Katsu ika odori-don isn’t for the faint of heart. Loosely translated as “dancing squid bowl,” the controversialJapanese dish came to global attention in 2010 thanks to a YouTube video that quickly became a trending topic. Thevideo depicts a headless squid sat on top of a bowl of noodles and fish eggs. A mysterious hand appears with a teapotand pours what appears to be soy sauce onto the squid. The tentacles, the long thin parts of the squid, begin making largetwisting movements wildly, granting the dish the unofficial title of “dancing zombie squid.” 

        As strange as the dish might seem, this is a contemporary take on a method of consuming in which seafood is eatenwhile still moving, referred to as odorigui (literally “dancing eating”), in Japan. Although the squid in this case is dead,its nerve cells are aroused by the sodium in the soy sauce, which prompts the cells and commands them to fire, forcingthe muscles to contract. And while odorigui can be found across Japan, the origin of this unique phenomenon is a littlemore mysterious. 

       The difficult-to-describe practice of odorigui – which most often involves eating tiny, live fish – likely stems fromfishing practices in port cities, with regional repetitions on the practice. “In Shizuoka, a region on central Honshu’sPacific coast, it’s whitebait or shirasu that’s the preferred moving meal,” said Dave Lowry, a Japanese-restaurant critic.“In Fukuoka, odorigui is almost exactly the same as the shiro-uo, or ice goby, a tiny, eel-like fish that goes from theocean to freshwater to produce eggs,” he added, explaining that the shiro-uo live in great quantity around Fukuoka andare eaten alive because they start to decay as soon as they die. 

     Eye-catching novelty or not, the polarizing “dancing zombie squid” is a curious one. It’s a source of controversy tomany, who claim the creature still retains a sense of feeling. And it’s a reflection of modern Japanese culture at its finest,one that honors the freshness of the ingredient above all else. This is perhaps why the phenomenon – and subsequentspreading video – have become so popular. After all, who doesn’t delight in the simple glory that is freshly preparedfood?