Sannakji

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Sannakji, sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds

Sannakji ( 산낙지 ) is a variant of the raw fish and meat dishes Hoe ( 회 ; 膾 / 鱠 ), which is common in Korean cuisine , made from long-arm octopus ( Octopus minor ). The long-arm octopus are often referred to as baby octopuses in the fish trade because of the size difference to species such as the giant Pacific octopus, but they are adults.

In South Korea, long-arm octopuses are called nakji ( 낙지 ). This results in a risk of confusion, as squids are called nakji in North Korea .

Preparation and consumption

The octopuses are killed before they are cut into small pieces and served raw, seasoned with dark sesame oil and sprinkled with toasted sesame seeds . The neural activity that is still present in the octopus' divided tentacles means that the pieces on the plate and in the mouth can move and even get stuck in the oral cavity, throat and esophagus. Sannakji is offered in Korean restaurants that serve raw fish dishes. In bars, Sannakji is also served as a snack with alcoholic beverages such as the Korean rice schnapps soju . In Korean cuisine, Sannakji is said to have an effect that increases strength and endurance.

Whole live long-arm octopuses are less common than split octopuses. For consumption, the animals are impaled on one or two chopsticks and wrapped with their own tentacles, which attach themselves to form a compact bundle. This is dipped in dark sesame oil, rolled in sesame seeds and put into the mouth as a whole. The slimy surface of the skin can be perceived as uncomfortable and make it difficult or impossible for the animal to swallow.

Cause of motor activity

Movement of the Sannakji on a plate

Octopuses have a complex nervous system , two thirds of which are neurons in the nerve cords of the tentacles, and the total number of which corresponds to that in the brain of a domestic dog . Autonomous nerve centers in the tentacles take on functions that are located in the central nervous system of vertebrates , namely the decision about the execution and sequence of movements. The nerve activity in the tentacles continues even after the connection to the brain has been broken. There are no studies on the possibility of a pain sensation or consciousness located in the tentacles.

The pieces of the tentacles and especially the whole live octopus can suck in the throat or the esophagus and trigger attacks of suffocation. As a result, accidents have occurred repeatedly, including fatal ones.

Animal welfare

The practice of serving and consuming live octopuses, apparently or in fact, sparked violent protests from animal rights activists in the United States in 2010. The animal rights group PETA ran a public campaign against two Korean restaurants in New York City that served sannakji. The organization vividly described the tortures of the animals: “The arms of the octopuses are cut off piece by piece, and the animals are served and eaten while they squirm in agony ... They try desperately to crawl away, only to return to the hot surface again and again to be thrown. "(English:" The arms of octopuses are sheared off bit by bit, and the animals are served and consumed while they're still alive and writhing in agony ... They try desperately to crawl away, only to be dropped back onto the burning surface again and again. ”) The“ brand hot surface ”probably describes the heated plates. The restaurants criticized by PETA pointed out that the octopus were killed before they were cut up and that the movements of the meat pieces observed were merely the effect of residual nerve activity. Sannakji is part of Korean culture and there is nothing barbaric about eating animals that are already dead.

German animal welfare law largely relates to vertebrates , but prescribes certain forms of slaughter for individual invertebrate taxa . Crustaceans , snails and mussels may only be killed in boiling water, which must completely cover them and continue to boil strongly after being added. In addition, edible crabs may be killed by destroying (piercing) both main nerve centers and mussels and snails by steam with a temperature of more than 100 degrees Celsius, crustaceans may be electrically stunned or killed. The possibility of eating freshly dead or still living cephalopods has not been taken into account by the legislature and regulatory authority. The capture and consumption of cephalopods is viewed critically by animal welfare organizations such as PETA, with a view to the sensitivity to pain and the proven cognitive abilities of many species of cephalopods. The forensic biologist Mark Benecke and the philosopher and publicist Richard David Precht also publicly represent this view.

Web links

Commons : Sannakji  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ National Korean Language Institute: Finding Ways to Integrate Korean Between North and South Korea ( 남북 과 국외 의 한국어 통합 방안 모색 ). Retrieved December 20, 2019 (Korean).
  2. ↑ a b Jane Han: Clash of culture? Sannakji angers US animal activists. In: The Korea Times . May 14, 2010, accessed December 20, 2019 .
  3. ↑ Natalie B. Compton: Eating a Live Octopus Wasn't Nearly as Difficult As It Sounds. In: Vice . June 17, 2016, accessed December 20, 2019 .
  4. ↑ a b Eating Live Octopus. In: National Geographic . Retrieved December 20, 2019 .
  5. ^ Binyamin Hochner: An Embodied View of Octopus Neurobiology . In: Current Biology . tape 22 , no. 20 , 2012, p. R887 – R892 , doi : 10.1016 / j.cub.2012.09.001 , PMID 23098601 .
  6. ^ Yoram Yekutieli et al .: Dynamic model of the octopus arm. I. Biomechanics of the octopus reaching movement . In: Journal of Neurophysiology . tape 94 , no. 2 , 2005, p. 1443-58 , doi : 10.1152 / jn.00684.2004 , PMID 15829594 .
  7. ↑ Lee Young-jae: 광주 서 산낙지 먹다 기도 막힌 사고 잇따라 . In: Naver . January 21, 2008. Retrieved December 20, 2019 (Korean).
  8. ↑ Section 12, Paragraph 11 of the Animal Welfare Slaughter Ordinance (TierSchlV), accessed on December 20, 2019.
  9. ↑ Mark Benecke (interview): With ink for squids! In: peta.de. Retrieved December 20, 2019 .
  10. ↑ Richard David Precht (interview): An intellectual must eat unhealthily. In: FAZ.net . October 1, 2015, accessed December 20, 2019 .