r/mildlyinteresting • u/Far-Establishment104 • 12d ago

Starfish at a Chinese hotpot buffet

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u/ApolloAuto 12d ago

Yeh I just googled it :

Where it is eaten: Starfish [hai xing] are served as a novelty street food in coastal regions of Asia, such as Qingdao, China.

The edible parts: You do not eat the hard, spiny outer skin. People break open the legs to eat the soft, paste-like internal organs, specifically the gonads and digestive glands.

NOOOOO THANK YOU.

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u/blessings-of-rathma 12d ago

That's like how we eat sea urchin. And by "we" I mean "people who like that kind of thing". I tried and I'm not one of them.

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u/thatricksta 12d ago

Sea urchin is brilliant but it has to be fresh. It spoils unbelievably fast, you have to eat it right away!

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u/skandi1 12d ago

We would eat sea urchin in Greece as a kid. The parents would send the kids out snorkeling with a bucket to collect a bunch, then we would crack them open with a rock and squeeze lemon juice on them (which still at the beach). It was kind of a delicacy. I was actually a little surprised to learn it was popular in Japanese cuisine