In Wang's restaurant, the busiest restaurant of the chain in Beijing, groups of friends could get together to share platters of pufferfish for around 200 Yuan ($30) per person.Ī luxury delicacy, for sure, in a country where one can eat for one tenth of this price. Moreover, I am not the first person to eat it," said Huang, a diner at the restaurant. "Yes, I know that it is poisonous, but only some parts. Once we take them out it is safe for consumption," he added. The eyes, blood and the organs are poisonous. "After my studies, I now know very well the parts which has poison and which don't.
This is a significant improvement on past figures: in 1958 alone, 176 people died from fugu poisoning. Li had to study theory and practical for a year and a half with a Japanese maestro before he could cook the fish, something which he has been doing for 12 years now. Japanese government figures state that, since 2000, 23 people have died as a result of eating incorrectly prepared fugu, though the majority of these were due to attempts to prepare the fish at home. But we treat them as if they are poisonous," said Tiger Puffer's chef, Li Zhaze. To serve the fish, however, a restaurant requires a special license. Tiger Puffer, a restaurant specializing in pufferfish, serves the fish in soup, in pies, as sashimi or simply fried. Pufferfish, which can weigh up to a kilo at the time of being taken out of the water, has a tendency to inflate if they feel threatened, and several of them inflate as soon as they are loaded into the boats by Yang's men.įrom the water to the buckets and later to boxes with special separators, they are delivered to restaurants in Beijing, where they are turned into luxury casserole dishes by specially trained chefs. It imports the fish eggs from Japan, where the fish is considered to be a delicacy, traditionally compared to a gastronomical Russian roulette, and breed them for another two years to minimize the risk of poisoning. Japanese government figures state that, since 2000, 23 people have died as a result of eating incorrectly prepared fugu, though the majority of these were due to attempts to prepare the fish at home.
This fish farm provides around 200 kilograms of pufferfish to Beijing restaurants every day. The farm exports half of its produce to Japan and South Korea, while the rest is sold in the domestic market. "Half of the production is for export, and the other half, more or less, for restaurants in China," said Yang Yong, in charge of the 25-year-old Dalian Tianzhen Caofeidian fish farm, located some three hours east of Beijing. However, Chinese farmers were able to breed non-poisonous varieties of the fish - known as fugu in Japan - allowing the government to lift the ban three years ago. The poisonous fish - that contains a toxin which is lethal for humans - was banned in the country in 1990 and firms who bred the fish could only market it abroad. Chinese diners are being wooed by a new delicacy these days, a non-poisonous version of the Pufferfish.
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