Japan’s ‘dancing zombie squid’

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The elusive practice of odorigui – which most often involves eating tiny, live fish – likely stems from fishing practices in port cities, with regional iterations on the practice. While eating live shiro-uo may well have been a precursor to the dancing squid, this still doesn’t explain how the phenomenon evolved from eating tiny fish to using larger cephalopods. “Given the absence of evidence for the custom, my suspicion is that odorigui is a modern gimmick to attract customers, with a history created for it in the way that many cultural practices in Japan and elsewhere are written backward,” Rath said.

Source: www.bbc.com