Soy Sauce Makes Dead Squid "Dance"

Videos of food tend to be a bit boring. Carefully constructed photographs usually do the dishes justice. Unless of course the food you are about to eat begins to come to life and practically dance its way off your plate!

Videos of the traditional Japanese dish ika-don are making their rounds on the internet after the sushi restaurant Ikkatei Tabiji in Japan's Hokkaido Prefecture began to prepare it in a unique fashion renaming it odori-don or "dancing squid rice bowl." Instead of slicing the dead squid and laying it over rice and fish eggs, the squid in odori-don is served in its whole form resting over the bowl tentacles still attached. All you have to do is pour a little soy sauce on top and let the show begin!

To understand the science behind what exactly is going on here, you must think of the soy sauce as jolting the squid's tentacles with very small amounts of electricity. The energy lies within ions contained in the sauce's high sodium content. These ions are used in cells to create voltage differences. Because the squid is served fresh, the cells inside are still active and when the sodium is applied, the signals across the nerve cell membranes are temporarily reactivated causing the squid to "dance."

Yummy!