My father used to tell me, Chinese people always liked their food cooked. This came from an observation he made while watching his father-in-law cook and the buddies he met while he had gone fishing. I was enjoying some Chinese sweet and sour pork rib at the time. It was cooked down to the very marrow. In my young mind, at least when I was eight years old, if you didn't cook your meat, something was incorrect. Much came to my surprise, when my family was invited to a wedding. On the menu the couple served Sashimi. (Raw tuna) Thinking to myself, if the meat was red, It was not cooked. I winced in disgust. My father fished all the time. So, I never liked being around him when he was cleaning raw fish. I looked at my brother's plate and saw that he stacked bunches of them. I was giving him a hard time on how gross raw fish was. He kept telling me it's good. Being older he said, "How are you going to know what it's like if you didn't try it? Be quiet and eat some first before you complain!" Offended for feeling like a whiny scare-dy cat , I did what I was told. I followed my brother; dipped the Sashimi in the Soy sauce and Wasabi, winced and swallowed. I felt accomplished that I was able to swallow it, but I still had that disgusted feeling. An hour later, I ran to the restroom and threw up my treasured food. Since then I vowed never to eat raw fish. Until one day...
My friend and I went to our cafeteria. Sakura's Kitchen was our cafeteria because we went so often that by the time my friend and I are seated our seat and drinks are ready before we even mention them. One of the things my friend orders is Tuna Poki. In a dumb way, some parts of my locale, Poki is often referred to certain "lady parts". After all it tends to be pink or red at times and some say it smells of fish. Tuna Poki, consist of raw tuna (sashimi) and various flavors of sliced yellow onions, green onions, cucumbers, ponzu sauce (lemon and soy sauce) with sesame oil. I'm told it did not originate in Japan, but rather from the Japanese Americans in Hawaii. Looking at it, I remember that vow I made when I was 8 years old, never to eat raw fish. After all, I didn't want to throw up my food again. But, seeing this...the smell of the ponzu and sesame drew me in the way Warner Bros. cartoons send characters flying at the scent of something delicious. Delicious it was. I was reborn. Sashimi will no longer be hated in my world. Oddly, despite the non-tradition, it somehow helped me accept traditionally eaten Sashimi, by itself.
Mmmm. A very nice chaser indeed. Bring out some Super Dry Beer! Enjoy!
