Category: Food

Some time ago we came across this on the supermarket:

I had no idea what it was, but it turns out that it is a quite common marine animal. In fact, some weeks after seeing it at the supermarket, I was snorkeling in Thailand and saw many of them in their natural habitat. In Japanese language it is known as namako (海鼠, 海: sea, 鼠: rat. Sea rat!) and it is usually eaten raw as sashimi or sushi. In English it is known as sea cucumber, because of its shape; which translates into Spanish as pepino de mar.

“They are marine animals with a leathery skin and an elongated body containing a single, branched gonad. Sea cucumbers are found on the sea floor worldwide.”
“Sea cucumbers communicate with each other through sending hormone signals through the water which others pick up.”
“They can be found in great numbers on the deep sea floor, where they often make up the majority of the animal biomass. At depths deeper than 5.5 mi (8.8 km), sea cucumbers comprise 90% of the total mass of the macrofauna.” More in wikipedia

Would you eat a raw namako?

When I arrived to Japan for the first time I was surprised to see whale meat cans in the supermarket, now I am totally used to it (which doesn’t mean I agree with it). What surprised me the other day was bumping into a shop where only whale meat is sold!! They are specialized in whale bacon, they have meat from different whale species, they have many varieties depending on the conservation method and they sell the most delicious parts frozen. Moreover, at the entrance of the supermarket there is a sign which says “クジラは日本の食文化” that could be translated as “Whale is part of the Japanese culinary culture”. I guess nobody still thinks whales are hunted in Japan for “scientific” reasons…

The character 鯨 can be seen at the background. It means “whale” in Japanese language.

Whale is part of the Japanese culinary culture

In the shelves at the background many different kinds of canned whale meat can be seen.

Clients trying to decide what part of whale to buy.

Whale bacon on sale. They say it is very healthy.

Leaflets about cooking, recipes, etc. using whale meat.

Shop background decorated with a huge whale.

This is how whale meat looks when ready to eat. There is a restaurant next to the shop which is specialized in cooking whale meat.

Whale species that live in the seas around Japan.

Back shop window plenty of whale meat cans.

A hamburger restaurant in Tokyo has decided to put a hamburger vending machine at the entrance of the restaurant. You put the coins and you get a hamburger right away. The problem is that there is only one hamburger available at a time, if you want a second hamburger you have to wait until the cook inside the restaurant restocks the machine with another one, or you can go inside the restaurant and order it. If you want to try the burger vending machine it is located here

Vía Japanprobe.

Other posts about vending machines:

• Book vending machine
• Groceries vending machine
• First Oden-kan vending machine
• Alcoholic vending machine
• Shit vending machine
• Vending machines with interactive maps
• 16 vending machines in the same photo
• 50 yen vending machine