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Sashimi Shabu-Shabu A Japanese friend visited me here in San Diego and we decided to go out to eat shabu-shabu (sliced beef boiled with vegetables). We asked a Brazilian friend to come with us, so three of us went to a restaurant in La Jolla that had a reputation for serving delicious shabu-shabu.Even the Brazilian friend had known shabu-shabu, one of the famous Japanese meat dishes, and he wanted to try it. In addition to shabu-shabu, we ordered some dishes that we could enjoy together. For the Brazilian friend, everything was new and interesting. I explained that the name “shabu-shabu” came from the swishing sound the meat made while being cooked in boiling water, which made the Brazilian guy even more interested and like the way to eat it. While we enjoyed the food, his chop sticks reached the sashimi that we had ordered. I told him, “That’s sashimi,” and he replied, “I’ve heard of it.” Then—I had no idea what he was thinking—he put it into the shabu-shabu pot! Uttering “Shabu, shabu, shabu,” he carefully soaked the sashimi in the hot water and ate it with a sesame sauce. My friend from Japan and I were speechlessly watching what the Brazilian friend was doing, but I couldn’t tell him that I thought that might be delicious. A Revolutionary for Food Culture |