I don't know what kind of eel you had in China, but you can get braised eel in sushi restaurants. Very tender and moist if done right. One of my favorites.

Yes, indeed! Some years ago I spent a month in Southern China (cave exploring). We ate local cuisine, which was ....different. We were served dog on several occasions, and we all eventually decided to just satisfy our hunger and not seek too much information.

What is the saying - "Oriental cuisine includes everything that flies, except a 747, every thing that swims, except a submarine, and anything with legs, except a table."

Whatever we ate, it was delicious and satisfying. We had no instances of digestive upset, or even Montezuma's (Mao's?) revenge - the trip of a lifetime. However, returning through Hong Kong, the first night half of us headed to the golden arches, the others found Jack in the box.

Spooting for Spoots (you need to sneak up on them quietly before putting salt down their holes) can be quite therapeutic and they are very tasty in a white wine sauce. But you have to draw the line eating Ragworm as they will give a nasty bite on the inside of the mouth when trying to eat them. They are more useful when used to catch something more edible such Ling, wrasse and pollock. Ling is very tasty.

Pollock is pretty good too. We eat a lot of it here in the states. We also call it arctic cod. Most of the fish sandwiches at the fast food chains are made with Pollock.

Old joke about happy motorcycle rider with bugs in his teeth... in Florida we are blessed with a little critter called a "love bug" and it is love bug season (May and Sept)... I ride a pretty quick motorcycle, and like to keep the visor partially open for air... they do not taste good... unlike Louisiana mud bugs (crawfish)that do taste good... as a University of Florida graduate, I tend to differ with Snopes as to their origin... I still think they were a UF Entomology department "whoops"...

I have no qualms about eating a few bugs like grubs that you can dig out of dead wood here, but prefer regular chow. I've had eel pies and stews in London and Amsterdam and they are excellent. I still have some qualms about eating them though since as a child I read Tin Drum by Gunter Grass, which sorta grossed me out then and now with how they caught the eels. I reckon traps for eels are far more common now.

When I was a kid, my Dad used to go to the Smoker (guy who smokes fish) every week or so and pick up a smoked eel. I used to love the thin layer (maybe fat) of meat just under the skin. If I remember correctly the body itself had one side mostly devoid of bones, the other side required some care not to pickup broken bones from the spine.

Pete