I loove seafood - cooked, not raw, but eating in a restaurant like this would be a unique experience!
Zauo (ざうお), a chain restaurant in Japan, offers patrons their seafood of choice, cooked (or not) to their liking. As long as you catch it yourself!
It sounds like a pretty smart business plan and frankly, you can't get any fresher than this -- customers are always concerned about how fresh their seafood is, so why not just allow them to fish for their own meal? In Japan, chain restaurant Zauo has its customers fish for their food, then asks them how their catch should be prepared - shioyaki (salt-baked), sashimi (sliced raw), nabe (cooked in a hotpot with broth), karaage (deep fried), ochaazuke (served with rice in tea and other seasonings), and others. Plus, if you successfully catch a fish, you get a discount.
This isn't quite like being out on a lake with a canoe and a fishing rod though.The diners/fishers can see the fish with no problem since the water is clear. And as you will see in the video below, the fish bite pretty easily.
The tanks are generously spread throughout the restaurant, each tank with a mix of specific fish to make fishing random but weighted toward specific catches.
Customers even sit on giant boats that are inside aquariums (or a side room right next to the aquarium), rather than dining tables, to fish for your meal and eat.
Video
They even had more exotic sea animals that there was only one of, like anago (saltwater eel) and same ([pronounced sah-meh] shark) that nobody in their right mind would catch because of their expensive price tag.
And as mentioned earlier, whatever you catch can be cooked any way you like - even alive, ikizukuri-style:
Sokushinbutsu, JAPAN Sokushinbutsu(即身仏) were Buddhist monks or priests who caused their own deaths in a way that resulted in their mummification. This practice reportedly took place almost exclusively in northern Japan around the Yamagata Prefecture. It is believed that many hundreds of monks tried, but only between 16 and 24 such mummifications have been discovered to date. The practice is not advocated or practised today by any Buddhist sect.
Procedure
This is juku Bosatsu Shinnyokai Shonin
who died in 1783
Pic by barista
For 1,000 days (a little less than three years) the priests would eat a special diet consisting only of nuts and seeds, while taking part in a regimen of rigorous physical activity that stripped them of their body fat. They then ate only bark and roots for another thousand days and began drinking a poisonous tea made from the sap of the Urushi tree, normally used to lacquer bowls.
This caused vomiting and a rapid loss of bodily fluids, and most importantly, it made the body too poisonous to be eaten by maggots. Finally, a self-mummifying monk would lock himself in a stone tomb barely larger than his body, where he would not move from the lotus position. His only connection to the outside world was an air tube and a bell. Each day he rang a bell to let those outside know that he was still alive.
When the bell stopped ringing, the tube was removed and the tomb sealed. After the tomb was sealed, the other monks in the temple would wait another 1,000 days, and open the tomb to see if the mummification was successful.
While foreigners might think Sokushinbutsu monks had to be mad to go through such a long and painful process just to eventually kill themselves, they were actually raised to the status of Buddha and revered in Shingon temples across northern Japan. To them, this reward was more than enough.
If the monk had been successfully mummified, they were immediately seen as a Buddha and put in the temple for viewing. Usually, though, there was just a decomposed body. Although they were not viewed as a true Buddha if they were not mummified, they were still admired and revered for their dedication and spirit.
As to the origin of this practice, there is a common suggestion that Shingon school founder Kukai brought this practice from Tang China as part of secret tantric practices he learned, and that were later lost in China.
The practice was satirized in the story "The Destiny That Spanned Two Lifetimes" by Ueda Akinari, in which such a monk was found centuries later and resuscitated. The story appears in the collection Harusame Monogatari.
Until it was outlawed, in the late 18th century, it is believed hundreds of monks attempted to become Sokushinbutsu, but many of them failed. As mentioned earlier, only between 16 and 24 Sokushinbutsu mummies have been discovered in Japan. The most famous is Shinnyokai Shonin of the Dainichi-Boo Temple on the holy Mount Yudono. The majority of the monks who underwent self-mummification did so near this temple. It has been shown that a local spring had high levels of arsenic, and this may have helped the monks in the mummification process. Others can be found in more banal locations such as in Nangakuji Temple, in the suburbs of Tsuruoka, and at Kaikokuji Temple in the small city of Sakata.
Although this practice has been illegal for sometime now, a new Sokushinbutsu was discovered in July 2010, right in Tokyo.
Only In Russia can you find a crane, faucet, tap (call it whatever you want) that sucks your water instead of gives you water!
Jackie Chan Trains a Fish
And you thought your dog or cat was special cause it can do
tricks.... p-lease. Anyone can train a dog or cat to do tricks... but if your FISH can do tricks, like this one in Japan... now we're talking special!
Rajnikanth at Chennai Silks Sarees
They say everyone has a little Rajnikanth (a famous South Indian film actor and media icon) in them. So check out this 'bag boy' in Chennai, India as he puts the rest of you bag boys to shame!
Meanwhile in Belgium...
No, it's not the Belgian Army... these geese were part of a fair in Diest, a small town near Brussels in Belgium. You gotta love those Belgians, only in Belgium!
Fumaça Waterfall in Chapada Diamantina, Brazil
Ok, everyone is basically shittin' themselves watching this video 'cause the cliff near this waterfall in Brazil is famous for not only being high (380m - over 1000 ft.), but also very windy. So the guy standing near the cliff is either one of 2 things - brain dead or has balls of steel.... and he doesn't look brain dead to me.
By the way...
In the film Dhoom 2 (a Bollywood action film), there is a scene at the waterfall where Sunehri (Aishwarya Rai) is dared to jump off without any support mechanism in order to gain Aryan's (Hrithik Roshan) trust. She does so only to have him leap behind her with a bungee cord.
Meanwhile in France....
Check out this street dancer in Paris. I think he's human, lol... and you thought you got the moves when it comes to dancing..
Maeklong Train Market, Thailand
And you thought you lived or worked too close to the train tracks. Well the Maeklong Train Market (ตลาดแม่กลอง) in Thailand is without a doubt, the closest in the WORLD. Folks, when I say close... I mean CLOSE! A train passing through 4 times a day, avoiding collision by mere inches ...
Every so often Google comes up with some pretty neat logos called 'Doodle' logos, that I find not only artistic and entertaining but lots of times, educational. But have you ever wondered where those logos go to after they've been used? Who created them - is it just one person or a group? Can anyone create a doodle logo or do you have to work for Google?
Doodle History
Over the years, doodles on the Google homepage have made searching on Google
more fun and enjoyable for its users worldwide. When doodles were first created,
nobody had anticipated how popular and integral they would become to the Google
search experience. Nowadays, many users excitedly anticipate the release of each
new doodle and some even collect them! Doodles are known as the decorative changes that are made to the Google logo
to celebrate holidays, anniversaries, and the lives of famous artists and
scientists. Whether it is the beginning of Spring, Albert Einstein's birthday,
or the 50th anniversary of
understanding DNA, the doodle team never fails to find artistic ways to
celebrate these unique events. Having a little bit of fun with the corporate logo by redesigning it from
time to time is unheard of at many companies but at Google, it is a part of the
brand. While the doodle is primarily a fun way for the company to recognize
events and notable people, it also illustrates the creative and innovative
personality of the company itself.
'stick figure doodle logo'
In 1998, the concept of the doodle was born when Google founders Larry and
Sergey played with the corporate logo to indicate their attendance at the Burning Man festival in the Nevada desert.
A stick figure drawing
was placed behind the 2nd "o" in the word, Google and the revised logo was
intended as a comical message to Google users that the founders were “out of
office.” While the first doodle was relatively simple, the idea of decorating
the company logo to celebrate notable events was well received by their users.
Over time, the demand for doodles quickly rose both in the U.S. and
internationally. Creating doodles is now the responsibility of a team of talented designers. For them, creating doodles has
become a team effort to enliven the Google homepage and bring smiles to a myriad
of Google users worldwide:
Republic Day - (Italy)
Birthday of Ibn Khaldun - (Middle Eastern Countries)
Israel Independence Day - (Israel)
Queen's Day - (Netherlands)
Lantern Festival - (China)
Korean Liberation Day - (Korea)
Canada Day - (Canada)
Australia Day - (Australia)
Russian Victory Day - (Russia)
Children's Day - (Japan)
Brasil Independence Day - (Brazil)
Swiss National Day - (Switzerland)
'Five Wonders of Britain' by Katherine Chisnall - (United Kingdom)
Fat Thursday - (Poland)
Malaysia Independence Day - (Malaysia)
Bastille Day - (France)
Mărţişor - (Romania)
Reunification Day - (Germany)
Philippine Declaration of Independence - (Philippines)
Saudi Arabia's National Day - (Saudi Arabia)
Atomium - (Belgium)
Holi Festival - (India)
Happy Halloween - (United States)
Those were a few designs from different years just to give you an idea, but there are TONS more from even more countries such as Turkey, Spain, Lithuania, Venezuela, Sweden, Mexico, Slovakia, Thailand, etc. Even those animated ones we often see. You can even submit your own doodle ideas to google! The doodle team has created over 300 doodles for Google.com in the United States
and over 700 have been designed internationally.
Who chooses what doodles will be created and how do they
decide which events will receive doodles?
A group of Googlers regularly get together to decide the events and holidays
that will receive doodles. The ideas for the doodles themselves are gathered
from numerous sources including Googlers and the general public. The doodle
selection process aims to celebrate interesting events and anniversaries that
reflect Google's personality and love for innovation. They are aware that the list
of doodles is not exhaustive, but they try to select doodles that show creativity
and innovation.
Who designs the doodles? There is a team of designers that are behind
the doodles you see on Google.com.
How can Google users/the public submit ideas for doodles? The doodle team is open to user ideas; requests for doodles can be sent to proposals@google.com. The team receives
numerous requests so even if we do not get back to you about your request,
please know that we do look at and consider all the requests that are submitted.
So if you want to view these and many, many more wonderful doodle logos, just go to google.com/logos.
Prepared and Eaten Alive - JAPAN, CHINA, TAIWAN, KOREA
A great deal of you may already know about the customs of eating live food but for the rest of you:
I must warn you that if you have a weak stomach, or you are a vegetarian or just plain disgusted of even the thought of eating anything alive - I suggest you stop reading and go find something else on this blog to read because I for one could barely make this post, lol, since I'm so used to the western way of eating, you know, making sure it's good and dead before cooking and eating it. But as usual, since I'm so darn curious and is always interested in all aspects of cultures from around the world, I just had to add this!
Now, scientists claim the live fishes served feel no pain, but I've always wondered how they tested that theory... were they a fish once and lived to tell about it? Or was it because the fish didn't squeal like a banshee as they were being eaten alive? Anyways...
Us westerners 'distance' ourselves from our food sources a great deal. So much so that most of us don't even have a clue as to how the meats that eventually end up on the shelves of our local supermarkets came to be.
In all fairness, Japanese tradition holds that we should be grateful to the animals who gives us sustenance, and to acknowledge our relationship to them. Whether I agree with this ideology or not is really irrelevant (even though I'm still not sure how eating them alive acknowleges this), but showing respect to the way certain cultures do certain things is what it's all about. After all, I'm sure some of them are just as grossed out about our 'Big Macs' and 'Whopper' burgers and mcnuggets and God only knows what else.
I don't know if I can really eat food that stares right back at me, or twitches or flaps around.. I don't know. Maybe if I try not to make eye contact or something... As long as they don't start with cows or pigs.... I think I'll be ok...
Ikizukuri (Live sashimi), JAPAN
In Japanese cuisine, ikizukuri or ikezukuri(生き作り/活け造り, “prepared alive”) is the preparation of sashimi from a living sea animal such as fish, shrimp, lobster and octopus. Ikizukuri usually begins with the customer selecting from a tank in the restaurant, the animal they wish to eat. The chef, who is often a sashimi chef takes the animal out of the tank and filets it, but without killing the animal, which is served on a plate, sliced, with the heart still beating. Other variants of ikizukuri involve temporarily returning a filleted fish to an aquarium, to swim around until recovered for a second course of soup. Ikizukuri of fish consists of thin, sheet-like slices or finger-sized pieces sometimes garnished with lemon wedges, a decoration of ginger, or nori (seaweed). Squid and small octopus are usually wrapped around a chopstick and eaten whole.
Ikizukuri is a controversial method of preparing food, both in Japan and elsewhere.
Typically ikizukuri style is used with fish like carp or snapper, octopus, squid, lobster or shrimp. This is a very old technique, at least 2000 years old, first brought to the West a decade ago by Nobu Matsuhisa.
When restaurants in the West started serving it, ikezukuri experienced an inevitable backlash from animal rights groups. After a Japanese chef demonstrated the technique on a Los Angeles television station, he received hundreds of angry calls, including death threats.
Lobster Ikizukuri
Live Squid Sashimi
Drunken Shrimp and Ying Yang Fish, CHINA and TAIWAN
Drunken shrimp is a popular dish in portions of China based on fresh-water shrimp that are often eaten alive, but stunned in a strong liquor—baijiu (白酒)—to make consumption easier. Different parts of China have different recipes for it. For example, the shrimp are sometimes made drunk and then cooked in boiling water rather than served live, and in other recipes cooked shrimp are marinated in alcohol after they are boiled.
However, in some parts of China, for example, Shanghai, drunken shrimp is not only served raw -- it's alive. A bowl of live shrimp is served “swimming” in very strong rice wine.
The point of the rice wine serves many purposes apparently: it would sanitize the shrimp, mellow out the shrimp, eventually kill the shrimp and flavor the shrimp. This dish seems simple enough: Get shrimp, add alcohol. Wait a few minutes.. then eat.
The alcohol/rice wine is suppose to relax them. I've also read that it is best to start devouring your drunken shrimps once they seem a bit.. you know, drunk. The idea being they will be less resistant (even though I don't see why WE need anymore advantage over these things). However some enthusiasts say the taste is better the more active the shrimp is. The flavor is in the fight and so on and so on.
Ying Yang fish or Yin Yang fish (also called dead-and-alive fish) is a dish (mostly Ying Yang Fish and Carps) where the fish's body is deep-fried but still has a fresh and moving head. It is popular in China, but it originated in Taiwan where chefs use it to show customers how fresh the food is. Cooking of this dish is now prohibited in Taiwan.
Drunken Shrimp in Shangahi
Drunken Shrimp in Guilin
It involves serving LIVE shrimp doused in that strong Chinese liquor, baijiu.
Annual Chinese Competition
Demonstrates how to 'semi' cook and prepare a live fish (Ying Yang Fish) and snake.... The mouth of the fish has to still be moving when you eat it or the chef fails.
Sannakji, KOREA
Sannakji or sannakji hoe is a variety of hoe, or raw dish, in Korean cuisine. It consists of live nakji (hangul: 낙지, a small octopus) that has been cut into small pieces and served immediately, usually lightly seasoned with sesame and sesame oil. The nakji pieces are usually still squirming on the plate. It can also be served whole.
Because the suction cups on the arm pieces are still active when the dish is served, special care should be taken when eating sannakji. The active suction cups can cause swallowed pieces of arm to stick to the mouth or throat. This can also present a choking hazard for some people, particularly if they are intoxicated. One must thoroughly chew so that no piece is big enough to stick to one's throat. Some people like the feel of the pieces wriggling as swallowed, and so will not completely chew up the particles. Those who are new to eating sannakji should completely chew it up into tiny particles before swallowing.
Sannakji (live octopus) in Seoul, Korea
Try Eating a WHOLE Octopus all at once
Ok, I think I've seen enough 'live' food squirming around on a plate for one day. It's fascinating these different ways of eating... fascinating.
If any of you ever watched that show FEAR FACTOR, I'm sure you've seen episodes of westerners eating live worms.... uh, to win money of course but it shows maybe we can all do this "eating it raw and still moving" thing. Some of us also eat live oysters. So, I guess in a way, we are not so different from these cultures.
