Not sure what to flow the adventurous foodie who ’s tried everything from bugs torotted shark meat ? Three Nipponese businessmen have an idea for you : Crackers made fromBathynomus giganteus — a.k.a . the creepy - but - also - kinda - cute giant isopod .
It all start when a TV celebrity come aboard Kazutaka Hasegawa ’s boat to do an consultation . The fisherman , who caught hagfish , often pulled up jumbo isopods as bycatch and would toss them back into the sea . But when the celebrity asked if the isopod was edible , Hasegawa decided to jest at it . Not astonishingly , the crustacean — which is have-to doe with to theterrestrial pillbug — tasted like peewee and crab louse .
Not long after , Hasegawa met Satoshi Yamamoto , of the Tokyo - base advert agency Ozone connection Co. , who was hoping Hasegawa could leave fried isopods for a deep sea - theme New Years ' smash . After their meeting , Yamamoto brought prawn senbi to take home to Tokyo — and realized that it might be easy for people to buy and eat up giant isopods if they were in banger shape . He reached out to Kiichiro Isobe , gross revenue manager of Yamaki Kaisan , a companionship that get prawn cracker , and the triad decided to hear to change state gargantuan isopods into crackers .
They began try out in January , and at first , thing did n’t go so well , accord toThe Japan Times :
finally , though , the trio count on out the correct ratio of seasonings to powder isopod to make some very tasty cracker , which are now uncommitted at eternal sleep stops , natural endowment store , and aquarium across the land . A dozen crackers cost ¥ 1,620 , or $ 260 ; thefirst run of 3500 boxessold out in just a calendar month .
Hasegawa is bright the crackers will take off . “ I do n’t require this to be just a fad , ” hetoldThe Japan Times . “I want to make this a Yaizu specialty . ”
[ h / tio9 ]
