This stuff is just wretched.
Janice tried to point out that we eat cheese, which many Asian chefs find utterly repugnant (which is true, I deeply offended a chinese chef when I gifted her some fresh baked Sourdough Bread out in San Francisco. She had only been in the country a few months, and hadnt been told about the 'sour' part of the bread. She thought I had given her a loaf of spoiled goods)
A moments of reflection will point out how gross cheese is if you really think about it, and yet I love it.
That said, this stuff seems like an offense against nature.
I came across it while writing an article about global Sushi, researching what 'traditional' sushi really is, and which purists acutally eat it.
Its funny because it echoes a story my Papa (maternal grandfather) told me about his experiences in Japan. He was stationed in Okinawa, where he lived in a Japanese Brothel, and when I was a little boy he would often tell stories about life in Japan. He had been terribly in love with one of the girls who worked in the brothel, "Suki" was her name and wanted to marry her. He even brought her to formal events on board the ship. When the Captain found out about his marital plans, however, he put a solid stop to the relationship.
Anyways, he kept describing a dish made with rotten and raw fish that stank like high heaven, along with the suitably horrible kinds of details that make storytelling to little boys interesting and thought provoking, and I was so well armored with Papa's culinary recollections of Okinawa that I originally refused to even touch Sushi for years. Finally, my little sister nichole managed to shame me into trying 'California Roll", and I was so delighted that I became a lifelong fan of the food. In my present life, its a staple.
I had always assumed that the story was apocryphal on my Pops' part, but now I think he must have had a 50s era run in with this dish.
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