smile:
Same with chopsticks, I’m sure 2 bits of wood are easier to come by than shaped metal, but suddenly is a sign of sophistication to eat your food with the aforesaid twigs. :smiley:

Not that it bothers me if it tastes good to you, whatever blows your hair back.

#13

rynn: chopsticks are hard to learn to eat with properly (at least for me) so I look at it as a show of skill. of some sort. skill at eating. impressive, no? oh, ok, maybe not.

I like sushi - find it a refreshing change - but I haven’t had much in the way of actual FISH in sushi yet. Sea urchin? No thanks.

I made a big wasabi mistake the last time a coworker got seafood. Here’s a hint - if you have a mouthful of wasabi, DEAR GOD, do not drink water to try and wash it down with.

#14

I love good sushi. Really got a taste for it when living in Japan. Some of it though is just plain gross. Uni my ass, try some natto. But the funny thing is that no matter which sushi specialty hits your gross out button, someone else loves it. I’ve got a buddy from Kentucky that just loves natto, and says it’s like something they eat at home. I personally love the squid, but most people find it pretty gnarly.

A lot of people find sushi revolting because some dickhead who thinks it is an extreme sport started them out on something pretty strong instead of the cooked shrimp ebi.

#15

Is sashimi considered the stud’s food of Japanese cuisine? That makes me feel good!

I’ve always had an interest in Japanese culture but my friends and family all blanche at the idea of sushi. Feeling adventurous one day, I went to a local Japanese restaurant for lunch by myself. Not knowing what to order, I got a combination of teriyaki steak and sashimi. There were 4 or 5 slices of sashimi of different kinds of fish. I’m not sure what the types were, but I liked the first two pieces well enough, but the last two or three were a bit hard to swallow (though I managed).

That was my introduction to Japanese cuisine. Other than that I’ve only had the sushi at Chinese buffets and not having much of a baseline for comparison I can’t say if it was good quality or not. It tasted okay, but not good enough for me to understand some folks’ passion for it.

#16

Well, I’ve never been looked down on for hating sushi, because I don’t just hate sushi, I abominate all seafood with very few exceptions. So I get a bye, somehow.

#17

Most sushi’s great. Sea urchin, however, is the foulest substance to ever grace the earth. (And damn you, Maeglin, for not stopping me when I wanted to try it!)

#18

I love me some sushi. But the first time I ever tried it, I looked at the little dollop of green paste on the side of my plate and said “Ooh, great! Guacamole!” You can imagine how that turned out.

I like just enough wasabi on my sushi to keep the experience on the borderline between pleasure and pain.

#19

mmm nothing like Yellow Tail sashimi.

If you want extreme sushi eating come with me to texas.

We will partake in all you can eat lunch sushi bars in chinese restraunts run by people of hispanic extraction.

(not meant as a slur to any one group here, but lets face it… combine cheap fish with leaving it on a buffet line and people of a nationality not known for their cultural skills with prepairing raw fish… and the fact that even I know this is low low grade fish. Parasites anyone?)

#20

Hey, I’m hispanic. And I can prepare raw fish pretty well. And my parasites haven’t killed anyone yet.

:slight_smile: