Fugu blowfish series#

In order to remember their efforts, there is a monument memorializing fugu in Ueno Onshi Park in Ueno, Tokyo. In the episode, Homer consumes a poisonous fugu fish at a sushi restaurant and is told he has less than 24 hours to live. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on January 24, 1991.

Fugu blowfish series#

Despite that, though, a few cultures’ cuisinesnamely Japanese consider the fish a gourmet item. ' One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish ' is the eleventh episode of the second season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. They publicized safe handling methods and lectures, which contributed to the spread of fugu consumption. Enter fugu, a type of blowfish or puffer fish that is widely considered the most dangerous food in the world due to a rare poison found in its organs. Due to its deadly toxin, this seafood can only be prepared by qualified chefs at licensed eating establishments. Photograph: Itsuo Inouye/AP Notes & Theories Chemistry Tetrodotoxin: the poison. In the countrys capital, fugu, also known as Japanese puffer fish, blowfish or globe fish, is a seasonal delicacy. Also known as blowfish or pufferfish, its liver contains tetrodotoxin which can be lethal, even in small doses. Fugu, also known as pufferfish or blowfish, can harbour the potent neurotoxin tetrodotoxin in their organs. Fugu fish may just be Japans most notorious dish. Since then, further efforts were made to ensure the safe consumption of fugu, and in 1930, the Tokyo Fugu Ryori Renmei (Cooking Alliance) was formed. If you eat out at high-end Japanese restaurants enough, you’ll eventually bump into fugu. With fugu starting at around 120 a head this is great news for many new chefs, but for the likes of Kunio Miura, who has been perfecting the art over 60 years. Ito Hirobumi, the prime minister at the time, praised the taste of fugu, and the prohibition law was repealed. The edible Globefish contains deadly poison, which is at least 1200 times stronger than cyanide.

Consumption became more widespread about 130 years ago. HAIAN, CHINA - MARCH 26: (CHINA OUT) A chef displays an artificial-bred globefish at a farm of Zhongyang Group on Main Haian of Jiangsu Province, China. Then, in the 16th century, a law prohibiting the consumption of fugu was passed in response to an outbreak of deaths due to the fish's toxins. Fugu has a history within Japan that dates back many centuries, and though there are many different theories on its exact origin, fugu bones found in a kaizuka (a trash dump in ancient times, named for how mounds of kai, or clams were found there) dating back at least 2,800 years is evidence that fugu were already being fished and consumed at the time.