Or, if you prefer,"I Actually Ate That: Jellyfish Salad."
Those brown stringy bits on top of diced cucumbers are none other than 100% genuine jellyfish. They came from an authentic Chinese restaurant near Chicago's Chinatown. They tasted all right - in short, like the dressing on the salad - and are easily the wiggliest thing I will ever try. Unless, of course, I manage to get my mitts on ikizurkuri...no, wait. Even then, these disembodied strips of cnidarian would out-wiggle a death-twitching fish.
The creepy thing is, even with all that wiggling, there was a good chance that the jellyfish I had was dried before it reached my plate. After looking around at recipes, it turns out that dried jellyfish is commonly found in Korean and Chinese marketplaces. The jellyfish are rehydrated before being cut into strips. So...wait a minute. I was eating zombie jellyfish.
Besides jellyfish, common ingredients in a jellyfish salad include cucumber, dried prawns, and sesame. It is very easy to prepare and always served cold. One recipe usually serves 2-4 people depending on how much one intends to eat. That's a lot of re-soaked cnidarian.
Additional testimony confirms my thoughts about what it is actually like to eat jellyfish: Slimy, scrunchy, and just barely an animal. Jellyfish has a texture all its own. If some just so happens to find its way into your fish sticks, you'll know. Believe me, there is nothing like eating jellyfish. They are becoming more and more common, so expect this trend to catch on...
So, should you try jellyfish, if you get the chance? Sure. It's worth trying, and definitely fun to watch wiggle in your chopsticks. If you can find a place that has jellyfish, by all means dig in and try some cnidarian.
Those brown stringy bits on top of diced cucumbers are none other than 100% genuine jellyfish. They came from an authentic Chinese restaurant near Chicago's Chinatown. They tasted all right - in short, like the dressing on the salad - and are easily the wiggliest thing I will ever try. Unless, of course, I manage to get my mitts on ikizurkuri...no, wait. Even then, these disembodied strips of cnidarian would out-wiggle a death-twitching fish.
The creepy thing is, even with all that wiggling, there was a good chance that the jellyfish I had was dried before it reached my plate. After looking around at recipes, it turns out that dried jellyfish is commonly found in Korean and Chinese marketplaces. The jellyfish are rehydrated before being cut into strips. So...wait a minute. I was eating zombie jellyfish.
Besides jellyfish, common ingredients in a jellyfish salad include cucumber, dried prawns, and sesame. It is very easy to prepare and always served cold. One recipe usually serves 2-4 people depending on how much one intends to eat. That's a lot of re-soaked cnidarian.
Additional testimony confirms my thoughts about what it is actually like to eat jellyfish: Slimy, scrunchy, and just barely an animal. Jellyfish has a texture all its own. If some just so happens to find its way into your fish sticks, you'll know. Believe me, there is nothing like eating jellyfish. They are becoming more and more common, so expect this trend to catch on...
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| Peanut butter and jellyfish from Deep End Dining. |
So, should you try jellyfish, if you get the chance? Sure. It's worth trying, and definitely fun to watch wiggle in your chopsticks. If you can find a place that has jellyfish, by all means dig in and try some cnidarian.
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