Do you eat raw fish? Today I ate raw sardines. I know not many of you eat them- but I want to say- they are AMAZING.
Of course they are good for your sleep- So today I’ll write about it!
I hope you enjoy🌙🐟
How do Japanese Eat Raw Fish?
I can answer this question in one sentence; with soy sauce and wasabi. That’s all!
I’ll show you how.
Raw Sardines- How much are they?
This is what I bought today – a pack of (four) sardines, for about 321 yen, including tax.
..
..Yup. 321 yen.
Isn’t it cheap?
If you buy a bottle of water or a cup of coffee at Seven-eleven, it costs you about 100- 200 yen.
If you want to eat a bowl of ramen, it costs you about 700-1000 yen.
If you want to watch a movie, it costs you about 1000-2000 yen.
..Do you see how cheap sardines are?
Not all the supermarkets sell sardines though; some supermarkets are selling very limited kinds of fish (depending on the season too).
But today I was lucky enough to find good ones!
(Other than sardines, blue-backed fish such as horse mackerels and pacific saury are relatively cheap in Japan!)
Cleaning up sardines
Now, to eat them raw, I’ll clean this beautiful sardines and make 刺身 (Sashimi, bite-sized pieces of raw fish).
It’s easier if you watch it on video, so I took some videos, I’ll upload it soon..
Basically what you have to do is:
First cut of its head, clean its guts, and then peel its skin. Pretty simple, isn’t it?
(Simple, but it’s hard.. I’m not very good at cleaning up a fish. I’m still working on it!)
Let’s eat!
Now, you put the say sauce and wasabi. DONE!
Another good thing about eating raw fish is, you don’t have to cook much.
You don’t need to heat up anything, you just have to … clean up and eat!
Perfect if you don’t like cooking much.
Japanese and Raw Fish
Japan is an island nation, so naturally, Japanese diet have been deeply connected with the sea.
★There are records of Japanese eating fish from the middle of the Jomon period (about 4000-5000 years ago).
★3,946 Kaizuka 貝塚 (shell midden, which are the remains of meals of shellfish once gathered and eaten by prehistoric people) are found all over Japan, according to Nara National Research Institute for Cultural Properties.
Japanese have been eating fish and seafood for a looong time, huh..
Many Japanese love raw fish
But you might wonder- why RAW fish?
If you visit Japan, you’d find many sushi restaurants, or Sashimi(刺身; bite-sized pieces of raw fish) on the menu. We obviously love raw fish- but why?
Well, some explain that Japanese started eating raw fish around 7th-8th centuries and it is related to the Buddhism. Because Buddhism forbade eating animal meat and that’s why people started eating fish or so..
But hey, as a Japanese, I’d say- C’mon, Japan is surrounded by the sea!
Many people could easily get fresh fish. And eating raw fish is really healthy, I think people back then knew it from their instincts.
Japanese eating more fish over meat?
However, Japanese diet are changing – people eat less fish now.
According to the site ‘Our World in Data’, Japan is the 5th most fish/seafood consuming country.
It sounds a lot, but the consumption of seafood per person is decreasing every year –
In 2011, meat consumption has exceeded seafood consumption finally; now Japanese eat more meat than seafood.
Eating healthy food- health benefits of fish
How nutritious raw fishes are?
Now, talked about diet situation in Japan, let’s see how beneficial fishes are to you and your sleep!
To start with, fish is a great source of protein. Are you eating enough protein?
Proteins are playing essential role in your body.
But hey, meat is also a rich source of protein, isn’t it? Why fish then?
Well, what’s good about fish is – fish is rich in omega-3 fatty acids, which is essential to your body. And despite its importance, your body cannot make it, it must come from the food we eat.
Benefits of Omega-3
There are many researches about Omega-3 and they show MANY benefits!
But you know how much MORE omega-3 we need?
To explain that, you need to understand the balance of Omega-6 and 3.
Omega-6 is another essential fatty acids and your body needs delicate balance of omega-3 and 6, with 1:1 ratio (or 1:2, 1:4 at most)
However, modern diet often takes too much of omega-6, with some people having very little amount of omega-3, with 1:15 ratio!
Even the Japanese, who are the 5th most fish-eating people in the world, many of them are now at 1:10(!), which means taking too much omega-6, in shortage of omega-3.
And if you take too much omega-6, what happens in your body is.. some researches say that the white blood cells to act weird and the walls of blood vessels will gradually be damaged, leading to arteriosclerosis or other MANY diseases.
We need more omega-3 then..!
Right. Fish contains lots of omega-3!
You’ll become smart by eating fish?!
In Japan there is a famous song, called 「お魚天国」
It is often played at the fish corner of the supermarkets, people started memorizing its lyrics and as a result, its CD sold over 400,000 copies as of 2003 in Japan. (Yes, it got rally popular back then)
お魚means ‘fish’, 天国means ‘Paradise’.
In that song, the lady is singing like this. I quote-
What this means is, ‘if you eat fish, you’ll become smart.’
And there are ｍany researches showing how accurate this song was; omega-3 fatty acids called EPA and DHA playing significant role.
So.. what I want to say is, eating fish is really important for your brain!
Did you know 60% of your brain is made of fat?
Wow! Its quality is really important then.
Sardines are not only an abundant source of EPA and DHA, but also every essential vitamin and mineral.
Why raw fish?
As Omega-3 is sensitive to heat and it oxidizes very easily, eating raw fish is amazing, best way to intake Omega-3.
If you can’t eat them raw- it’s better to heat up fishes slowly, with a small fire, to intake as much as omega-3 as possible.
Or maybe you can try in Japan, when you visit here!
Okay, now I believe you have enough reason to try eating raw fish – sushi or sashimi, when you visit Japan next time!😉(I hope).
Thank you for reading!
Sweet dreams🌙
