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March 24, 2006

Strange But True!

Q. "I cannot see her tonight./ I have to give her up/ So I will eat fugu." Any idea what the Japanese poet has in mind here? Let the eater beware!

A. Intensive training is necessary to become licensed as a fugu chef in Japan, but it's worth the effort, says Nigel Calder in "Magic Universe." Gourmets pay astounding prices for the right to court death by eating the most esteemed and dangerous fugu, alias the pufferfish or blowfish. Consuming just a smidgeon of its liver may render a person unable to breathe within minutes due to the poison tetrodotoxin. "It's a recognized though nasty way of committing suicide," seemingly the poet's intention.


 
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