PZ Myers. 2005 Aug 02. Live octopus tentacle!. <http://pharyngula.org/index/weblog/live_octopus_tentacle/>. Accessed 2008 Nov 20.
Posted on M00o93H7pQ09L8X1t49cHY01Z5j4TT91fGfr on Tuesday, August 02, 2005
Live octopus tentacle!
If ever I'm in LA, I have to try this dish, live octopus tentacle. I guess it doesn't taste very good, but it certainly sounds like an experience.
In every scenario I played out in my imagination as far as eating this dish was concerned, I predicted nothing more than a brief slimy struggle then stillness—the last words of an insignificant creature low on the food chain. Silly me. I could not have underestimated my dinner more because once in my mouth, the tentacle went into attack mode and aggressively suctioned on to my teeth, tongue and bottom lip making it nearly impossible to manipulate my mouth in order to eat it. My dinner was instinctively trying to preserve its own life while attempting to take mine by asphyxiating me. Needless to say, I was just a little mortified by all this. It was—how would you call it—*bleepin’* freaky!!! And if that wasn’t enough, the tentacle then launched phase two of Operation Indigestion and began to whip itself about in a frenzy like it was krump dancing. In my mouth was the mollusk version of the Tasmanian Devil, ferociously flaying at the roof of my mouth and gums. I could not believe it. The feisty, little shit was kind of hurting me. Immediately, I snapped out of the absolute stunned trauma of having to fight with my food and attempted to regain control of the situation. Overpowering the tentacle with my tongue and with a little assist from my fingers, I pried the wicked thing from my gums and teeth. At last the tentacle became vulnerable to my molars. Without hesitating, I bit hard on it over and over and over again while mumbling "Die! Die! Die!"Before it could resurrect itself and do a surprise attack like some slasher movie villain, I swallowed deeply and gulped it down. "Get in my belly!" I gasped.
The dust finally settled. After all that, how does live octopus tentacle taste? A little like fury fused with fear. Spicy and garlicky because of the sauce. There is no aftertaste but there are aftereffects. (Just don’t think about what the tentacle might be doing in your stomach.) It certainly doesn’t taste like cooked squid and nowhere near fried calamari. It’s almost flavorless. Texturally it’s highly viscous, more resembling mucous. As far as attitude, it’s the meanest and rudest piece of food I have ever brawled with.
See the video!
Several people sent me links to this, but I know that one of them, Andy Groves, actually does live in LA. What about it, Andy? How about visiting The Prince restaurant, and reporting back? I double-dog dare you.
Science • Organisms • Weirdness • 3 Trackbacks • Other weblogs • Permalink
-
PZ(?)..."an insignificant creature low on the food chain"...is that how you feel about the octopus?
#: Posted by on 08/02 at 11:12 AM
- If you want to scratch your voyeuristic itch in this regard, see the Korean movie "Oldboy" which came out recently. Only stop right after the live-octopus-eating scene, because after that it gets REALLY disturbing.
-
OGeorge, that would be a quote from someone else within PZ's blog entry. See how it's in a box after a link to the original source.
#: Posted by on 08/02 at 11:34 AM
-
"They're jey powered, did you know that? They're jet-powered animals and their heads are covered in PREHENSILE TENTICLES. They're carnivorous, and most are cannibals! ... I do not need to know animals with these abilities!" -- T-Rex
#: Posted by on 08/02 at 11:36 AM -
I know SEF! I know! ...it's just that PZ is such a cephalaphile and didn't ream the writer for that comment!
#: Posted by on 08/02 at 11:48 AM
-
Dr. Maierz,
I would love to say I had sampled the dish myself, but after seeing "Oldboy", I really can't bring myself to do it. And I say that as someone who happily chows down on tripe, sea cucumber, head cheese, lambs testicles and spleen. Though not all at once.
Cooked, well-beaten octopus, yes. Fighting on its way down, noooooo.#: Posted by on 08/02 at 12:15 PM -
"In every scenario I played out in my imagination as far as eating this dish was concerned, I predicted nothing more than a brief slimy struggle then stillness—the last words of an insignificant creature low on the food chain. Silly me. I could not have underestimated my dinner more..."
If I'm reading this right, and I'm certain I am, the author was being facetious about the "insignificant creature" comment.#: Posted by on 08/02 at 01:06 PM -
Chi-ckeeeeeen.
Fighting on its way down doesn't trouble me much. I've eaten live ants before, and they bite. -
I have tried this in Korea. I think the whole 'anxiety' part, kills the experience. Once you are used to the food-fight, it is not such a novelty
#: Posted by on 08/02 at 01:20 PM
-
i think we may need an exposition on octopus nervous systems, to better understand just what the heck these tentacles are doing and how they manage to do it.
and no, i won't be ordering that dish any time soon. i will grant i can imagine situations where i might eat stuff that still moved, but i've never been that hungry in my life so far, and i mean to see to it i never encounter such circumstances in the future either.#: Posted by on 08/02 at 01:34 PM -
That was grotesquely disturbing.
#: Posted by on 08/02 at 01:43 PM
-
There's the (in)famous clip of Anthony Bourdain eating a live cobra heart
here. The account in his book is much better than the video (he describes drinking cobra bile as well), but you get the idea.....#: Posted by on 08/02 at 02:04 PM - Eat a live octopus in the morning, and nothing worse can happent o you all day.
-
"Eat a live octopus in the morning, and nothing worse can happent o you all day."
Until you eat some live Vibrio cholerae...#: Posted by on 08/02 at 10:14 PM -
Octopus can regenerate tentacles, right? So they just have a live octopus full time waiting to have another one chopped off?
#: Posted by John Emerson on 08/03 at 11:50 AM
-
Not quite in the same league, but I was attacked by a 4 1/2" squid last week on this chartered fishing/shrimping/educational dealy off the Carolina coast. We pulled him up in the shrimp net, and I said, "Oh, I love squid," and the captain handed him to me. Next thing I know I can feel his tentacles wrap about my index finger and his beak puncture a small hole in me. I screamed, and he squirted ink all over me.
Later, I cleaned him, fried him in butter, and ate him with some crusty bread and a cold beer. I believe this is the first time I've bitten into something that bit into me first. -
I seriously think this is a prank. I've spear-fished octopus, killed it, it cleaned it, tenderized it and ate it and so I have a little experince with live octopuses: once the sack inside its head is removed, it dies. That's it. I've never seen a live tentacle that wasn't attached to a live octopus.
#: Posted by on 08/03 at 12:17 PM
-
When my steel adviser lived in Japan, he would take Americanos new to the place out to a sushi bar for 'dancing shrimp,' which are alive but partially disabled (nerve cut at the 'neck,' I believe). If they couldn't handle dancing shrimp, he figured they'd never really be comfortable in Japan and wouldn't hire them.
#: Posted by on 08/03 at 12:34 PM
-
Are most of your correspondents speciesists as defined by Peter Singer? or just weirdos?
#: Posted by goodfornowt on 08/04 at 03:29 AM
- I can't believe this one. Visit my site at the link mentioned.
-
Was that supposed to be an answer?
#: Posted by goodfornowt on 08/04 at 05:01 AM
-
James appears to be website-whoring.
I'd take the weirdo epithet as a compliment. -
Why were you eating live ants? McDonald's was closed?
#: Posted by on 08/05 at 04:51 PM