No, seriously. Beware. This photo might look purdy appetizing but that's one poisonous blowfish flower up there -- as 7 unlucky diners found out on Monday night.
According to MSNBC:
Blowfish testicles prepared by an unauthorized chef sickened seven
diners in northern Japan and three remained hospitalized Tuesday after
eating the poisonous delicacy.
Iwase said the seven men ordered sashimi and grilled blowfish testicles at the restaurant Monday night.
Shortly
after, they developed limb paralysis and breathing trouble and started
to lose consciousness — typical signs of blowfish poisoning — and were
rushed to a hospital for treatment, Iwase said.
Look, we're all for adventurous eating -- who are we to begrudge anyone their blowfish? But we have a couple points to make.
First: Has no one seen the Simpsons epidsode, "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish"? There's a map to the hospital on the back of the menu for a reason. That shit is dangerous! And confusing.
Fugu Instruction Manual
No wonder it takes several years and a fancy knife for an accredited Fugu chef to get their license. Which brings us to our second point: What these diners were thinking ordering the fish of death from a faux fugu master?
Because according to MSNBC, "The owner of the restaurant in Tsuruoka city, who is also the chef, had
no license to serve blowfish and was being questioned on suspicion of
professional negligence, police official Yoshihito Iwase said."
Word to the wise (and according to Gadling.com): look for the chef's official fugu license. It should look something like this:
And thirdly: Blowfish balls? Really? The terrifically toxic flesh of the rest of the fish isn't badass enough for you? You had to go with the balls? That's not even taking into account that the fugu fish is tiny; the balls must be absolutely inconsequential! (Insert joke about small things / good packages; blowfish; blowjobs; puffer fish; etc, et al here.) Pick your battles, people.
Anyway, the real point is: this post is too long already. Practice safe sushi eating.
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