It is sad that most sushi lovers will never have real wasabi. I had assumed that I had sampled real wasabi when I spent several days eating sushi morning noon and night in Actual Japan. But even then, there is a good chance I never tasted the stuff.
The reason that most "wasabi" is fake, and the agronomy and chemistry of wasabi, turn out to be really interesting.
More like this
To have an effect, a molecule must bind to a receptor and trigger a signal. Studying a receptor's structure can give us insights about the way this triggering process works.
w00t!
It's Ig Nobel Prize season again!
A brief description:
The Ig® Nobel Prizes
We're back at the Monterey Bay Aquarium today. Shortly after our arrival, the kids are up to their elbow in touch-tank water. Then, the younger Free-Ride offspring gets critical.
"The decorator crabs here aren't very decorated."
We keeping eating more and more as a nation and as a globe. Last year's per capita seafood consumption data for the U.S. was just released. Seafood consumption has increased: from 16.2 lbs per capita in 2005 to 16.5 lbs. per capita in 2006.
Must admit that I get a sort of subliminal pleasure from eating with chopsticks. I had the good fortune to visit Bali in 1982, just before they built the 5-star hotels and it became overrun by mainstream tourism. And none of the Chinese restaurants there had utensils. So out of necessity I learned how to cope with chopsticks.
Once mastered, it really is the most pleasurable way to consume oriental food. But now you tell me that the wonderful green-on-steroids wasabi I have been consuming with my sushi for the past 30+ years is... fake. I'm gutted, I tell you :-(
A friend of mine is an amazing cook, and everything he makes is a treat for the senses. However, I visited him once while he was preparing the "bitter herbs" for a Passover feast. I walked into his kitchen and he said, "Smell this," handing me the hopper from his Cuisinart. I stuck my face in and took a big whiff, discovering too late that it was freshly pureed horseradish in vinegar.
I screamed and fell to the floor. It felt like I'd taken a baseball bat to the face, driving a railroad spike into my sinuses. It was a month before I could smell anything but horseradish.
Interesting clip and article. Cheers.