Makin' Sashimi

In America, a Home Economics teacher would never think about having students prepare raw fish in class, let alone eat it afterwards. I don't think the American students would eat it anyway. Not the case in Japan. Last week, a famous hotel chef came to the second year students' Home Ec class and gave a demonstration on various ways to prepare Aji (a Japanese fish that has very dense meat), and Ika (Squid). I was also able to attend and even participate a little bit. I was actually surprised how easy it was for me to chop off a fish's head and skin it, and gut it (I'm talking about mentally, physically it was still very difficult). Back in 6th grade, I almost threw up when I had to dissect a squid. And in 5th grade, I did throw up when the teacher dissected a starfish. But this time, it was no problem (I think this might partially be due to the year in college I spent dissecting cadavers). Below are pictures that Mrs. Kamogawa took with my camera of me "in the action" any pictures that don't have me in it I took. Let me just say that after everyone was done, it was a feast. I never ate so much calamari in one sitting.

The ingredients



The master


The students rear back at the first slice.


Frying up some Squid


I give it a shot.
Cutting off the head.


Getting to the meat


Making it pretty.


Slicing and dicing


Laying it out.


My humble finished product


The masterÂ’s display


The students get to work.



****Edit Note! **** Sashimi was spelled incorrectly for the longest time in the title. My mom caught it (of course), and so now I've fixed it. I hate that, of all people, I'm the one spreading incorrect info about Japan.