"They Actually Eat That:" Hongeohoe.

You thought this week would be out of shark-related stuff because I did hakarl last week, didn't you? The good news is you were half-right; I had originally intended to do shark liver oil, then found something grosser, yet still slightly shark-related. The bad news? It is grosser than liver oil, and almost as nasty as hakarl. Oh, and you'll have to learn something, too.

The pink stuff may look like regular fish, but looks are deceiving. Hongeohoe is a Korean dish consisting of fermented Korean skate, which -

Wait. What's a "skate" in this context?

Skates, like stingrays, are related to sharks. They usually dwell in deep waters and can actually taste quite good if prepared correctly. Being cartilaginous fish (i.e. not having real bones), sharks, rays, and skates are all related. (Deepsea chimeras also fall here, but are so distantly related that they are usually given their own family.) Basically, if you imagine a stingray with a sturdier tail and less wing, you've got a skate.

Like hakarl, hongeohoe involves a fermented fish. In this case, the raw skate is wrapped in rice stalks and dung, then allowed to rot for several weeks. It supposedly came about by accident when Korean sailors let the fish rot and found it was still edible, possessing a "stinging" flavor. Yeah, that already sounds pleasant, doesn't it?

Hongeohoe tastes very much like hakarl - or, rather, like ammonia. Sharks urinate through their skin, apparently, so when a shark dies, the urine becomrs ammonia.Ammonia is found in most households as a cleaning fluid and is a frequent by-product of many biological reactions. If you want to try some, please don't try too much. As with hakarl, hongeohoe is very much an acquired taste and is not for the faint of heart or weak of stomach. 

So, how bad is it? Andrew Zimmern was only able to stomach one piece. Some lucky people have been able to eat three. A wash with rice wine is recommended afterwards. Yes, hongeohoe is indeed the Asian answer to hakarl, even if a shark is not technically involved. Some things remain constant within humanity; apparently fermenting shark/skate is one of those things. (And yes, I know other cultures see cheese as rotten milk.)

"They Actually Eat That:" Cat.

But it isn't like this. No, this was a lucky photo I snapped with my phone. Styx conveniently decided a frying pan was a good place to try and take a nap. We did not intend to make her into kitty bacon, she just so happened to be in the pan for it.

That said, there are places that eat cats as food. No, it is not just restricted to China. It looks like quite a lot of people enjoy cat meat, even in "civilized" places. Unlike dog, this is a taboo food that a lot of people eat. Let's look at a list, shall we?

THIS is what cat meat looks like. Or, well, it's not nearly as cute as Styx in a frying pan.

For starters, yes, cat is a common food in the more rural parts of China. You will not find it by going into restaurants in Beijing or any other major city. Supposedly, cats are illegal to sell as food, but the laws are not as strict in the countryside. Guangdong is particularly notorious for a dish called "dragon tiger phoenix," which contains snake, cat, and rooster meat, respectively. The dish is, as with most Chinese food, medicine.If the name Guangdong sounds familiar for another reason, it's because a billionaire was poisoned by the cat meat there. Ceiling Cat was watching him twitch in agony.

Eating cat is also not limited to China. Cat was legal in Japan until the 19th century. We like to think that Hello Kitty helped make it even more disliked after that point. Korea still eats cat as they do dog. All three of the major "WTF food" Asian countries are slowly moving away from eating cat as more furballs find their way into homes, however, so expect it to be restricted to rural areas by the end of the decade.

The other big area famous for cat meat is, supposedly, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Now, we aren't saying that this place serves cat in five-star restaurants - far from it. Street meat is commonly accused of being cat meat. There have been busts on Brazilian slaughterhouses selling cat and dog meat. We have reason to believe that the name "cat meat skewers" has some basis in fact, here. Nobody likes the concept, even in Brazil, so please don't jump to conclusions. Just sayin', if your barbeque tastes a little off...

Australian aborigines also hunt feral cats. Now, let's be fair in this instance; the domestic cat wrecked the Australian ecosystem. Remember, the rule of thumb with Oz is, "If it has a placenta, it's not from around here." Cats are no exception to that rule. In the case of Australia, turning cats into food is pest control. After all, what happened with rabbits was terrifying.

Basically, if there is a rural area, there is a high chance that someone, somewhere has tried to turn cat into cuisine. Europe has it. South America has it. The internet doesn't say that hicks in North America eat cat, but it wouldn't surprise me.

"They Actually Eat That:" Sea Urchin.

Sea urchins usually do a pretty good job of making themselves look unappetizing. Look at a sea urchin head-on and you will find a ball of spikes, spikes, spikes. There is a squishy little flesh ball somewhere within that mass of pointy spines, but it is hard to get to. Point is, who thought that eating these was a good idea?

Enter Japan. If it is from the sea, they have found a way to eat it. Urchin sushi, commonly called uni, is probably one of the few ways one can get sea urchin in the non-coastal areas of the world. Despite living right near the sea, Japan imports most of its sea urchins from Korea or the U.S. Surprise, surprise, sea urchins are in sushi - just like almost everything else in the entire ocean.



With sea urchins, however, things go from bad to worse. The sexual organs (gonads) of sea urchins are a delicacy in many parts of the world. It is said to have "the flavor of caviar, the trembly texture of panna cotta and the briny but bracing strangeness that comes with eating live oysters." (link)  They can cost up to 450 USD a kilo. The genitalia are so precious that eating sea urchin corals/roe has raised concerns about preserving coral reefs. Korean women called "haenyo" are sometimes reared from birth just to harvest sea urchins.

Japan, for once, is not the only place enjoying castrating small echinoderms.  Other countries also eat sea urchins. A popular dish in the Mediterranean involves raw sea urchin with lemon. Chile eats sea urchin as well. If a place is around the sea, it has probably found away to eat urchin. An appreciation for urchin can be seen as a sign of a true foodie, so if you happen to be in on any given coast, give it a try.

GOLD! Spiny, orange gold!

Should we be surprised that sea urchin has found its way into sushi and other seaside culinary styles? Of course not. Sea urchin is just one of those things that make one wonder who first thought it was appetizing. We can make an exception for sea otters. Otters eat sea urchins on a regular basis and are impossible to stay mad at.

Look into its eyes and tell it not to eat sea urchins.

Of course, China has done worse with echinoderms...but let's save that for next week.

"They Actually Eat That:" Parrot Fish.

This parrot fish is no more. It has ceased to be. It has expired and gone to be someone's dinner. It's a stiff, bereft of life. THIS is an ex-parrot fish!

Yes, they actually eat parrot fish. China and Korea will eat almost anything; small surprise to find parrot fish in a few other countries in East Asia, e.g. the Philippines and Malaysia. It has spread to markets in the United States, including some places in San Diego and Chicago. That people eat parrot fish is hardly surprising, but still enough to make people who appreciate how colorful and awesome parrot fish are a little bit teary.

One can probably guess that parrot fish is particularly popular on islands. According to National Geographic, parrot fish is considered a delicacy in Polynesia. Filipino food may also use parrot fish. Hawaii just loves them, and they can catch them locally, too!



Certain Chinese (and likely Korean) restaurants may also cook parrot fish for you. It is likely an obscure item along the lines of zombie jellyfish, however, so not many places will have it. Still, if you seek this colorful fish, try Asian markets. It probably helps if you know someone who already speaks Chinese or Korean.

As for what it tastes like? Parrot fish has been described as white, delicate, and very chewy. Until I actually find some parrot fish for myself, I will not be able to confirm or deny whether or not it constitutes a delicacy.  I may be taking a trip to a Korean grocery store, soon, but if you have personally ever eaten parrot fish, let us know!

"They Actually Eat That:" Lotus.

We get so much into the strange animal foods every week that we tend to overlook plants. Veggies can be strange, too. One can learn a lot about cultural values by what plants they eat - for example, there was a time and place when it was forbidden to eat root vegetables because they were underground. Also, some places just plain don't have certain plants.



Lotuses (Nelumbo nucifera) are among those plants that some places do not eat simply because they are not native. To many Asian cultures, the lotus is a symbol of enlightenment because it emerges from grimy pond bottoms to float atop the water. It can also be interpreted as a symbol of chastity because it comes up so cleanly from the dirt. The Indian name "Padma" and its derivatives all come from the lotus. It's a very popular plant, to say the least. (Read: this is just scratching the surface of the lotus's cultural significance!) 

The popularity of lotuses extends into cuisine, albeit for more practical than spiritual reasons. The flowers, roots, seeds, and young leaves of the lotus are all edible. Nearly everywhere lotuses grow, people have found ways to eat them. Some cultures pop the seeds like popcorn; the not-very-edible stems can be used to flavor tea; the roots have a multitude of uses. (Yes, I have actually eaten lotus root.)



Lotus root is uncommon if not outright difficult to find in the U.S. It is easily identified by its lacy pattern and round shape. The root is crisp, crunchy, and often seasoned. Put them in salad, broil them, pickle them...eat them however you like! Lotus roots are very nutritious, particularly if one does not have enough fiber in one's diet. Buddhism and other religions that recommend vegan/vegetarianism should be flocking to lotus root and/or konjac. Remember, the latter is illegal in the United States.

Just because a plant is seen as pure and holy certainly does not mean it cannot be eaten. One could almost call it sacrelicious, but there are no prohibitions against eating lotus. It's just a little strange to most of us. Then again, in the West, a certain major religion encourages the symbolic practice of eating the flesh and blood of a certain magic individual, so we should be the last ones to judge other faiths.

"They Actually Eat That:" Silkworms.

It's official: China (with trade partners in Korea) is the king of strange food. Sure, everything in America is processed to hell, but they have zombie jellyfish salad. Nothing says "we're willing to turn ANYTHING into food" quite like zombie jellyfish salad. (Disclaimer: I've had jellyfish salad. It was interesting.)  Silkworms have also got to be pretty high on the list of creepy foods for most people.

The world's only domesticated moth has been caught by China's habit of eating anything that so much as twitches. These little silkworms are sold at night markets as fast food and in supermarkets boiled and canned. They can be found roasted, fried, or just boiled. Hey, want worms with that?




Actually, this is one of the more practical, yet still weird, things China eats. After silk is made, there are a lot of half-metamorphosed larvae left to deal with. The silk-making process requires that one boils the cocoons anyways; half of the cooking is done to make qipao and other lovely silk items regardless of whether the boiled insects were eaten or not. May as well make use of those bodies!

So, what does silkworm taste like? Most foreigners mention the strange smell before the taste, but after they pluck up the courage to put one in their mouths, the insects are tolerable. One person visiting Shanghai described the taste as being similar to lobster brain. I have also seen someone saying they'd be "better with a little crunch to them. " It's probably an acquired taste; once you can stomach the little buggers, they really aren't that bad. Should you be in China or Korea, give silkworm a try.



Why eat the worms? Why not eat them? Insects are little sacks of protein, and these particular sacks are farmed en masse anyways. Bon appetit!

"They Actually Eat That:" Jellyfish.

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...

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.

"They Actually Eat That:" Squid.

Cephalopods, the family including octopuses, squid, and cuttlefish, are among the sea's weirdest residents. Despite not having spinal cords, they are strange, wonderful creatures. Octopuses can morph into any shape, walk on land, and predict soccer match outcomes with surprising accuracy. Cuttlefish are like living mood rings. Squid, well...

 

Everybody eats squid. Go figure, Japan eats the most at 700,000 tons.

"Calamari" is the general term for squid as food. It is derived from the Italian "calamaro", which just means "squid." Greek and several other languages use similar words. Calamari as most restaurants in the U.S. serve it is deep-fried and served with dips; think of them as fleshy onion rings. Other garnishes, sauces, and cheeses may be used depending on where you go. One Spanish calamari recipe even uses the squid's own ink as part of the sauce!



Japan, China, and other places in the East not only eat squid, but have picked up the idea and ran with it. Sushi with squid on or in it is called "ika" (again, just another word for "squid"). Squid can also be served alive (ikuzukuri), or at least very, very fresh. Korea and Japan have a particular taste for the only type of squid that can see color - and it glows in the dark!


Dude, that's trippy...let's eat it!

Eating tiny, glowing squid is just the tip of the iceberg. Japan puts squid on their pizza and squid ink in their soft serve ice cream. Anyone who has seen the movie Host knows that dried squid are sold as snack food in Korea, China, Japan and Taiwan. The West has pork rinds, the East has squid hung out to dry.



No wonder Cthulhu's always in such a bad mood. We're eating his babies. 

Next week: Breast milk. We swear that Qwaser has nothing to do with it.

"They Actually Eat That:" SPAM.

Let the clip speak for itself. Watch it, then come back.

This Monty Python sketch alone fueled Spam's amazingly prominent place in pop culture. Notice how the inclusion of Spam in every menu item interfered with the overall appeal of the food; that is how the technical term "spam" came about. You have Monty Python to thank for your spam filter. If it was called the "annoying e-mail filter," it would not have caught on nearly as well. The food is so talked-about that Weird Al even has a song about Spam.

The question is...what is it?


The tab is there to open the can...the can is there to hold in the Spam. Goggles on, everyone!

Spam was invented in 1937 by Hormel ham. It contains "spiced meat and ham" - of pigs, obviously. It should be spelled with all capital letters as per trademark laws. Other backronyms include "Special Product of Austin, Minnesota," "Something Posing As Meat," and "Spare Parts Animal Meat."

Silly nature aside, Spam consists of pig meat preserved with water, potato starch, salt, sodium nitrite, and, of course, the can. The gelatinous glaze on Spam is made from aspic, a sort of gelatin made from various meat sources. Aspic is, in itself, pretty gross; please, somebody tell us how this is supposed to be appetizing:


This is not Spam. This is the stuff that preserves Spam.

Spam is often confused with mystery meat, even though it's pretty obvious that everything came from a pig. It comes in several flavors and tastes "kind of like ham." Its status as a heavily-preserved canned food means that it was both popular in the military and is generally thought of as a "poor man's food" by people in the continental U.S. Just about the only people on the mainland who really get a kick out of Spam are the manufacturers in Austin, Minnesota and a yearly, parody Spam festival in Austin, Texas. It's the Texans' job to make Spam appetizing. Porky Pig help us all.

 

Despite the preservatives and its "who knows what's in that can?" nature, Spam has slightly fewer rabid fans than Lady Gaga. Korea, China, Okinawa (not technically Japan), Hawaii, the Philippines, and Guam all love Spam.The average person on Guam consumes 16 tins of Spam each year, and this is likely not counting the Spam in every McDonald's and Burger King on Guam. As if fast food could not be any worse for you.

As for Korea, China, and Okinawa...tip of the iceberg. They have done far weirder things with far weirder meats. We're going to let them slide on this one just because dog just so happens to be on the menu in some of those places, and Japan would eat the flesh of Dagon if they could wrap it in rice. Spam looks sane by comparison.

This is actually from Hawaii,  whose cuisine was HEAVILY influenced by Japan.

Next week: Whaddya mean, "I haven't covered calamari yet?" It's actually pretty good!

[Note: Midterms in everything coming up means Kuro something-something. Be glad I got this entry through.]

Creature Feature: Vampire Moths.

"I'd come back as a butterfly."

"Why?"

"Because nobody ever suspects the butterfly. Mwahahaha!" - Bart Simpson.

Indeed, who would suspect a butterfly of doing anything sinister? Moths are slightly more suspicious and annoying, but still nothing to worry about unless you have a precious wool sweater. All of Lepidoptera seems pretty innocent; even the moth with a skull on its back is harmless. They are hardly frightening creatures.

Oh, wait. Except that moth.

Moths of the genus Calyptra have a sinister secret hiding beneath that demure, brown coloration: Their proboscises have evolved to become sharp enough to pierce mammalian flesh. While pulsating their bifurcated mouth parts into a mammal's (that means your) body, they slowly suck up some vital fluid. (By the way, the case is opposite with these moths and mosquitoes; the males bite.) Expect the bite to hurt for 2-3 hours after the moth has left. They are not disease vectors like mosquitoes, so you will definitely live to say that you got bitten by a vampire moth.

 

Nobody is sure exactly how these moths became dusty, fluttering nosferatu, but the current theory is that related moths first evolved those strange mouth parts to suck fruits juice out of fruit. Sucking human blood is just an extension of that talent. Umm, wow, science; does this mean that we should all start fearing vegans?


Yes. No good can come of an image like this.

Oh, and by the way, Calyptra moths are native to southeast Asia, Japan, China, the Urals, and southern Europe...or they were. They have now spread as far as Finland; a few have also been spotted in Sweden, a little further West. If this keeps up, they will get to America and have terrible literature written about them within the next few decades.

At least they don't sparkle.


Tomorrow: The parts of the pig that you never thought would have a use DO have a use; also, see how awesome pigs used to be!

"They Actually Eat That:" Mice.

After insects getting the spotlight several times, are you really surprised mice ended up here? After all, they are at least as common as insects, a good source of protein, and follow too-omnivorous humans wherever they may go. They were bound to wind up on the menu eventually.

Eating mice goes way back. People have been eating mice since prehistoric times because, hey, they were around. The ancient Romans ate stuffed dormice on a fairly regular basis, to the point that there is a species of mouse called the "edible dormouse." Then people in Europe finally went, "ew, that's gross and not even a challenge. Let's eat innocent songbirds instead."

(Ortolan says hi.) 

Some poorer nations in Africa and Europe still eat mice, but, largely because of the rodent's reputation as unclean, eating them is considered taboo in many parts of the world. They're adorable, too, but when has cuteness ever stopped someone from eating an animal? Should you wish to try mouse meat, there are still plenty of places in which to eat them; not many of them are well-off countries.

Oh, except for China, Vietnam, and Korea. (We could debate about how poor or not they are until the cows come home; Korea and China are industrialized, at least.) What, are you guys going for some sort of "Place With the Weirdest Food" record?



China and Korea make the ancient Romans look like wusses for eating cute, fuzzy dormice. Besides using mouse meat in several dishes, they put regular mice on skewers along with snakes, lizards, and scorpions. This bizarre buffet is usually found in Chinese-style night markets. Take your pick of odd eats there. Name it and if it is small enough to put on a stick, they have put it on a stick.

It gets worse/better, depending on how you see these entries: Do you know what a pinky is?


Not THIS Pinky.

If you are not in the reptile or bird of prey trade, a pinky is a baby mouse no more than 2-3 days old. It is furless with closed eyes and no more than an inch or two (a few centimeters) from head to skinny tail. Pinkies are commonly used to feed baby snakes and other small carnivorous animals in captivity. In Korea, they are also put in wine.



Korea takes eating mice the extra mile by taking not just one, not two, but a whole mountain of baby mice and drowning them in wine. The resulting mixture is left to brew for a year. It supposedly tastes like gasoline and, according to Korean folk medicine, can cure asthma, liver problems (cure or cause, guys?) or...well, anything else that ails you. Baby mouse wine is a common health tonic there; I have heard that China does this as well, but Korea remains more notorious for it for whatever reason.

Congratulations, Korea: You have officially won the "Place With the Weirdest Foods" award. Take a bow; you deserve it for swallowing baby mice to cure asthma.


Next week: Enough about Korea. There's plenty of gross stuff in the States, too.

"They Actually Eat That:" Lampreys.

We could, of course, eat the invasive bloodsucking fish.

Before you get grossed out, I must once again reinforce that America eats shit. Thanks to our low standards of what, exactly, defines "food," we have literal crap in our burgers and farm enough to save a hundred starving kids in Africa. Despite this, the idea of Koreans eating dog for dinner guarantees a shiver from almost every American, even though dogs are easier to farm than cattle (just head over to your local shelter for proof). I'm personally still reeling over hagfish as a food; OK, I can understand eating what's around you, but hagfish are pretty much universally gross. Thanks, Korea. Thanks a bunch.


The notion of eating one of these will haunt my nightmares.

The thing is, lampreys are not food for some poor nation with lower standards of living. They are haut cuisine.



Lampreys have been eaten in Europe since at least the ancient Romans. Legend has it that, as punishment, the emperor Augustus sent a slave into his lamprey-filled fishpond for breaking a single crystal glass. Those lampreys were not just torture devices. The Romans loved eating those little bloodsuckers.

Ever since then, they have been considered a food for the wealthy. They were so popular during medieval times that one king supposedly died from eating too much lamprey. Since lampreys are much meatier than bony fish, they were also eaten during times of fasting.



"That was then, and this is now," right? Nope. In Spain, Portugal and France, lampreys are still considered a delicacy. They are also eaten in Finland (after lutefisk, are you surprised?), Russia, and, of course, South Korea. Hell, in some of these areas, lampreys are over-fished. Alaska has also jumped on the lamprey bandwagon.


I'm not sure what this soccer mom thinks of Yukon lamprey. Probably the same thing she thinks of other Alaskan wildlife. *Twitch.*

You want a solution to the lamprey problem? Try fishing for and selling the lampreys. It'll be more genuinely European than pizza. The not-eels are rapidly going extinct because lamprey is apparently that damn good.

Creature Feature: White Snailfish and the Egret Orchid.

So there was this post on CNN.com that a friend linked me to. He added "I don't know what you're going to do with this." I will grant that it does have a lot of the qualities I was talking about in my star-nosed mole entry - light coloration (if you don't use melanin, you lose it), small eyes, and an overall "weird" look.

After clicking around, I found that they were among the deepest-living fish in the world. Trust me, science, there is always something deeper. You will NEVER see how truly weird this world can get. EVER!

World's deepest living fish



VideoLife Uzerinden Izle

He was probably more referring to my monster-designing capabilities than this blog, but regardless, nature has beaten me to the punch this time:



An abyssal fish...on land?! Actually, most people think that these look more like birds than fish. That's why it is commonly called the white egret orchid instead of Habenaria radiata (which does not have much to do with ANYTHING at first glance). They can be found in Japan, China, Korea and Russia, so there is really no good reason why they have not been made into Pokemon yet. They are also fairly easy to acquire from flower companies.

Now imagine if they could glow in the dark. Oooh.

(...Yeah, even though it's short, you can tell I wanted to do the egret flowers for a while.)

Creature Feature: Hagfish

Wait a minute. It's not time for "They Actually Eat That!" What gives, Kuro?

This one was gross enough to warrant its own entry beyond "They Actually Eat That." Hagfish (class Myxini) are disgusting, slimy and fascinating enough to be cool without being food, even if Korea does eat them. If you're trying to not be a nation of weird food, Korea, you are failing. Dog I'll buy, but what conditions led to hagfish on the menu? You'll see why this is gross as hell in a sec. Condoms are not involved in my reasoning.



Hagfish are not technically fish. Although they look a lot like eels, they have no spinal cord or jaws to speak of - the only bone in their bodies is their skull. (This makes them technically invertebrates.) They do not have toothy jaws, instead having toothy projections in their mouths that just act like teeth. Their mouths are also framed with bar- no, wait, those are totally tentacles from a Japanese porno mag.


This is seriously Grade A Fetish Fodder.

Freaked out yet? No? Keep reading and watching:



Hagfish are slimy. That is not an opinion, it is a fact. Their long, eel-like bodies are covered in a mucous coating that makes them extremely slippery and becomes stinky, gooey gunk when mixed with water. This slime can turn a 5-liter bucket of water into nothing but slime in mere minutes. A hagfish is so slimy that it has to tie itself in a knot just so that it can breathe outside of its own slime every now and then.

As one might be able to guess from all of its primitive traits, the hagfish has gone unchanged for eons. The hagfish first appeared around 330 million years ago in the Late Carboniferous Period - waaaayyyyyy earlier than the dinosaurs everyone knows and loves. Scientists are not kidding when they say that this creature is almost an evolutionary transition point from invertebrates to fish. Now, if only it could evolve to produce just a little less slime.


If you need to do acrobatics just to get out of your own self-defense, something is wrong.

Hagfish are in every ocean, spanning 5 genera. Several new species have recently been discovered in the deepsea abyss - y'know, the place where nightmares are born and Cthulhu has a sweet pad called R'lyeh. Sleep tight.

"They Actually Eat That:" Dog.

The video speaks for itself, really. I do, however, have to add that that is an INTENSE test of courage; after all, it takes balls to kill a friend.


Hey, hey...did you guys name me Courage just to be ironic, or...?

They Actually Eat That?!

If the video above did not tip you off, yes, the rumors about Vietnam and Korea are true: They actually eat dogs.


One WONDERS how hellhound stories got started...

I hate to sound like a bitch (hah), but can you blame them? Dogs are almost everywhere. Somebody, somewhere, had to have eaten them at some point. It just took a creative soul to turn dog meat into culinary art.

Eating Fido is a LOT more common than you think it is. Seriously, the better question is why not eat dogs? The ancient Romans, French and Mexicans ate (and in Mexico, possibly STILL eat) dogs; China, Vietnam and Korea are notorious for canine cuisine. If we want to get really nasty, weak dogs have been fed to their own pack on several occasions. This is nothing new; pretty much as long as people have had dogs, people have eaten them. Whether they have kept up the tradition or not is another story.

So why does the tradition persist in Asian culture? It depends on where you go. The Chinese cite their old medicinal practices; many of them relate to retaining body heat. In Korea, they have been eating dog meat since the Neolithic and show no signs of stopping- if anything, some of them want canine cuisine to become more and more mainstream. It has a really nice taste, apparently.

Even in these countries, eating dog is not without controversy. "Dogs are friends, not food" gained ground with animal rights movements. Korea still asserts that at least some dogs are livestock, even though no legal yes or no has ever been given.

Korea in particular has had issues with whether dogs are food or not. There are always new lines being drawn regarding dog's status on Korean livestock and food lists. Nonetheless, many dog owners feel no inner conflict about eating dog meat.

The question is, how far do you go with something like this? One of the investigations in China only took hold because of how the dogs were treated - if cows were being skinned alive, a similar objection could have been reached. HOWEVER, people like PETA would like to cease human-animal interaction entirely. What's the stopping point? After all, chickens and cattle make fine pets, too. (Remind me to do a post on mini-cows...)

Then again, I'm all for consumption as a means of trimming away excess mammal populations. Hint, hint.