'Fugu' leaves seven sick at restaurant

Originally Posted by SeanGAR

Ah yes ... tetrodotoxin. Sodium channel blocker. Paralysis but conscious and you feel pain. If you get enough, you stop breathing and are fully sentient while you slowly asphyxiate. They aquaculture fugu which doesn't have the toxin ... but where is the fun in eating that?

Bandō Mitsugorō VIII (八代目 坂東 三津五郎, Hachidaime Bandō Mitsugorō?)[1] (19 October 1906 - 16 January 1975) was one of Japan's most revered Kabuki actors from the 1930s until his death.
Bandō is probably best-known for his legendary death. At age 68, he visited a Kyoto restaurant with friends and ordered four livers of the fugu fish, which is widely-known to be extremely toxic. Claiming that he could survive their poisons, he ate the livers and, after seven hours, died of paralysis and convulsions.

He did survive ... for 7 hours, and what a fun 7 hours it was. Paralysis and convulsions. Cool.

Im pretty sure the reason the aquacultured ones arent all that desireable is because whn prepared properly, th chef leaves trace amounts of the poison in the meal, leaving a slight numbing sensation in the mouth and on the lips, which is apparently considered desireable.

As for me. i hate seafood. nasty ass poo. eating raw fish is one (horrible) thing, eating raw poisonous fish is a whole new ball game.

Im on the bench for this one...