Week 12: Eat Jellyfish

Sometimes, I plan these new things weeks in advance, but other times, they just sneak up on me. Sometimes, in fact, I don’t even know I’ve done something new until after I’ve done it. This was one of those cases. Read it and weep.

I’m not sure how many of you are aware of this, but I am a vegetarian. I don’t eat fish, seafood, pork, beef, chicken, or anything else that used to be an animal. Normally, I don’t have to explain what “vegetarian” means, but since I live in Japan, I know that I can’t take anything for granted. This was made particularly evident when I went to my first enkai, or work party.

An accurate representation of my stomach

The week leading up to the enkai, I had told everyone that I didn’t eat all of these things. I was willing to make concessions and eat seafood, because I realized that if I didn’t, the chefs probably wouldn’t know what to feed me. Satou-sensei got excited and started making calls. The days passed by uneventfully, and suddenly the fateful day of the enkai arrived.

My supervisor and I drove to the resort where the enkai was held, and seated ourselves in the big room. Speeches were made, the kampai was given, and the waitresses started bringing plates of food out. So many different things, and I didn’t know what any of them were. They brought out a few things for me, and I looked at the communal plates after finishing my own food, and asked Nakayama-sensei if there was anything I could eat.

“Yes!” she replied. “these are kikurage! It is a type of mushroom!”

Kikurage. Or what I thought I ate.

“Oh, okay!” I said, taking a few and putting them onto my plate. I put a few bites into my mouth, chewed and swallowed. Well, it seemed she was right. It did kind of taste like mushrooms, albeit slightly strange mushrooms.

The party went on, and I was continually served a number of different dishes, including crab, shrimp, and many other salads. I guess that since I said I’d eat seafood, they really took that to heart. All was well, until about 30 minutes later, when people had had a bit more to drink, that the subject of food once again reared its ugly head.

“How are you finding the food, Jeri? Are there things you can eat?” the (actual) PE teacher asked.

“Yeah, it’s been great! Nakayama-sensei pointed out that I can eat the kikurage here!” I replied, pointing at the mushrooms.

The room went silent and everyone at my table looked at each other uncomfortably.

“Uhh...” the PE teacher started. “That’s not kikurage. That’s kurage.”

Nakayama-sensei looked at me in horror.

“Nakayama-sensei, what is kurage?” I asked, fearing the worst.

“Jellyfish.” she said, obviously terrified.

Jellyfish. What I actually ate.

I started to laugh hysterically. I had just eaten jellyfish! Nakayama-sensei looked at me as though she had killed my child by accident, apologising profusely. “I am so sorry! So so so sorry!” she kept repeating over and over.

“Seriously, don’t worry about it.” I said. “These things happen.”

And then all was right with the world. And I didn’t touch the jellyfish again. 

What jellyfish looks like cooked.

I would never have eaten jellyfish on purpose, but you know what? I’m glad I did it. It was an experience I will certainly always remember, even if not for the best of reasons.

Have you eaten jellyfish? What’s the craziest thing you’ve eaten? Let me know!