-Bottom left: “honmaguro/本鮪/Kuromaguro/黒鮪”, blue fin tuna from Oma (Aomori Prefecture), chu-toro/semi-fat part.
-Top left: O-toro/belly fat part of same fish
-Bottom centre: “Aori Ika/あおり烏賊, Great Fin Reef Squid from Suruga Bay in Shizuoka Prefecture.
-Bottom right: Akami/lean part from same tuna.
(Picture taken at Sushi Ko, Shizuoka City, Japan)
For all his own research done the old iconoclast geezer once again runs the risk of being lambasted for tackling head on incrasingly poltically incorrect issues…
Attempting to show the larger picture as recently done with whalemeat and suplements certainly struck the wrong chord in some circles, be they faithful friends or avowed enemies.
On the other hand such vital issues as marine and fish stock preservation and replenishement have failed to attract expected comments.
It seems that food is slowly becoming a bone of contention whereas for eons shared meals and drinks were considered the birth and proof of culture in any so-called civilized country or nation.
Moreover, this divisive state of affairs is being further exarcerbated by populist politicians seizing the opportunity for an easy vote gain. Has smoke-belching Arnie ever seen the geese and ducks queueing for more food? Has he ever witnessed the conditions chicken are kept before being served in cartons at KFC diners?
Only very recently a group of politically and religiously-motivated group of vegans have threatened me with a concerted internet attack if I did not mendmy ways immediately (they forgot I can use a spam filtering box…).
Considering personal efforts in featuring regular vegan recipes and information on vegetables and fruits, I was slightly disappoited with the utter lack of tolerance (and civility).
It won’t be mong until a violence-prone activist is arrested for running a bullozer into the the house of a famer who had dared mistreating a cow into giving her milk to make cheese.
japan bashing in all fields has become an increasingly fashionable way to make people forget far more pressing issues.
But the same people are forgetting the resilience and ingenuity of the inhabitants of this island nation. The Japanese kep quiet, bend their backs under the deluge and continue against overwhelming odds to produce arguably the best-balanced diet in this world. After all they are also the longest-living humans on the globe. Many conveniently tend to forget too easily that Japan is one, and probably the only one, of a few countries which can daily provide for all culinary tastes, be they vegan, vegetarian, halal, kosher, or plainly omnivore.
The Japanese also a great grasp of the future.
To cut a long story short, they were the first, and probably the only ones, to research and succeed in raising blue fin tuna from the egg. Such fish are now reaching the weight of 30 kg in Kagoshima Prefecture,and are fast closing to the same figure in Kinki and Tokai Marine Universities. Kagoshima blue fin tuna is already on sale at Parche Supermarket in Shizuoka City!
Businessmen have already registered blue fin tuna rasied at Tokai Marine University under the name of “Shimizu Toro”!
The Japanese don’t feel compelled to impose their views, laws and restrictions in the lands and seas of other nations, but they will be the first to export human-raised blue fin tuna abroad.
Consequently, the ban on wild blue fin tuna will have spawned the perverse result of Japan and importers abroad getting their hands on a new lucrative business!
I can see myself one day guiding rich foreign tourists on a sushi tour of Shizuoka, which not only raises its own blue fin tuna but is also blessed by a sea replete with the same fish!
Now, I totally agree that blue fin tuna catch, and that of any other fish for that matter, should be (have been) strictly regulated, but the present unilateral ban will only bring about two negative outcomes:
-on one hand, what is going to happen to all these fishermen and workers in harbours along the coasts of Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Morocco, Mauritania, Angola and the workers at Hunt’s Point, Boston?
-on the other hand, the same fishermen and workerswill have no other recourse left but but to catch more of the “lesser” tuna species to survive.
The vicious circle has only begun…
Unrelated at may sound, nobody seems to have the guts to question China and her fishermen who kill more than a million (yes, you read well!) sharkes for the sole benefit of cutting off their fins (the rest of the fish is callously thrown back into the sea).
I kept this posting short for the sake of impact, but I will gladly answer any comments as long as they are formulated in a polite, coherent and constructive manner. Otherwise they will be trown to the (remaining) sharks!
RECOMMENDED RELATED SITES:
Warren Bobrow, Bread + Butter, Zoy Zhang, Hungry Neko, Think Twice, Frank Fariello, Mangantayon, Hapabento, Elinluv Tidbit Corner, Tokyo Terrace, Maison de Christina, Chrys Niles,Lexi, Culinary Musings, Wheeling Gourmet, Comestiblog, Chronicles Of A Curious Cook, Tokyo Through The Drinking Glass, Tokyo Foodcast, Urban Sake, Sake World, Palate To Pen, Good Beer & Country Boys, Another Pint, Please!, Yellin Yakimono Gallery, Tokyo Terrace, Hilah Cooking, Vegansarus
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