Fugu

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Takifugu rubripes in a restaurant in Nagoya , Japan

Fugu ( Japanese 河豚 ) is a Japanese specialty made from the muscle meat of puffer fish .

In a special preparation technique by the contained therein are tetrodotoxin highly toxic body parts such as intestines, roe, liver and depending Kugelfischart the skin carefully removed and used only the most non-toxic lean meat. Therefore, in Japan today, anyone who is involved in fishing, trading or preparation must have a special license . For the preparation license, the cook must have worked in a Fugu restaurant for two years and then pass an exam. This type of food production is prohibited in Switzerland ( Art. 2l VLtH ); this means that fugu can only be imported for private consumption.

Today, however, with the help of a special diet, non-poisonous puffer fish can also be raised, as the fish do not produce the poison themselves, but ingest its components with their food .

etymology

In ancient times the fish was called Fuku and is still called that in the Shimonoseki area today . It got its name because the fish inflates itself with water and this squirts out when caught, which sounds like pūpū - / f / and / p / are both voiceless bilabials in Japanese .

It was written as 布 久 or 鰒 . The former is a phonetic notation and is first found in the dictionary Wamyō Ruijushō from 938. 鰒 , on the other hand, is much more recent and comes from the Edo period , where it is used in the illustrated encyclopedia Wakan Sansai Zue from 1712. The same character, but with the pronunciation awabi , also designates abalone ears .

Today's usual Kanji spelling 河豚 literally means "river pig" and comes from China, where it referred to Takifugu obscurus (Japanese mefugu ), native to the Yangtze River . The "pig" refers to both the previously mentioned sound, which is reminiscent of a pig, and its tasty meat.

Types, taste and presentation

Fugu sale on a market street in Osaka , Japan

Fugu is mostly offered in restaurants that specialize in preparing puffer fish. The restaurants can often be recognized by a dried and inflated puffer fish at the entrance. It is expensive because of the necessary safety measures and the special training of the chefs and is considered a status symbol . The fish is mostly eaten raw as sashimi in wafer-thin slices, but also deep-fried or fried ( karage ) or prepared in a soup. In order to fully perceive the raw fish taste, two to three slices are traditionally placed one on top of the other in the mouth, which are usually moistened with soy sauce ( Shoyu ) beforehand. Its taste is usually described as bland. The art of preparation lies in administering poisonous doses that can be tolerated without serious symptoms of intoxication, which, in addition to a tingling numbness in the mouth , should also trigger intoxicating euphoria in the guest .

The Japanese Ministry of Health, Labor and Social Affairs permits the following puffer fish species to be suitable for consumption, with the liver, ovaries and intestines generally considered to be very toxic to fatal:

Surname Toxicity / permitted for consumption (green = yes, yellow = partially, red = no)
Scientific Japanese Testicles skin Lean meat
Takifugu chrysops Akamefugu non-toxic very poisonus non-toxic
Lagocephalus inermis Kanafugu non-toxic non-toxic non-toxic
Takifugu chinensis Karasu non-toxic non-toxic non-toxic
Takifugu niphobles Kusafugu slightly poisonous very poisonus slightly poisonous
Lagocephalus gloveri Kurosabafugu non-toxic non-toxic non-toxic
Takifugu stictonotus Gomafugu non-toxic slightly poisonous non-toxic
Takifugu poecilonotus Komonfugu very poisonus very poisonus slightly poisonous
Takifugu flavidus Sansaifugu slightly poisonous very poisonus non-toxic
Takifugu xanthopterum Shimafugu non-toxic non-toxic non-toxic
Takifugu snyderi Shōsaifugu non-toxic very poisonus non-toxic
Lagocephalus wheeleri Shirosabafugu non-toxic non-toxic non-toxic
Takifugu rubripes Torafugu non-toxic non-toxic non-toxic
Takifugu vermicularis Nashifugu non-toxic fatal non-toxic
Takifugu pardalis Higanfugu slightly poisonous very poisonus non-toxic
Takifugu porphyreus Mafugu non-toxic very poisonus non-toxic
Takifugu obscurus Mefugu non-toxic very poisonus non-toxic
Sphoeroides pachygaster Yoritofugu non-toxic non-toxic non-toxic
Fugu sashimi

Remarks:

  1. ↑ Consumption prohibited for catches from Okirai Bay ( 越 喜 来 湾 , Okirai-wan ) near Ōfunato , Kamaishi Bay ( 釜 石湾 , Kamaishi-wan ) near Kamaishi and Ogatsu Bay ( 雄 勝 湾 , Ogatsu-wan ) near Ogatsu , Ishinomaki .
  2. ↑ Consumption of testicles possible for catches from the Ariake Sea and Tachibana Bay, according to a processing method specified by Nagasaki Prefecture .
  3. ↑ Consumption of muscle meat possible for catches from the Ariake Sea, Tachibana Bay and the Seto Inland Sea of Kagawa and Okayama .
  4. ↑ Consumption prohibited for catches from Okirai Bay ( 越 喜 来 湾 , Okirai-wan ) near Ōfunato and Kamaishi Bay ( 釜 石湾 , Kamaishi-wan ) near Kamaishi .

The term Fugu also includes the hedgehog fish species gray hedgehog fish ( Ishigakifugu ), brown-spotted hedgehog fish ( Harisenbon ), masked hedgehog fish ( Hitozura-Harisenbon ) and spotted hedgehog fish ( Nezumifugu ), in which testicles, skin and muscle meat are edible, as well the boxfish species Ostracion immaculatus ( Hakofugu ), whose testicles and muscle meat are edible.

Dangerousness and prohibitions of puffer fish consumption

Fried fugu fish milk

The effects as well as the dangers of the puffer fish are already mentioned in the oldest Chinese herbal book ( Pen tsao chin ).

During the Muromachi period (14th-16th centuries), a general ban on consumption was issued. In the case of samurai , fugu poisoning was considered a pointless death and resulted in the entire family being paid off. When the Prime Minister Itō Hirobumi ate puffer fish in the Shunpanrō ( 春帆 楼 ) restaurant in Shimonoseki in Yamaguchi Prefecture in 1888 and was enthusiastic about its taste, the governor of this prefecture Hara Yasutarō lifted the ban on them. Other areas of Japan followed, although the ban in Osaka lasted until 1941.

The number of people who died of fugu poisoning in Japan between 1956 and 1958 is 420. Since the handling of the fish in Japan has required licenses, this number has virtually fallen to zero. The average of five Japanese a year who still die after contact with fugu innards have so far been without exception private individuals who worked with the fish without a license or who consciously consumed the poisonous liver as an intoxicant (banned since 1983). Fugu is also the only food that is not allowed to be served to members of the imperial family . A modern legend is that fugu cooks, in whose restaurant people were poisoned, committed seppuku (ritual suicide).

According to German law, fugu may not be imported into Germany for consumption. The Hessian party Die Grünen took advantage of this fact in 1985 for a joke when it included a fictitious Shanghai puffer fish agreement in the coalition agreement with the SPD , which supposedly was supposed to extend the deadlines for work permits for fugu cooks.

In the US, a few Japanese restaurants are allowed to serve fugu; However, this must not be prepared on site, but must be filleted and deep-frozen imported from Japan.

Puffer fish and poison-free rearing

Fugu is a specialty of various Japanese port cities in Yamaguchi Prefecture, e.g. B. Shimonoseki , because in this region the deep water near the seabed has the fish's preferred temperature of 13 degrees Celsius. Is fished by trolling with the particularity that the fish inflates in obtaining due to pressure drop and without subsequent manipulation keel up in catcher drives. This is remedied by a targeted prick behind the gill fin to let out the air.

Tamao Noguchi from Nagasaki University was able to raise poison-free puffer fish of the species Takifugu rubripes after years of research . Due to a tetrodotoxin-free food, the puffer fish grow poison-free. However, the Japanese Ministry of Health does not want to give permission for this species to be sold until it has been clarified how the poison is created in the fish. Puffer fish farmers consider this restriction to be an arbitrary protective provision in favor of the fugu cooks.

Fugu in popular culture

  • In the Columbo episode Mord à la Carte (1978, director: Jonathan Demme ), the murderer kills his victim with fugue.
  • In the episode Back from the Dead of the series Alphateam - Die Lebensretter im OP (2003), a patient is admitted who is mistakenly believed to be dead after fugu poisoning.
  • In the Hulk episode Gold Rush in Chinatown (1981, directed by Jack Colvin ), David Banner turns into the Hulk after consuming poisonous fugu.
  • In the Simpsons episode The 24-Hour Time Limit (1991, directed by Wesley M. Archer), Homer believes that he only has 24 hours to live because he ate fugu in a sushi restaurant that was not owned by the resident Master chef was prepared.
  • In the CSI: NY episode, Greetings from Death on Vinyl (2004), a woman is killed because she consumes fugue via detours ( nail polish ).
  • In the movie The Invention of Truth (2016, director: John Madden ), the licensing requirement and long-term training of fugu chefs is cited as an example of the need to make access to firearms more difficult in the USA in a political television debate.

Web links

Commons : Takifugu rubripes  - album with pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Klaus Roth, Chemische Delikatessen, 1st edition 2007, ISBN 978-3-527-31984-8 , page 142
  2. ↑ a b Thomas Hauer: The secret of taste: aspects of the art of eating and living . Anabas Verlag, 2005, ISBN 3-87038-366-6 , page 17
  3. ↑ Japan, Lonely Planet Verlag, ISBN 3-8297-1621-4 , p. 100
  4. ↑ a b c d 虎 河豚 （と ら ふ ぐ） . In: 日本 の 旬 ・ 魚 の お 話 . Shinkō Gyorui KK, accessed October 21, 2011 (Japanese).
  5. ↑ a b 自然 毒 の リ ス ク プ ロ フ ァ イ ル ： 魚類 ： フ グ 毒 . (No longer available online.) Department of Health, Labor and Social Affairs , archived from the original on July 27, 2011 ; Retrieved August 31, 2014 (Japanese).
  6. ↑ Takifugu vermicularis ( ナ シ フ グ ). In: Aquatic Organisms. 独立 行政 法人 水産 総 合 研究 セ ン タ ー , Retrieved February 12, 2012 (Japanese).
  7. ↑ Tamao Noguchi, Osamu Arakawa and Tomohiro Takatani: Toxicity of pufferfish Takifugu rubripes cultured in netcages at sea or aquaria on land. In: Comparative Biochemistry and Physiology Part D: Genomics and Proteomics , Volume 1, Issue 1, March 2006, p. 153-157, doi: 10.1016 / j.cbd.2005.11.003 .
  8. ↑ "The non-poisonous puffer fish" ( memento from September 10, 2008 in the Internet Archive ), tagesschau, September 10, 2008
  9. ^ "If the Fish Liver Can't Kill, Is It Really a Delicacy?" New York Times , May 4, 2008
  10. ^ Chemistrydaily.com