Main » August 2005

August 4, 2005

Sushi, Sashimi, Arigato Please

I'm addicted. Succulent buttery salmon, firm light yellowtail, crisp crunchy giant clam, mushy uni, salty masago, all finished off with a bowl of zaru soba (those unflattering brown dingy buckwheat noodles that taste like heaven). But can raw fish be healthy for IBS stomachs?

I'm not a doctor, so I can't medically speculate, but an IBS eater will always be more sensitive to risky foods than other eaters. And, yes, sushi is a risky food. If you combine all the variables to contamination down the chain of food distribution and add in the prevalence of ocean pollution, you do take a chance with every roll (no pun intended).

Of course, you can take the veggie and cooked fish alternatives. I love unagi (eel) and tamago (egg), but there are other choices like taco (octopus) - surprisingly it is usually served cooked. You can try the 'krab', which is only imitation crab - made out of fish and colored red to look like crab meat (to the surprise of all my friends). Sushi connoisseurs have warned me to stay away from riskier fishes like salmon. My general rule, from all the research I have done, is to stay away from larger fishes. Larger fishes, in polluted areas, have a much higher concentration of pollutants since they consume small fishes that already have trace amounts of pollutants. These pollutants increase as you go down the food chain.

Posted by Christine at 11:04 AM