Eating “Live” Octopus
A couple of weeks ago, I ventured up to New York City’s second “Korean Town” (arguably, the more authentic version) in Flushing, Queens, with Julie and her friends. We had seen Anthony Bourdain (and David Chang of Momofuku fame) eat “live” octopus on the Travel Channel show “No Reservations” at a restaurant there called Sik Gaek, and so we naturally thought: “Yes! We have to try that.”
So, ahem, this is what’s it’s like to eat really, really fresh octopus. Now don’t worry, the octopus is dead — the moving tentacles are an involuntary contraction of the muscles, or something like that.
PETA would not be amused. And you may not be amused either. Do NOT watch this video if you’re faint of heart and don’t want to see people eat something that is squirming around on a plate.
Oh, and how does it taste? Pretty good. Not too bad. It’s more of a novelty, though: I’m not going to be ordering this dish very often.
