Wednesday, January 31, 2007

A Family Supper - Kazuo Ishiguro

In this story, the most interesting thing to me is the word 'Fugu'.




Fugu is a fish caught off the Pacific shores of Japan. According to my research, it contains deadly poison in the organs. Despite the risk, fugu dishes remain as special feasts in Japan. Even the milt is considered as a great delicacy. Fugu is referred to as blow/globe/puffer fish since it blows its body up. The kanji (Chinese characters) used to write fugu indicates "river pig." In western Japan, fugu is called "fuku," which means "to blow" or "happiness." It's reported that about 40 kinds of blow fish are caught and cultured in Japan and that 10000 tons of blow fish are consumed each year. Shimonoseki-city in Yamaguchi, is known as fugu city and supplies a large amount of fugu.

For more information about Fugu, visit: http://japanesefood.about.com/cs/seafoodfish/a/fugublowfish.htm





1 comment:

Professor Sweet's Cultural Reference Log said...

Would you dare eat this fish? I'm impressed that Aki has eaten it TWICE! :0