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The other day, I posted a humble photo of a cooked eel on Facebook, and the response was shockingly vehement. Some people thought it looked tasty. Others wanted to vomit. Now, I know eel doesn’t sound appealing, nor is my presentation particularly appetizing, but what of the taste? People swear by eel in sushi. Why the visceral reaction against it in its most basic form?
Here is a sampling of comments from Facebook (for the record, two people said they liked the photo):

IndianJones: “Come on dude, that’s gross.”
jash: “yummmm” and then later “admittedly, i dont know if i could eat THAT much eel. its like foie gras.”
Flipit; “please. just once. post a burger.”
My cousin Danya: “Looks like a big, fat tongue.”
jash: “now that someone said it looks like a tongue, thats all i can imagine.”
Heather Whaley: “If Satan were alive and hungry, this is what he would eat.”
Andrea: “that looks gross.”
IndianJones: “I wish this awful picture would stop appearing in my news feed. ”
Flipit: “i wish your face would stop appearing in my dreams.”

It all leads me to ponder this question: is eel awesome? Or revolting?
DISCUSS

14 replies on “EEL: Yea Or Neigh?”

  3. My first reaction is a big neigh, but…since I haven’t actually tried it I can’t rule it out.

  5. I loooovvveee eel. I always have unagi as dessert when I have sushi. So tender it literally melts in your mouth. Yummy!
    I also really want to try snake someday. The opportunity has not yet arisen.

  6. My 90 year old great grandma would make fried eel every christmas. One christmas eve my dad recieved a frantic call from her. In her heavy italian accent “BOBBY! BOBBY!! THE SLIMY MEN ARE STILL ALIVE!! I NEED A HAMMER! Apparently when she defrosted the eel they were, well not dead. Needless to say the idea of my grandma beating our dinner to death before frying it has spoiled me on the tastey dish forever…

  7. Eel is awesome- sooo tasty! Sorry The Wonk, I’ve had snake and it’s not that great- too chewy.

  8. First, pic is lovely–I really like the look of that glistening, bronzed flesh against the sheer black background–works visually for me.
    Second, smoked eel (the only prep I’ve ever had, it being carried upstate once a year to us by an aunt who would lade her Impala with treats we couldn’t get in Stump-jumperville) is freakin’ awesome, so the pic works for me on that level, too.
    And, finally, @ree,your grandma’s “slimy men” cracked me up! My MIL always referenced shrimp (and, even more oddly, squirrels!) as “bugs,” as in “Are you gonna make us eat dose bugs for dinner again?” or “Look at dat bug; he’s got big nuts!” She was an earthy one…

  10. Oh, how I love eel. I agree that the photo does look like a tongue. It looks just like the tongue on the original cover of Poison’s album Open Up and Say…Ahh! Does anyone remember that bastion of hair metal? It was taken off the shelf because it was much too graphic and offensive for innocent American teens. Ahh, indeed. Those were naïve times.

  12. I would like to throw it off a bit with a big NAY. This picture really creeps me out because of the weird point at the end and the weird texture of the meat. I don’t want to see too much of the actual shape of anything I’m eating, and that pointy end completely ruins that mess. It looks like a BBQed strip of nylon cords. I agree with the Satan’s choice for food comment. Oh, and I have eaten eel once, and that will be the only time.

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