One strange (but very edible) invertebrate from around the world is a geoduck. First of all, geoducks are not ducks. They are not related to ducks, or any other bird. They are actually large clams. They live off the coasts of Canada and the United States. They are usually between fifteen centimeters to about 20 centimeters, but some are even longer than twenty centimeters. Their most significant body feature by far is their siphon that stretches out from the shell, some even may call it simply a neck. A geoduck siphon is basically how it eats and takes in nutrients. They can be steamed and eaten in thin slices with some type of sauce, or they can be eaten raw as a sashimi. If I knew what this food was before eating it, I do not think I would be able to eat it.
A second strange but very edible invertebrate from around the world is a lamprey. Lamprey’s are a jawless fish and I think they are weird and kinda scary looking. There are more than fifteen species of lampreys in seas around the world. In addition, some species of lampreys are even parasitic. “Often, they attach themselves to other fish by their mouth and literally suck out the nutrients. Although sometimes, they attach themselves to rocks and gather small creatures from its surface for food. A number of people sometimes refer to lampreys as vampire fish, because of their habit of the way they prey on other live fish” (Cave & Thomson). I wouldn’t eat a lamprey because I already dislike fish, and these things are gross looking. A third strange but very edible invertebrate from around the world is a sea urchin. This dish is pretty common, but it’s still strange how thousands of years ago, people decided to eat it. “Despite its thorny and painful appearance; however, the Japanese have been having them as dinner for these thousands of years” ( Cave & Thomson). The part of the sea urchin you eat is called uni. To get to the uni, which is its flesh, the needles on the sea urchin are clipped off, and someone cracks open the core. “Uni flesh is then dug out and eaten raw as a sashimi, or placed on rice and eaten as sushi” (ibid.). Sometimes, Koreans put the flesh in stews. I’m not sure if I’d want to eat raw sea urchin flesh, but it does seem like a pretty common dish in different areas around the world. A fourth and last very strange but very edible invertebrate from around the world is Shirouo no Odarigui. I think this is the strangest dish stated in this report. Odarigui is a kind of way of eating meals that was created in Japan. They are from the Ice Gobi species. “Shirouo are small, transparent fish which are eaten alive, while swimming in water and raw eggs…. Usually, diners will pick up these fish with chopsticks and put them directly into their mouth” (Cave and Thomson) The live fish toss and turn, which is how this dish got its name. The meaning of Odarigui is ‘dancing meal’. I would never eat this dish even if my life depended on it. |