San-nakji

San-nakji

Type	Hoe
Place of origin	Korea
Associated national cuisine	Korean cuisine
Main ingredients	Long arm octopus
Cookbook: San-nakji  Media: San-nakji

San-nakji (산낙지) is a variety of hoe (raw dish) made with long arm octopus.^[1] Although the octopuses are killed before cut into small pieces and served, the nerve activity in the octopus' tentacles makes the pieces still squirming posthumously on the plate when served.^[2][3][4] The octopus' high complex nervous system, with two-third of its neurons is localised in its nerve cords of its arms, lets the octopus show a variety of reflex actions that persist even when they have no input from the brain.^[5][6] The dish is sprinkled with sesame oil and toasted sesame seeds.^[7]

Eating

Because the suction cups on the arm pieces are still active when the dish is served, special care should be taken when eating sannakji. The active suction cups can cause swallowed pieces of arm to stick to the mouth or throat.^[8] This can also present a choking hazard for some people, particularly if they are intoxicated.

Language difference

Vocabularies in the two Koreas differ on nakji: South Koreans call a small kind of octopus nakji, while North Koreans call a squid nakji (nakchi in McCune–Reischauer romanization).

Prevalence

Sannakji is served in Korean restaurants that serve sliced raw fish, but it also can be found at bars as a snack to accompany alcoholic beverages, such as soju.

Danger

Several incidents of choking on Sannakji have been reported, such as a 2008 incident in Gwangju.^[9]

See also

• Odori ebi, shrimp eaten alive in Japanese cuisine
• Drunken shrimp, shrimp eaten alive in Chinese cuisine
• Ikizukuri, the preparation of sashimi from living animals

References

1. ↑ "san-nakji" 산낙지. Standard Korean Language Dictionary (in Korean). National Institute of Korean Language. Retrieved 22 February 2017. 
2. ↑ Rosen, Daniel Edward (4 May 2010). "Korean restaurant's live Octopus dish has animal rights activists squirming". New York Daily News. Retrieved 3 June 2017. 
3. ↑ Han, Jane (14 May 2010). "Clash of culture? Sannakji angers US animal activists". The Korea Times. Retrieved 4 June 2017. 
4. ↑ Compton, Natalie B. (17 June 2016). "Eating a Live Octopus Wasn't Nearly as Difficult As It Sounds". Munchies. VICE. Retrieved 4 June 2017. 
5. ↑ Hochner, B. (2012). "An Embodied View of Octopus Neurobiology". Current Biology. 22 (20): R887–R892. PMID 23098601. doi:10.1016/j.cub.2012.09.001. 
6. ↑ Yekutieli, Y.; Sagiv-Zohar, R.; Aharonov, R.; Engel, Y.; Hochner, B.; Flash, T. (2005). "Dynamic model of the octopus arm. I. Biomechanics of the octopus reaching movement". J. Neurophysiol. 94 (2): 1443–58. PMID 15829594. doi:10.1152/jn.00684.2004. 
7. ↑ Warwick, Joe (30 January 2015). "The truth about Noma's live prawn dish". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 June 2017. 
8. ↑ "Eight controversial foods from around the world". The Times of India. 
9. ↑ Yonhap News 2008-01-21 광주서 산낙지 먹다 기도막힌 사고 잇따라

External links

• 5 Korean foods for adventurous eaters Chincha.co.uk