Shimonoseki fugu

Fugu’s tetrodotoxin, concentrated in liver and ovaries, has no antidote. Hideyoshi banned it for his soldiers in the sixteenth century; the ban held until 1888, when prime minister Itō Hirobumi, won over by a dish served in Shimonoseki, lifted it for his home prefecture. The city has hosted the national wholesale market ever since, and cooks must earn a licence after two to three years of training. Fugu sashimi is cut thin enough to read the plate’s pattern through it.