Love For Animals

I’ve never eaten at a sushi restaurant in Japan before. I haven’t even been to too many sushi restaurants where I live, but one thing is for sure — it’s probably rare for someone to see a live fish gasping for oxygen, i.e. dissolved oxygen, while it has skewers pierced through its body as pieces of its own body lay on top of it. It’s been said that the Japanese like their fish very fresh and raw. Well, this preference is very much reflected in their cuisine.

Of course, the preference to eat something that is alive or cook a live crayfish on a sizzling grill is a practice seen as being very normal in Japan and many other countries as well. They like their seafood really fresh, and apparently to some people, a couple of seconds or minutes make a whole lot of difference in freshness. I would think that in some Asian cultures, particularly the Japanese, they’ve witnessed the live cooking/eating practices since they were young. It’s very normal to them, but it’s such a culture clash when you’re not used to seeing people eat things while they’re still alive. It almost seems cruel. Yet, I know that the ethical belief that it’s cruel runs mostly off of the fact that it’s a cultural difference, which explains why I’m more apt to thinking it’s disgusting and morally gross.

So far, scientists do not know for sure whether fish experience pain in the same way as a chicken, cow, or human feels pain. Obviously fish have nerves, but some scientists believe they may lack a specific part of the brain that senses pain. On the other hand, there are some scientists that believe fish are very capable of feeling pain in the same way as any other animal would. If the latter is true, I can’t even imagine the torture that they have to endure as they’re slowly eaten alive while suffocating and being picked at by people who are taking their sweet time.

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