Odori Don
A Japanese and Korean delicacy, odori don, or odorigui, is a dish also known as the “dancing squid rice bowl.” This meal is exactly what it sounds like - a writhing squid (or similar sea creature) that thrashes and attempts to escape the bowl.
To create this animated meal, chefs remove the brain of a live squid, cuttlefish, or octopus and serve it above a bowl of rice. Because this fish is so fresh and with live nerve cells, when soy sauce is poured over its tentacles, the muscles react to the sodium stimulant, causing them to reactivate and the squid to “dance” in the bowl.
Culinary adventurers should be wary, though: this dish carries a health risk. Because the tentacles are covered in suction cups, it is possible that the still active nerve cells will cause them to lodge themselves to the inside of the throat, choking the person who is eating the dish. This danger is so real that some countries, like Australia, have banned the dish from being served in restaurants.
Drunken Shrimp
If the idea of choking on your meal isn’t appealing, there is another live seafood option that’s popular in Japan and China, called “drunken shrimp,” or qiang xia, which is said to be an aphrodisiac.
This dish is created by soaking live shrimp in a Chinese spirit, baijiu, or a similar alcohol, for about a minute until they are “drunk.” The alcohol is then dumped from their container and replaced with a marinade of your choice. Because the now “drunk” shrimp have become dehydrated, their bodies soak up the marinade, which can range in flavor from sweet, sour, or salty. The creatures are then served, still very much alive, in a covered goblet. To eat them, you tear off their heads and shells and consume their still-wiggling flesh.