1 00:00:03,120 --> 00:00:05,920 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff to Blow Your Mind from how Stuff 2 00:00:05,920 --> 00:00:15,400 Speaker 1: Works dot com. Hey, welcome to Stuff to Blow your Mind. 3 00:00:15,480 --> 00:00:18,239 Speaker 1: My name is Robert Lamb and I'm Joe McCormack. And 4 00:00:18,320 --> 00:00:21,800 Speaker 1: today we are going to be introducing a classic stuff 5 00:00:21,800 --> 00:00:23,639 Speaker 1: to the Blow your Mind episode. It's a new classic. 6 00:00:23,680 --> 00:00:26,360 Speaker 1: How old is it now? Maybe nine or ten months? 7 00:00:26,360 --> 00:00:28,600 Speaker 1: Like it's maybe it's about a year give a take, 8 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:31,840 Speaker 1: you know. Uh, sometime last winter we recorded this episode 9 00:00:31,960 --> 00:00:36,640 Speaker 1: about dangerous foods, uh, including some of my favorite stories 10 00:00:36,680 --> 00:00:40,599 Speaker 1: about for example, polar bear liver and dangerous within. Yeah, 11 00:00:40,840 --> 00:00:43,280 Speaker 1: it was a fun episode, and uh, it's it's perfect 12 00:00:43,280 --> 00:00:46,159 Speaker 1: for the holidays because the holidays are a time when 13 00:00:46,159 --> 00:00:48,360 Speaker 1: so many of us eat things that we feel we 14 00:00:48,400 --> 00:00:50,800 Speaker 1: should not or no, we should not. I shouldn't be 15 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 1: eating this. I shouldn't eating this is delicious, but I 16 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:54,760 Speaker 1: shouldn't be eating this. The cranberry sauce from a can. 17 00:00:55,320 --> 00:00:58,040 Speaker 1: You know that's wrong. It comes out in the cylinder. 18 00:00:58,080 --> 00:01:00,520 Speaker 1: You can still see the ridges where the and is 19 00:01:00,520 --> 00:01:04,679 Speaker 1: sort of bent a little bit. You know. It's eat 20 00:01:04,760 --> 00:01:06,440 Speaker 1: eat stuff like that stuff you have kind of in 21 00:01:06,480 --> 00:01:08,280 Speaker 1: a stout before, but also just like a bunch of 22 00:01:08,360 --> 00:01:10,880 Speaker 1: rich foods that you know, you shouldn't be eating at 23 00:01:10,959 --> 00:01:13,160 Speaker 1: least in these quantities, but hey, it's the holidays and 24 00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,559 Speaker 1: it's about fattening up to survive the horrors of winter. 25 00:01:16,920 --> 00:01:20,040 Speaker 1: But here's my advice. If you are eating turkey and 26 00:01:20,040 --> 00:01:23,839 Speaker 1: the turkey is overcooked, because it always is, don't waste 27 00:01:23,840 --> 00:01:26,560 Speaker 1: your time on it, you know, just skip the turkey 28 00:01:26,600 --> 00:01:28,319 Speaker 1: and move on to something else well with it. With 29 00:01:28,360 --> 00:01:31,319 Speaker 1: a turkey based meal, especially the Thanksgiving Day meal, there 30 00:01:31,319 --> 00:01:33,840 Speaker 1: are so many side dishes you can really just pick 31 00:01:33,920 --> 00:01:36,760 Speaker 1: your poison as it were. Right, Well, Robert, if you 32 00:01:36,760 --> 00:01:38,680 Speaker 1: don't have anything else to add, I think we should 33 00:01:38,720 --> 00:01:41,560 Speaker 1: make way for our episode on a six course feast 34 00:01:41,600 --> 00:01:44,760 Speaker 1: of dangerous foods. Yes, let's roll the repeat. And hey, 35 00:01:45,040 --> 00:01:47,560 Speaker 1: the next episode after this one I believe will be 36 00:01:47,640 --> 00:01:50,560 Speaker 1: a a second course dangerous foods too. So if you 37 00:01:50,600 --> 00:01:53,880 Speaker 1: like this episode, stay tuned, come back for another course 38 00:01:53,960 --> 00:01:58,160 Speaker 1: of all new dangerous foods. For the revenge, for the regurgitation, 39 00:02:08,480 --> 00:02:11,440 Speaker 1: we have quite a feast prepared for ourselves here today, 40 00:02:11,680 --> 00:02:16,320 Speaker 1: A dangerous feast. Yeah. We wanted to think about an 41 00:02:16,360 --> 00:02:20,680 Speaker 1: interesting aspect of human life, which is how often we 42 00:02:20,800 --> 00:02:24,960 Speaker 1: put trust trust at a very level of life and 43 00:02:25,120 --> 00:02:30,079 Speaker 1: death into people who do a very mundane task for us, 44 00:02:30,240 --> 00:02:33,440 Speaker 1: which is preparing food. Yeah, I mean I did basic 45 00:02:33,560 --> 00:02:37,720 Speaker 1: level mundane right. Yeah. Obviously with the appropriate skill it 46 00:02:38,000 --> 00:02:40,280 Speaker 1: becomes our an art form. But we tend to think 47 00:02:40,320 --> 00:02:43,480 Speaker 1: of just like the very basic idea of someone, say, 48 00:02:43,520 --> 00:02:46,480 Speaker 1: opening a can of noodles there cooking it up for us. 49 00:02:47,040 --> 00:02:50,119 Speaker 1: It didn't require any high science. Yeah. And even if 50 00:02:50,200 --> 00:02:54,200 Speaker 1: you even if you're talking about preparing food yourself and 51 00:02:54,320 --> 00:02:57,160 Speaker 1: it not being something that someone else has cooked for you, 52 00:02:57,440 --> 00:02:59,680 Speaker 1: a lot of times you're going to be using ingredients 53 00:02:59,800 --> 00:03:04,520 Speaker 1: that you just assume, you know are properly vetted, these 54 00:03:04,560 --> 00:03:07,359 Speaker 1: are safe to eat, That the nuts I'm getting out 55 00:03:07,400 --> 00:03:10,240 Speaker 1: of a jar of nuts are not contaminated with the 56 00:03:10,360 --> 00:03:13,840 Speaker 1: cole I, that the peanut butter I'm using doesn't have 57 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,240 Speaker 1: salmonella in it. But that may not be a safe 58 00:03:17,280 --> 00:03:19,800 Speaker 1: assumption depending on I don't know where you live, what 59 00:03:19,919 --> 00:03:22,639 Speaker 1: kind of industry regulations are in place, and how well 60 00:03:22,680 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: they're enforced. Yeah, I mean a lot of it comes 61 00:03:25,160 --> 00:03:28,320 Speaker 1: down to just the human history of cooking and just 62 00:03:28,360 --> 00:03:33,079 Speaker 1: culinary preparation, right, because early on humans learned the value 63 00:03:33,120 --> 00:03:37,040 Speaker 1: of cooking. I means to basically externalized digestion, and eight 64 00:03:37,160 --> 00:03:38,760 Speaker 1: is in the consumption of things that we would not 65 00:03:38,840 --> 00:03:41,800 Speaker 1: otherwise be able to eat. Yeah, that's the thing that's 66 00:03:41,800 --> 00:03:43,800 Speaker 1: easy to forget about. I mean, if you're if you're 67 00:03:43,800 --> 00:03:47,320 Speaker 1: sitting down to a piece of chicken or steak, I 68 00:03:47,320 --> 00:03:49,440 Speaker 1: mean you you probably wouldn't want to eat it just 69 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,200 Speaker 1: straight up raw, But it could be done if you 70 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:54,000 Speaker 1: were in a pinch, you know, you could chew it. 71 00:03:54,040 --> 00:03:55,960 Speaker 1: There are a lot of foods that you just simply 72 00:03:56,000 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: can't eat without some cooking, right, things, Yeah that would 73 00:03:58,800 --> 00:04:02,840 Speaker 1: just kill us we ate it without proper prop or 74 00:04:02,880 --> 00:04:05,600 Speaker 1: they'd be just inedible, you know, too tough for to 75 00:04:05,960 --> 00:04:09,400 Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Yeah, Cooking improves the taste, 76 00:04:09,440 --> 00:04:13,040 Speaker 1: It can tenderize the food in question. It can kill 77 00:04:13,080 --> 00:04:17,520 Speaker 1: off pathogens that would otherwise be of dire consequence. Of course, 78 00:04:17,560 --> 00:04:21,159 Speaker 1: another interesting thing about cooking is that it in some cases, 79 00:04:21,200 --> 00:04:24,560 Speaker 1: I think d nature's our food in a way that 80 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:28,800 Speaker 1: allows us to sort of separate ourselves from the means 81 00:04:28,880 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: of production of the food when we're eating it, so 82 00:04:31,240 --> 00:04:34,720 Speaker 1: we you know, like cooking a steak makes you think 83 00:04:34,720 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 1: about it as a fundamentally different thing from the flesh 84 00:04:37,920 --> 00:04:40,159 Speaker 1: of a dead animal. That had to be murdered in 85 00:04:40,279 --> 00:04:42,520 Speaker 1: order for you to eat this, Oh indeed, yeah, and 86 00:04:42,800 --> 00:04:44,280 Speaker 1: so it kind of it kind of allows you to 87 00:04:44,320 --> 00:04:46,840 Speaker 1: put some distance. Yeah, yeah, I mean we and then 88 00:04:47,120 --> 00:04:49,359 Speaker 1: we layered language on top of that. You don't go 89 00:04:49,440 --> 00:04:51,159 Speaker 1: to the restaurant in order pig. You don't go to 90 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:55,040 Speaker 1: the restaurant in order cow. You order pork and beef. Um. Yeah, 91 00:04:55,520 --> 00:04:59,440 Speaker 1: Poyo and guyin know very different words. Yeah and so. 92 00:05:00,000 --> 00:05:01,960 Speaker 1: And on top of that, you know, the butchering. Butchering 93 00:05:02,000 --> 00:05:05,000 Speaker 1: of animals, Culinary preparation in general allows us to more 94 00:05:05,040 --> 00:05:08,679 Speaker 1: precisely choose what parts we're going to eat, what parts 95 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:13,080 Speaker 1: are delicious, what parts are nutritious, what parts are inedible? Uh? 96 00:05:13,120 --> 00:05:16,279 Speaker 1: And or deadly? So you you keep that tasty crab 97 00:05:16,320 --> 00:05:19,000 Speaker 1: cloth meat, but you throw out the dead man's fingers. 98 00:05:19,200 --> 00:05:21,480 Speaker 1: You know, I've always wondered this, and I've never been 99 00:05:21,520 --> 00:05:23,720 Speaker 1: able to find a good answer so far. Maybe there 100 00:05:23,760 --> 00:05:27,240 Speaker 1: is one out there. Supposedly, apple seeds have a little 101 00:05:27,240 --> 00:05:29,840 Speaker 1: tiny bit of cyanide in them, and I wondered if 102 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,200 Speaker 1: has anybody ever eaten so many, so many apples seeds 103 00:05:33,240 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: and all that they've gotten cyanide poisoning? There have been 104 00:05:37,960 --> 00:05:39,800 Speaker 1: days where I feel like I've eaten that many apples. 105 00:05:40,360 --> 00:05:43,600 Speaker 1: But I'll have to I have to start counting this 106 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:47,120 Speaker 1: Robert or u s secret competitive apple eater someday, because 107 00:05:47,160 --> 00:05:49,760 Speaker 1: that's like the I find myself eating more and more apples. 108 00:05:49,760 --> 00:05:52,000 Speaker 1: I think maybe it's Michael Paulin who pointed out that 109 00:05:52,080 --> 00:05:54,440 Speaker 1: if you're if you're not hungry enough to eat an apple, 110 00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:58,000 Speaker 1: then you're not really hungry. Then you shouldn't snack. If 111 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:00,120 Speaker 1: you are going to snack, hey, and apples great. Oh. 112 00:06:00,440 --> 00:06:03,240 Speaker 1: I just tend to go to the apple for my 113 00:06:03,320 --> 00:06:06,160 Speaker 1: snack needs if I'm you know, in any level of 114 00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:09,359 Speaker 1: self conscious about my my diet. But you know, sometimes 115 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:12,359 Speaker 1: you're just hungry enough to eat poutine and not anything else. 116 00:06:12,880 --> 00:06:15,120 Speaker 1: It's true sometimes that the apple is not going to 117 00:06:15,200 --> 00:06:18,359 Speaker 1: scratch that itch. Well, speaking of fruits, it looks like 118 00:06:18,400 --> 00:06:21,600 Speaker 1: our first course is arriving. What is this here? Ah, 119 00:06:21,640 --> 00:06:25,120 Speaker 1: we have some acky fruit to enjoy here. Now I've 120 00:06:25,160 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: never had aki fruit before. What's the deal with acky fruit? 121 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:31,160 Speaker 1: Acky fruit is really interesting and I had I had 122 00:06:31,200 --> 00:06:34,719 Speaker 1: not actually experienced docky fruit until just a couple of 123 00:06:34,760 --> 00:06:38,240 Speaker 1: weeks ago when I went on a family vacation to Jamaica. 124 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:42,480 Speaker 1: U Aki is like that the national dish, the national 125 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:46,080 Speaker 1: fruit of Jamaica. It's a it's a fruit, but it's 126 00:06:46,120 --> 00:06:50,200 Speaker 1: not your typical like Western idea of a fruit. For example, 127 00:06:50,279 --> 00:06:53,640 Speaker 1: what's you have this yellowish or orange is fruit on 128 00:06:53,680 --> 00:06:56,719 Speaker 1: a tree and then when it ripens, it pops open 129 00:06:56,800 --> 00:07:00,360 Speaker 1: and it looks like a like a three eyed feature 130 00:07:00,440 --> 00:07:02,880 Speaker 1: of some kind of with the big black glassy eyes 131 00:07:02,920 --> 00:07:06,560 Speaker 1: inside of it. Glassy eyes are seeds. Um, So it's 132 00:07:06,600 --> 00:07:09,800 Speaker 1: kind of a Jim Henson dark crystal kind of creature. Yeah, 133 00:07:09,880 --> 00:07:12,280 Speaker 1: it really, it really looks kind of alien and weird. 134 00:07:12,880 --> 00:07:15,800 Speaker 1: But then uh, even properly prepared at what they do 135 00:07:15,920 --> 00:07:18,480 Speaker 1: is they they take the seeds out, they cut out 136 00:07:18,480 --> 00:07:20,520 Speaker 1: some of the membrane, and you're left with these, uh, 137 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:24,800 Speaker 1: these little yellowish looking lumps. And the main dish that 138 00:07:24,920 --> 00:07:27,480 Speaker 1: is prepared there is that they take it and they 139 00:07:27,880 --> 00:07:31,440 Speaker 1: fry it in a skillet with some bits of codfish 140 00:07:31,480 --> 00:07:34,440 Speaker 1: so achi and saltfish is the dish, some onions in 141 00:07:34,440 --> 00:07:36,320 Speaker 1: there as well, and it ends up tasting about like 142 00:07:36,360 --> 00:07:39,520 Speaker 1: scrambled eggs. It has that kind of consistency. It's not 143 00:07:39,560 --> 00:07:43,080 Speaker 1: a sweet fruit at all, but it's very good that's nice. 144 00:07:43,120 --> 00:07:45,120 Speaker 1: So it's not sweet. What does it taste like? Is 145 00:07:45,160 --> 00:07:47,680 Speaker 1: it kind of spicy or is it kind of it's 146 00:07:47,760 --> 00:07:49,560 Speaker 1: kind of I think it kind of. It doesn't have 147 00:07:49,720 --> 00:07:51,520 Speaker 1: I was I never had a real sense that it 148 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:54,400 Speaker 1: had much of a taste. But it's in there with 149 00:07:54,440 --> 00:07:57,400 Speaker 1: a little bit of fish, some onions. It's fried up 150 00:07:57,440 --> 00:07:59,240 Speaker 1: more of a texture, kind of more of a texture. 151 00:07:59,240 --> 00:08:02,440 Speaker 1: And the texture is I think closest to scrambled eggs. 152 00:08:02,440 --> 00:08:04,960 Speaker 1: That would be my main comparison there. But it sounds 153 00:08:05,000 --> 00:08:08,120 Speaker 1: like something worth trying. Yeah, I highly recommended for anybody 154 00:08:08,160 --> 00:08:10,280 Speaker 1: goes Jamaica for no other reason because it's you know, 155 00:08:10,320 --> 00:08:12,880 Speaker 1: it's the national dish there. And you said they tossed 156 00:08:12,960 --> 00:08:16,680 Speaker 1: the seeds out right, Yes, because as I'll lay out here, 157 00:08:16,720 --> 00:08:20,800 Speaker 1: the seeds are are poisonous um. This plant was originally 158 00:08:20,840 --> 00:08:24,920 Speaker 1: native to West Africa, migrated to Jamaican seventy eight, apparently 159 00:08:25,280 --> 00:08:29,400 Speaker 1: due to Jamaica's first botanist, Thomas Clark, who introduced it there. 160 00:08:30,160 --> 00:08:35,480 Speaker 1: The aki tree is actually known as bliah sepeda and 161 00:08:35,520 --> 00:08:40,080 Speaker 1: it's named after Captain William blythe the notorious pirate. So 162 00:08:40,480 --> 00:08:43,800 Speaker 1: interesting history there. But where the poison comes in is 163 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:48,720 Speaker 1: that unripe aki fruit contains a poison called hypoglycin. And 164 00:08:48,760 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: actually there are two different varieties in the fruit. There's 165 00:08:51,840 --> 00:08:55,480 Speaker 1: hypoglyin A and hypoglycin B, which one is worse. Well, 166 00:08:55,520 --> 00:08:58,240 Speaker 1: A is the main problem here, and so you have 167 00:08:58,480 --> 00:09:02,840 Speaker 1: extremely high levels of hypoglycin BE in the unripe fruit. 168 00:09:03,960 --> 00:09:06,520 Speaker 1: But then the fruit ripens, It pops open like some 169 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:08,840 Speaker 1: sort of alien creature and stares at you with its 170 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:12,120 Speaker 1: three black eyes. Uh. And at that point you know 171 00:09:12,200 --> 00:09:14,880 Speaker 1: you you open it up, you remove the seeds. The 172 00:09:14,920 --> 00:09:18,960 Speaker 1: only edible proportion is the yellow a really, which is 173 00:09:19,200 --> 00:09:22,800 Speaker 1: surrounded by on again the toxic seeds. And there's a 174 00:09:22,800 --> 00:09:25,960 Speaker 1: membrane at the base of the seed mantle that's also poisonous. 175 00:09:25,960 --> 00:09:28,080 Speaker 1: You have to take that out to Okay, So it 176 00:09:28,120 --> 00:09:29,760 Speaker 1: sounds like if you don't know what you're doing, you 177 00:09:29,760 --> 00:09:32,480 Speaker 1: shouldn't try to eat a knocky fruit, right. Talk to 178 00:09:32,559 --> 00:09:35,600 Speaker 1: somebody who's familiar with this fruit and knows what knows 179 00:09:35,679 --> 00:09:37,760 Speaker 1: how to carve it up. Right. Yeah, But luckily if 180 00:09:37,760 --> 00:09:40,240 Speaker 1: it's on the menu at a place in Jamaica, like 181 00:09:40,280 --> 00:09:42,640 Speaker 1: they know how to cook it, Like everyone has familiarity 182 00:09:42,720 --> 00:09:45,240 Speaker 1: with this particular dish there. But you are saying, in 183 00:09:45,240 --> 00:09:49,360 Speaker 1: a survival situation, stick to the scrambled eggs. Not probably 184 00:09:49,520 --> 00:09:52,679 Speaker 1: not the black hole eggs. Yeah. Yeah, because someone who 185 00:09:52,679 --> 00:09:54,400 Speaker 1: knows how to deal with this, they're gonna clean it. 186 00:09:54,440 --> 00:09:56,240 Speaker 1: They're gonna wash the fruit after it's gonna be boiled 187 00:09:56,240 --> 00:09:58,480 Speaker 1: in water. Then they're gonna throw out that water because 188 00:09:58,480 --> 00:10:00,720 Speaker 1: that could contain a trace of the poison. And it's 189 00:10:00,760 --> 00:10:03,240 Speaker 1: gonna be perfectly good to eat. It's gonna be rich 190 00:10:03,320 --> 00:10:06,120 Speaker 1: and you know, fatty acids, vitamin A, zinc, and protein. 191 00:10:06,760 --> 00:10:11,320 Speaker 1: But if you were to eat it, uh, the unripened version, 192 00:10:11,520 --> 00:10:15,280 Speaker 1: you could get what's called called Jamaican vomiting sickness. That 193 00:10:15,360 --> 00:10:18,400 Speaker 1: sounds like a not very fun sickness. Yeah, it causes 194 00:10:18,440 --> 00:10:20,959 Speaker 1: a lot of vomiting and can lead to coma and death. 195 00:10:21,160 --> 00:10:23,640 Speaker 1: And uh, in the biochemistry of it is pretty interesting. 196 00:10:23,640 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: It kills you via a form of hypoglycemia or low 197 00:10:28,480 --> 00:10:32,440 Speaker 1: blood sugar. Oh. So, normally, as the body uses up 198 00:10:32,720 --> 00:10:36,640 Speaker 1: the glucose in the blood, your liver releases glucose that 199 00:10:36,720 --> 00:10:38,960 Speaker 1: it formed that it stores in the form of glycogen. 200 00:10:39,400 --> 00:10:43,040 Speaker 1: The toxin, however, halts the process, so a few hours 201 00:10:43,040 --> 00:10:47,040 Speaker 1: after ingesting all of this, your body glucose crashes and 202 00:10:47,360 --> 00:10:50,640 Speaker 1: and just leaves you hypoglocemic. Oh this sounds similar to 203 00:10:50,840 --> 00:10:54,720 Speaker 1: some not poisons, but venoms I've heard of before the 204 00:10:54,760 --> 00:10:59,440 Speaker 1: attack by causing an insulin spike in the body and 205 00:10:59,520 --> 00:11:03,680 Speaker 1: drop in the victim's blood sugar to dangerously low levels. Yeah, yeah, 206 00:11:03,679 --> 00:11:05,960 Speaker 1: it sounds like those are probably similar. I think there's 207 00:11:06,000 --> 00:11:08,320 Speaker 1: like a there's a snail in the ocean that does 208 00:11:08,360 --> 00:11:11,080 Speaker 1: that or something. Alright, well, what do we have next 209 00:11:11,120 --> 00:11:13,920 Speaker 1: on the mediu here? Ah? Well, it looks like the 210 00:11:13,960 --> 00:11:17,000 Speaker 1: next thing arriving is something I'm a little bit familiar 211 00:11:17,000 --> 00:11:20,120 Speaker 1: with but haven't had the courage to eat myself. It's 212 00:11:20,280 --> 00:11:23,200 Speaker 1: it's something that's straight out of Iceland, and from what 213 00:11:23,280 --> 00:11:27,640 Speaker 1: I've heard, it's well, it's bad news if you're not game, 214 00:11:27,840 --> 00:11:30,360 Speaker 1: but if you are game, I guess some people really 215 00:11:30,400 --> 00:11:32,680 Speaker 1: like it. So, so what do we have sitting here 216 00:11:32,720 --> 00:11:36,360 Speaker 1: before us? It looks like some little cubes of cheese, 217 00:11:36,480 --> 00:11:38,400 Speaker 1: like the kind of the tasters hand out at the 218 00:11:38,400 --> 00:11:41,360 Speaker 1: grocery store in the Delhi. So it's a little white 219 00:11:41,679 --> 00:11:45,160 Speaker 1: cube with a toothpick stuck in it, and I guess 220 00:11:45,160 --> 00:11:47,200 Speaker 1: there there's nothing else on the plate, So it looks 221 00:11:47,240 --> 00:11:49,480 Speaker 1: like you just eat it by itself. Oh, except there's 222 00:11:49,480 --> 00:11:51,800 Speaker 1: a shot of clear liquor sitting next to it, so 223 00:11:51,800 --> 00:11:54,120 Speaker 1: I guess maybe you're supposed to take that with it. Now, 224 00:11:54,120 --> 00:11:57,240 Speaker 1: what's this smell I'm getting from the dish here, Joe? 225 00:11:57,520 --> 00:12:00,760 Speaker 1: You know, as as one person, I watched a video 226 00:12:00,840 --> 00:12:03,680 Speaker 1: online of somebody eating this stuff and the first comment 227 00:12:03,840 --> 00:12:06,880 Speaker 1: was smells like windex. That is a that is a 228 00:12:06,920 --> 00:12:11,360 Speaker 1: common description of what this is, which is rotten greenland 229 00:12:11,480 --> 00:12:15,280 Speaker 1: shark meat, a a national delicacy of Iceland, also known 230 00:12:15,320 --> 00:12:19,880 Speaker 1: as hakl and uh. And I apologize if I'm not 231 00:12:19,920 --> 00:12:22,040 Speaker 1: pronouncing that the right way. I don't know the best 232 00:12:22,080 --> 00:12:25,920 Speaker 1: way to say, ha, Carl, But there it is. It's uh. 233 00:12:26,200 --> 00:12:30,200 Speaker 1: It's compared to industrial cleaning products. Often in the aroma, 234 00:12:30,400 --> 00:12:35,240 Speaker 1: it's very high in ammonia, so it's gonna smell like windex, 235 00:12:35,440 --> 00:12:40,120 Speaker 1: or like bleach, or like urine. That is the most 236 00:12:40,160 --> 00:12:43,200 Speaker 1: common point of comparison other than cleaning products. So it's 237 00:12:43,280 --> 00:12:46,480 Speaker 1: it's urine, it's bleach, and then also kind of like 238 00:12:46,640 --> 00:12:51,080 Speaker 1: ambient rotting fishiness of ancient days. Okay, now it's of 239 00:12:51,120 --> 00:12:54,000 Speaker 1: course we're throwing in at this point and reminding everyone 240 00:12:54,040 --> 00:12:59,640 Speaker 1: at far northern cultures typically have a lot of survival foods. Yes, 241 00:12:59,640 --> 00:13:03,000 Speaker 1: where Yeah, it may not seem as as delightful, but 242 00:13:03,120 --> 00:13:06,320 Speaker 1: you have to put it in the context of surviving 243 00:13:06,360 --> 00:13:09,520 Speaker 1: the winter with the foods that could be preserved. Yeah, 244 00:13:09,520 --> 00:13:11,920 Speaker 1: this is this is a common feature of of far 245 00:13:12,040 --> 00:13:15,120 Speaker 1: northern climates where you you have dishes that were kind 246 00:13:15,160 --> 00:13:19,520 Speaker 1: of fermented or preserved in a way that produces chemical 247 00:13:19,600 --> 00:13:24,720 Speaker 1: combinations that might seem unappealing to people not accustomed to them. So, yeah, 248 00:13:24,760 --> 00:13:27,160 Speaker 1: so this is Greenland shark meat, and I've never had 249 00:13:27,200 --> 00:13:30,960 Speaker 1: it before. I've read that the texture is also sort 250 00:13:31,000 --> 00:13:33,720 Speaker 1: of sometimes compared to cheeses, like it's a it's a 251 00:13:33,720 --> 00:13:35,800 Speaker 1: little bit chewy at first, but then it kind of 252 00:13:35,800 --> 00:13:39,120 Speaker 1: descends into a powdery grain kind of texture as it 253 00:13:39,160 --> 00:13:42,560 Speaker 1: dissolves in the mouth. And they say you are supposed 254 00:13:42,559 --> 00:13:44,800 Speaker 1: to chase it with a shot of Brinnavin, which is 255 00:13:44,840 --> 00:13:50,800 Speaker 1: an unsweetened caraway schnops from Iceland that I did taste 256 00:13:50,880 --> 00:13:53,120 Speaker 1: that when I was in Iceland, and you know, I 257 00:13:53,360 --> 00:13:55,680 Speaker 1: love Iceland. It was not a fan of that liquor. 258 00:13:55,920 --> 00:13:57,600 Speaker 1: It was it potent that it like warm me up. 259 00:13:57,679 --> 00:14:00,160 Speaker 1: It was very herbal, you know, it was like it's 260 00:14:00,200 --> 00:14:03,600 Speaker 1: like somebody got some herbal tea and then reduced it 261 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:07,959 Speaker 1: down by like not making it thicker, but just concentrated 262 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:11,920 Speaker 1: the flavor by about ten thousand times, and that that's 263 00:14:11,960 --> 00:14:14,839 Speaker 1: what it was. So how do you get some of this, 264 00:14:14,880 --> 00:14:16,680 Speaker 1: he carl, how do you make it? You? Well, first, 265 00:14:16,800 --> 00:14:18,880 Speaker 1: like I said, you start with a nice freshly called 266 00:14:18,960 --> 00:14:22,200 Speaker 1: greenland shark or another shark from the same family, the 267 00:14:22,280 --> 00:14:27,640 Speaker 1: sleeper sharks, the somniosis sharks. The greenland shark in particular 268 00:14:27,760 --> 00:14:32,520 Speaker 1: is the somniosis microcephalus, which sounds like it means a sleepy, 269 00:14:32,600 --> 00:14:37,720 Speaker 1: tiny head. But the greenland shark is a really cool animal. 270 00:14:37,720 --> 00:14:42,160 Speaker 1: It's It's also known as the ecolossuac, which is the 271 00:14:42,360 --> 00:14:44,760 Speaker 1: an Inuit term. I've seen a lot of variations on 272 00:14:44,840 --> 00:14:47,360 Speaker 1: the Inuit spelling and pronunciation, so I think they're just 273 00:14:47,440 --> 00:14:52,000 Speaker 1: different transliterations of the same term. And it's a huge shark. 274 00:14:52,080 --> 00:14:56,160 Speaker 1: The greenland shark gets as big or bigger than great whites. 275 00:14:56,200 --> 00:15:00,520 Speaker 1: It grows uh lives probably for more than two of years. 276 00:15:01,080 --> 00:15:03,960 Speaker 1: It grows very slowly, and it can get more than 277 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,080 Speaker 1: twenty ft long ways, more than a ton, and they 278 00:15:07,200 --> 00:15:09,640 Speaker 1: dwell in some of the coldest waters of the earth, 279 00:15:09,720 --> 00:15:14,320 Speaker 1: between like freezing and about ten degrees celsius. And it's 280 00:15:14,320 --> 00:15:17,680 Speaker 1: funny that it's known for appearing very sluggish. They say, 281 00:15:17,720 --> 00:15:20,080 Speaker 1: when you see it in the water, it looks lethargic 282 00:15:20,200 --> 00:15:23,200 Speaker 1: and impassive. Is just not really impressed by anything. I 283 00:15:23,240 --> 00:15:27,280 Speaker 1: read one account that said that people just you can. 284 00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:30,200 Speaker 1: You can catch them by literally just dragging them out 285 00:15:30,200 --> 00:15:32,560 Speaker 1: of the water with your bare hands. If they get 286 00:15:32,600 --> 00:15:36,040 Speaker 1: close enough to the surface. They don't fight much. So 287 00:15:36,120 --> 00:15:37,760 Speaker 1: it sounds like if all the sharks, it's kind of 288 00:15:37,800 --> 00:15:40,440 Speaker 1: the most stoic and resigned to the whims of fate. 289 00:15:40,600 --> 00:15:43,800 Speaker 1: But the question that I had was like, wait a minute, 290 00:15:43,840 --> 00:15:48,520 Speaker 1: why does it taste like urine? Uh? This knowledge about 291 00:15:48,560 --> 00:15:52,080 Speaker 1: the taste of greenland shark meat apparently goes back a 292 00:15:52,160 --> 00:15:55,440 Speaker 1: long way. I found an interesting article by Lindsay O'Reilly 293 00:15:55,480 --> 00:16:00,240 Speaker 1: and Canadian Geographic Magazine about the Greenland sharks significan against 294 00:16:00,280 --> 00:16:04,000 Speaker 1: an Inuit culture and uh, it's it's offering another variation 295 00:16:04,040 --> 00:16:07,720 Speaker 1: on that same name. This time it's Skalougsuak. Yeah, I 296 00:16:07,760 --> 00:16:11,040 Speaker 1: love that scalouksuak, And I want to read a little 297 00:16:11,120 --> 00:16:14,360 Speaker 1: quote from this article. She says Inuit legend has it 298 00:16:14,440 --> 00:16:17,840 Speaker 1: that once long ago, an old woman was drying her 299 00:16:17,920 --> 00:16:22,040 Speaker 1: hair after washing it with urine, when the wind suddenly 300 00:16:22,040 --> 00:16:25,320 Speaker 1: whipped the damp cloth from her hand and carried it 301 00:16:25,320 --> 00:16:29,960 Speaker 1: out to see. This cloth, the Inuit say, became skalouksuak, 302 00:16:30,240 --> 00:16:33,440 Speaker 1: the greenland shark. I love that because it sounds like 303 00:16:33,600 --> 00:16:35,360 Speaker 1: there's been a recent trend I think in a couple 304 00:16:35,360 --> 00:16:38,080 Speaker 1: of different skits where you have individuals coming up with 305 00:16:38,160 --> 00:16:43,440 Speaker 1: elaborate descriptions of how bad a beer is, and this 306 00:16:43,520 --> 00:16:46,680 Speaker 1: seems like a more primal version of that. I can 307 00:16:46,720 --> 00:16:50,080 Speaker 1: imagine Inuit setting around eating some of this and saying, 308 00:16:50,520 --> 00:16:54,200 Speaker 1: you know this, uh, this particular meat taste as if 309 00:16:54,240 --> 00:16:57,120 Speaker 1: an old woman washed her hair in urine and then 310 00:16:57,440 --> 00:17:01,000 Speaker 1: threw that hair into the water and it became a shark. Yeah, 311 00:17:01,040 --> 00:17:04,679 Speaker 1: it's very flowery. Yeah, it's like somebody is really overriding 312 00:17:04,680 --> 00:17:09,760 Speaker 1: the Spear Advocate article. But anyway, getting to the point 313 00:17:09,800 --> 00:17:13,960 Speaker 1: about the dangers associated with it. If not prepared properly, 314 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:18,040 Speaker 1: you don't want to eat greenland shark meat fresh. You 315 00:17:18,119 --> 00:17:20,360 Speaker 1: might not want to eat it anyway because it smells 316 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:23,880 Speaker 1: like bleach and urine. But let's say you're really really hungry, 317 00:17:24,000 --> 00:17:26,720 Speaker 1: or you're looking for something to feed your dogs, don't 318 00:17:26,760 --> 00:17:30,280 Speaker 1: go with fresh greenland shark meat because it is poisonous 319 00:17:30,280 --> 00:17:33,640 Speaker 1: as hack. So when it's fresh and raw, the meat 320 00:17:33,640 --> 00:17:36,400 Speaker 1: of a greenland shark contains high levels of uric acid 321 00:17:36,520 --> 00:17:41,520 Speaker 1: or urea and trimethylamine oxide, and so if it's eaten 322 00:17:41,520 --> 00:17:44,800 Speaker 1: in high enough doses, it can cause effects that from 323 00:17:44,800 --> 00:17:48,439 Speaker 1: the outside resemble drunkenness. Sometimes people can say like, this 324 00:17:48,480 --> 00:17:52,280 Speaker 1: person is drunk on shark, but it can lead to 325 00:17:52,320 --> 00:17:57,359 Speaker 1: really bad things like nausea and vomiting, oral burning sensations, 326 00:17:57,359 --> 00:18:03,680 Speaker 1: explosive diarrhea, muscle twitching and convulsions, trouble breathing, and even 327 00:18:03,800 --> 00:18:07,800 Speaker 1: in some cases coma and death. And the most toxic 328 00:18:07,960 --> 00:18:12,000 Speaker 1: ingredient in the greenland shark meat is the triethlamine oxide. 329 00:18:12,040 --> 00:18:14,240 Speaker 1: This is a chemical used by the shark as a 330 00:18:14,320 --> 00:18:17,600 Speaker 1: kind of natural anti freeze for the proteins and enzymes 331 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:20,040 Speaker 1: in its body, and it it does a good thing 332 00:18:20,080 --> 00:18:22,360 Speaker 1: for the shark because it allows the shark to survive 333 00:18:22,400 --> 00:18:25,240 Speaker 1: the freezing temperatures of the water that it lives in 334 00:18:25,680 --> 00:18:28,800 Speaker 1: without the formation of ice crystals and the destruction of 335 00:18:28,800 --> 00:18:32,120 Speaker 1: proteins inside the body, so it's it's a fish that's 336 00:18:32,160 --> 00:18:35,760 Speaker 1: got anti freeze in it, and you you know, you 337 00:18:35,760 --> 00:18:38,520 Speaker 1: know the rule about not eating anti freeze. Yeah, that 338 00:18:38,600 --> 00:18:40,840 Speaker 1: one's drilled in at an early age, you know. I 339 00:18:40,880 --> 00:18:44,639 Speaker 1: think there was an episode of the documentary series Human 340 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:48,160 Speaker 1: Planet in which you see some some fishermen actually pull 341 00:18:48,240 --> 00:18:50,359 Speaker 1: one of these creatures out of the water and then 342 00:18:50,400 --> 00:18:52,200 Speaker 1: I believe they feed it to a dog. I can't 343 00:18:52,200 --> 00:18:55,240 Speaker 1: remember if they cooked it or not. Yeah, actually, I 344 00:18:55,240 --> 00:18:58,040 Speaker 1: I've read that sometimes the meat is fed to dogs 345 00:18:58,200 --> 00:19:01,960 Speaker 1: and it's it makes the dog dog's drunk essentially, but 346 00:19:02,160 --> 00:19:04,840 Speaker 1: it doesn't sound like something. Don't feed greenland shark to 347 00:19:04,920 --> 00:19:07,520 Speaker 1: your pet if you happen to have some fresh greenland shark. 348 00:19:07,560 --> 00:19:10,480 Speaker 1: I don't know why you would, because you typically don't 349 00:19:10,480 --> 00:19:13,520 Speaker 1: get it fresh unless you catch it yourself, because it's 350 00:19:13,520 --> 00:19:16,000 Speaker 1: so poisonous and and so how do you get the 351 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:18,639 Speaker 1: hakarl the version that's okay to eat, even if some 352 00:19:18,680 --> 00:19:22,520 Speaker 1: people find it very disgusting. Well, the traditional Icelandic way 353 00:19:22,560 --> 00:19:26,760 Speaker 1: of preparation is let it rot, and specifically let it 354 00:19:26,880 --> 00:19:30,639 Speaker 1: rot under pressure, So you bury it under rocks or 355 00:19:30,680 --> 00:19:33,520 Speaker 1: gravel for like three months, and then you'll let it 356 00:19:33,640 --> 00:19:36,280 Speaker 1: rot there and then you dig it up and you 357 00:19:36,359 --> 00:19:39,200 Speaker 1: hang it out to dry for another three or four months. 358 00:19:39,240 --> 00:19:41,640 Speaker 1: So this has had, you know, many months of rotting 359 00:19:42,440 --> 00:19:45,080 Speaker 1: under pressure to press out some of the liquids and 360 00:19:45,080 --> 00:19:48,960 Speaker 1: then hanging up to dry. And this process supposedly makes 361 00:19:49,000 --> 00:19:52,040 Speaker 1: the shark safer to eat, as the poisons are removed 362 00:19:52,080 --> 00:19:55,480 Speaker 1: through the pressing and through the chemical action of the fermentation. 363 00:19:57,040 --> 00:20:00,399 Speaker 1: But another method of preparing greenland shark would simply be 364 00:20:00,480 --> 00:20:03,160 Speaker 1: to boil it in several changes of water to leach 365 00:20:03,200 --> 00:20:06,640 Speaker 1: out the toxins. But the several changes of water is important. 366 00:20:06,720 --> 00:20:09,600 Speaker 1: You don't want to eat greenland sharks soup made from 367 00:20:09,600 --> 00:20:12,920 Speaker 1: a you know, a broth of the meat. But anyway, 368 00:20:13,200 --> 00:20:16,040 Speaker 1: if prepared in the correct way they say it is. 369 00:20:16,240 --> 00:20:21,600 Speaker 1: It is very pungent and likely to terrify tourists, but 370 00:20:21,760 --> 00:20:24,359 Speaker 1: it's safe to eat. You can eat this rotten shark 371 00:20:24,440 --> 00:20:28,320 Speaker 1: and not die. I'm I'm reminded of the episode of 372 00:20:28,320 --> 00:20:32,880 Speaker 1: The Simpsons in which Homer had an especially long sub 373 00:20:33,040 --> 00:20:36,840 Speaker 1: sandwich Marge made him throw out ended up hiding behind 374 00:20:36,840 --> 00:20:38,800 Speaker 1: a radiator and he would sneak it out from the 375 00:20:38,880 --> 00:20:44,240 Speaker 1: radiator and eat it gray and rotten. Um that sounds 376 00:20:44,320 --> 00:20:52,159 Speaker 1: very familiar. All right, Well, let's clear these dishes away 377 00:20:52,200 --> 00:20:55,960 Speaker 1: because we have we have another Arctic dish coming out 378 00:20:56,000 --> 00:20:58,720 Speaker 1: for us. Well, it is labeled on the menu as 379 00:20:58,840 --> 00:21:03,320 Speaker 1: boreal wild game. Uh, it smells very gamy. Oh, I 380 00:21:03,359 --> 00:21:06,440 Speaker 1: see the description here. This is polar bear meat. We're 381 00:21:06,440 --> 00:21:09,639 Speaker 1: being offered polar bear. Okay, Well, I don't seem like 382 00:21:09,680 --> 00:21:12,200 Speaker 1: there could be a problem there, right, No, it seems 383 00:21:12,240 --> 00:21:16,120 Speaker 1: like bear probably shouldn't eat polar bear? Should well? Probably not. 384 00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:20,840 Speaker 1: But I imagine before I think when, because when I 385 00:21:20,920 --> 00:21:24,399 Speaker 1: was a kid in Newfoundland, Canada for about three years, 386 00:21:25,160 --> 00:21:29,560 Speaker 1: occasionally interesting meat to present themselves, such as moose or 387 00:21:29,600 --> 00:21:32,199 Speaker 1: in I think one case there was bear stew. You 388 00:21:32,200 --> 00:21:35,280 Speaker 1: have to put yourself in a pretty extreme situation, I 389 00:21:35,320 --> 00:21:38,159 Speaker 1: think for the question to even come up, should I 390 00:21:38,200 --> 00:21:40,560 Speaker 1: eat this polar bear? Yeah? But it turns out that 391 00:21:40,600 --> 00:21:44,520 Speaker 1: the polar bear, like the acky fruit and the Greenland shark, 392 00:21:44,760 --> 00:21:47,320 Speaker 1: is a food that if you're in a position where 393 00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:50,199 Speaker 1: you find yourself needing to eat it, you better have 394 00:21:50,280 --> 00:21:53,199 Speaker 1: somebody on hand who knows how to prepare it and 395 00:21:53,280 --> 00:21:57,560 Speaker 1: knows which parts to avoid. That's right, because you know, 396 00:21:57,600 --> 00:21:59,720 Speaker 1: the native peoples of the Arctic they've done for a 397 00:21:59,760 --> 00:22:03,600 Speaker 1: long time that some days the bear eats you, and 398 00:22:03,760 --> 00:22:05,800 Speaker 1: some days you eat the bear, right, but on the 399 00:22:05,880 --> 00:22:07,760 Speaker 1: days some days you eat the bear, and then it 400 00:22:07,800 --> 00:22:10,720 Speaker 1: gets you back, yes, because you when you do eat 401 00:22:10,760 --> 00:22:13,199 Speaker 1: the bear, you got to know not to eat the 402 00:22:13,200 --> 00:22:17,040 Speaker 1: bear's liver. And as early as fifteen nine six you 403 00:22:17,119 --> 00:22:21,080 Speaker 1: had European explorers who learned this lesson the hard way, uh, 404 00:22:21,240 --> 00:22:26,120 Speaker 1: coming down with just horrible illness, like nightmarish illness following 405 00:22:26,119 --> 00:22:29,280 Speaker 1: the consumption of polar bear liver. Because with many different animals, 406 00:22:29,280 --> 00:22:33,440 Speaker 1: certainly the kind of animals that European would consume back home, 407 00:22:33,800 --> 00:22:36,560 Speaker 1: the liver is totally fair game. The liver is a delicacy. 408 00:22:36,600 --> 00:22:39,240 Speaker 1: The liver should be eaten. Right. Yeah, you have a 409 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:42,359 Speaker 1: fine French restaurant making a foix gras or liver moose 410 00:22:42,480 --> 00:22:44,960 Speaker 1: or something. Yeah, but then you start dining on polar 411 00:22:44,960 --> 00:22:49,080 Speaker 1: bear liver and you might feel drowsy, sluggish, irritable. Suddenly 412 00:22:49,080 --> 00:22:52,080 Speaker 1: you have a severe headache, you get bone pain. Hold 413 00:22:52,119 --> 00:22:55,680 Speaker 1: on bone pain, bone pain. What does bone pain even 414 00:22:55,720 --> 00:23:00,359 Speaker 1: feel like? Well, there's one way to find out. Blurred vision, 415 00:23:00,359 --> 00:23:02,560 Speaker 1: and then you're vomiting. And finally, this is where it 416 00:23:02,600 --> 00:23:07,440 Speaker 1: gets just really crazy. Is you start experiencing skin peels, 417 00:23:08,040 --> 00:23:11,360 Speaker 1: peeling skin? Yeah, I think you accidentally did your research 418 00:23:11,440 --> 00:23:13,960 Speaker 1: from the plot synopsis of a hell Raiser movie. It 419 00:23:14,040 --> 00:23:16,280 Speaker 1: sounds like a hell raisor movie. Yeah, because in the 420 00:23:16,320 --> 00:23:19,959 Speaker 1: milder cases, you're talking just flaking skin around the mouth, alright, 421 00:23:20,080 --> 00:23:23,080 Speaker 1: you know, unpleasant, but hey, not too bad. But some 422 00:23:23,119 --> 00:23:27,720 Speaker 1: accounts reported cases of full body skin loss. Even even 423 00:23:27,720 --> 00:23:30,000 Speaker 1: the thick skin on the bottoms of a patient's feet 424 00:23:30,359 --> 00:23:34,760 Speaker 1: could peel away, leaving the underlying flesh bloody and expire 425 00:23:34,800 --> 00:23:38,520 Speaker 1: and exposure and on the top of that liver damage, hemorrhage, coma, 426 00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:46,040 Speaker 1: and death. Save your tears, man, that is messed up. So, 427 00:23:46,040 --> 00:23:48,280 Speaker 1: so what's the deal with the Polar bears liver? Why 428 00:23:48,320 --> 00:23:51,280 Speaker 1: is it? Why is it so poisonous? Well, it all 429 00:23:51,320 --> 00:23:55,600 Speaker 1: comes down to vitamin A. Interestingly enough, vitamin A people 430 00:23:55,680 --> 00:23:59,120 Speaker 1: take pills of that. It's in carrots. It should be fine. Yeah, 431 00:23:59,160 --> 00:24:00,560 Speaker 1: I mean, I mean we've been and it being in 432 00:24:00,600 --> 00:24:02,560 Speaker 1: some of like being one of the pro who's to 433 00:24:03,040 --> 00:24:05,040 Speaker 1: some of the foods that we're mentioning in this episode. 434 00:24:05,040 --> 00:24:08,880 Speaker 1: But because a vitamin A is important for eyesight, reproduction, 435 00:24:09,240 --> 00:24:14,040 Speaker 1: fetal development, growth, immune response and the sellular formation of tissue. 436 00:24:14,119 --> 00:24:16,000 Speaker 1: Can that's key? Can I go on a little side 437 00:24:16,000 --> 00:24:18,440 Speaker 1: tangent here? This is the thing I had to research 438 00:24:18,480 --> 00:24:21,160 Speaker 1: for a brain stuff video once. It's a myth that 439 00:24:21,320 --> 00:24:25,960 Speaker 1: vitamin A increases your eyesight beyond normal capacity. Okay, this 440 00:24:26,080 --> 00:24:27,800 Speaker 1: is the whole Like if you eat enough carrots to 441 00:24:27,920 --> 00:24:30,760 Speaker 1: improve your eyesight. Right. What is true is that vitamin 442 00:24:30,800 --> 00:24:33,000 Speaker 1: A and carrots are a good source of vitamin A, 443 00:24:33,040 --> 00:24:36,080 Speaker 1: though plenty of other vegetables are too. Anything has beta 444 00:24:36,119 --> 00:24:40,240 Speaker 1: caroteen in it, as like spinach is great too. Uh. 445 00:24:40,440 --> 00:24:44,160 Speaker 1: They will help maintain normal vision, but they're not gonna 446 00:24:44,400 --> 00:24:49,600 Speaker 1: upgrade your vision above the baseline. Okay, alright, good to know. Now, 447 00:24:49,960 --> 00:24:51,760 Speaker 1: if you like me to take a lot of vitamins, 448 00:24:52,160 --> 00:24:54,600 Speaker 1: you probably noticed that on days when you take extra vitamins, 449 00:24:54,800 --> 00:24:57,480 Speaker 1: you end up with, you know, just splendidly golden urine. 450 00:24:58,440 --> 00:25:02,160 Speaker 1: Extra vitamins lee your body. Um. And that's the case 451 00:25:02,160 --> 00:25:04,440 Speaker 1: with the number of items. They simply dissolve in water 452 00:25:04,560 --> 00:25:08,000 Speaker 1: leave your body in urine. A. However, vitamin A only 453 00:25:08,040 --> 00:25:11,000 Speaker 1: dissolves in fat, so that means it does an exit 454 00:25:11,040 --> 00:25:13,680 Speaker 1: the body and urine instead it collects in the body's 455 00:25:13,720 --> 00:25:17,360 Speaker 1: filtration oregan the liver where it can reach toxic levels, 456 00:25:17,760 --> 00:25:20,679 Speaker 1: and generally this occurs over a pro long period of time, 457 00:25:21,200 --> 00:25:23,320 Speaker 1: and if it does get out of control, then you 458 00:25:23,400 --> 00:25:27,480 Speaker 1: end up with chronic hyper vitaminosis A, and that in 459 00:25:27,560 --> 00:25:31,200 Speaker 1: humans involves all the various symptoms that we've already mentioned. 460 00:25:31,720 --> 00:25:35,720 Speaker 1: That sounds pretty horrible. So so wait a minute. How 461 00:25:35,800 --> 00:25:37,919 Speaker 1: much polar bear liver do you have to eat for 462 00:25:37,960 --> 00:25:39,960 Speaker 1: it to be dangerous? All right? Well, well, to put 463 00:25:39,960 --> 00:25:43,920 Speaker 1: it in in context here, uh, an average healthy human 464 00:25:43,960 --> 00:25:48,240 Speaker 1: liver contains five hundred and seventy five international units of 465 00:25:48,359 --> 00:25:52,240 Speaker 1: vitamin A program while a polar bears liver contains between 466 00:25:52,320 --> 00:25:57,120 Speaker 1: twenty four thousand and thirty five thousand international units per gram. 467 00:25:57,280 --> 00:26:00,600 Speaker 1: So you compare that to the tolerable upper level of 468 00:26:00,720 --> 00:26:03,760 Speaker 1: vitamin A in tank for a healthy adult human, that's 469 00:26:03,840 --> 00:26:08,520 Speaker 1: ten thousand I U like supercharging your vitamin A consumption 470 00:26:08,600 --> 00:26:12,960 Speaker 1: to just absurd levels. Why is there this much vitamin 471 00:26:13,000 --> 00:26:15,560 Speaker 1: A and a polar bear liver? Well, it all comes down, 472 00:26:16,200 --> 00:26:18,359 Speaker 1: I mean a lot of it comes down to the 473 00:26:18,520 --> 00:26:23,200 Speaker 1: hostile environment than necessary biological adaptations. So in the case 474 00:26:23,240 --> 00:26:26,800 Speaker 1: of the bear, the bear doesn't need that much vitamin 475 00:26:26,840 --> 00:26:28,960 Speaker 1: A in its diet. You put a bear in a 476 00:26:29,040 --> 00:26:31,400 Speaker 1: in a zoo, it can get by with with far 477 00:26:31,520 --> 00:26:36,000 Speaker 1: lower quantities of vitamin A. But in its natural environment, 478 00:26:36,760 --> 00:26:41,520 Speaker 1: bears are eating a lot of bearded seals, ring seals, 479 00:26:41,560 --> 00:26:44,159 Speaker 1: both of which store high levels of vitamin A in 480 00:26:44,240 --> 00:26:47,000 Speaker 1: their livers and blubber. Uh. And a lot of this 481 00:26:47,000 --> 00:26:50,080 Speaker 1: seems to have to do with the the again, the 482 00:26:50,200 --> 00:26:53,280 Speaker 1: role that vitamin A plays and growth and naval development, 483 00:26:53,520 --> 00:26:56,359 Speaker 1: so that the seals need all that extra vitamin A 484 00:26:56,400 --> 00:27:00,320 Speaker 1: in order to advance their vulnerable pups into a more 485 00:27:00,640 --> 00:27:04,280 Speaker 1: survivable stage. So it all comes down to the polar 486 00:27:04,320 --> 00:27:06,399 Speaker 1: bear needs to eat those seals. It needs to to 487 00:27:06,400 --> 00:27:09,000 Speaker 1: tolerate high levels of vitamin A, so it is evolved 488 00:27:09,080 --> 00:27:11,440 Speaker 1: to roll with higher levels of vitamin A. It can 489 00:27:11,480 --> 00:27:14,800 Speaker 1: store those higher levels of vitamin A in its filtration system, 490 00:27:14,840 --> 00:27:18,440 Speaker 1: in its liver. It's when we eat its filtration system. 491 00:27:18,480 --> 00:27:20,720 Speaker 1: If when we eat its liver we end up with 492 00:27:20,800 --> 00:27:24,119 Speaker 1: quantities of vitamin A that we have totally not evolved 493 00:27:24,280 --> 00:27:26,680 Speaker 1: to deal with. You know, this might be a different 494 00:27:26,800 --> 00:27:29,399 Speaker 1: kind of category of food than our others where I 495 00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:31,680 Speaker 1: would say, you know, if if you're having your food 496 00:27:31,720 --> 00:27:34,200 Speaker 1: prepared by somebody who knows what they're doing. Aki fruit 497 00:27:34,280 --> 00:27:37,360 Speaker 1: and Hakarl, go for it. I'd probably say, don't eat 498 00:27:37,359 --> 00:27:40,640 Speaker 1: a polar bear. Yeah, it's hard for me to get 499 00:27:40,880 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: given the polar bear is recent plight. Uh. Yeah, I 500 00:27:44,040 --> 00:27:45,960 Speaker 1: can't get excited about the idea of eating one of 501 00:27:45,960 --> 00:27:49,240 Speaker 1: these creatures. I mean, unless it's eat or be eaten. Uh. 502 00:27:49,320 --> 00:27:52,640 Speaker 1: Certainly in the survival okay, survivalist case, Uh, they would 503 00:27:52,680 --> 00:27:54,840 Speaker 1: say eat the polar bear, but know what you're doing, 504 00:27:55,000 --> 00:27:56,879 Speaker 1: not the liver, not the liver, and don't feed it 505 00:27:56,920 --> 00:28:00,680 Speaker 1: to a dog, et cetera. And it's just a little 506 00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:04,680 Speaker 1: fun fact. I once wrote a short story in which 507 00:28:04,720 --> 00:28:09,240 Speaker 1: Captain Sir Richard Francis Burton meets Frankenstein, or actually he 508 00:28:09,280 --> 00:28:13,359 Speaker 1: ends up with meeting Frankenstein's monster, I believe, and the 509 00:28:13,400 --> 00:28:17,840 Speaker 1: creature in this particular story, I had him consumed polar 510 00:28:17,840 --> 00:28:20,040 Speaker 1: bear liver and that's how he gets all this figured 511 00:28:20,040 --> 00:28:22,880 Speaker 1: and gross. Wow, I'd like to read that, dude. It's 512 00:28:22,880 --> 00:28:24,760 Speaker 1: out there somewhere. Maybe I'll have to throw up a 513 00:28:24,760 --> 00:28:28,240 Speaker 1: link somewhere. Okay, Well, oh wait, it looks like another 514 00:28:28,280 --> 00:28:31,600 Speaker 1: course is arriving. What do we have here, Well, it's 515 00:28:31,640 --> 00:28:34,760 Speaker 1: a very beautiful plate. It's an ornately decorated plate, and 516 00:28:34,800 --> 00:28:39,959 Speaker 1: it's covered in very thinly sliced, pale, translucent sashimi, tiny, 517 00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:44,800 Speaker 1: just tiny tissue, thin slices of fish. It looks good. 518 00:28:45,800 --> 00:28:49,040 Speaker 1: So imagine you are in this scenario. You're sitting down 519 00:28:49,040 --> 00:28:50,920 Speaker 1: to a plate that looks like this, and you know 520 00:28:51,000 --> 00:28:53,239 Speaker 1: it does look good. So it looks so good you 521 00:28:53,280 --> 00:28:57,720 Speaker 1: eat the whole plate by yourself. But what would you 522 00:28:57,840 --> 00:28:59,960 Speaker 1: do if you're just eating a big plate of suit 523 00:29:00,040 --> 00:29:05,120 Speaker 1: she and then suddenly you start feeling some strange sensations. Uh, well, 524 00:29:05,160 --> 00:29:08,960 Speaker 1: I generally do. But generally that's just the saki. Oh yeah, 525 00:29:09,040 --> 00:29:11,880 Speaker 1: well that's a different thing entirely. Know that this would 526 00:29:11,880 --> 00:29:14,560 Speaker 1: be more like a you're sitting at the table and 527 00:29:14,600 --> 00:29:17,840 Speaker 1: there's kind of a burning and tingling on the lips, 528 00:29:19,040 --> 00:29:21,800 Speaker 1: and then it kind of turns into some pins and 529 00:29:21,880 --> 00:29:26,280 Speaker 1: needles pricking at the lips, tongue, mouth, the throat. Okay, 530 00:29:26,360 --> 00:29:28,840 Speaker 1: that's a problem. Yeah, And then suddenly you might start 531 00:29:28,880 --> 00:29:31,360 Speaker 1: to lose some coordination. That might still be the saki, 532 00:29:31,440 --> 00:29:34,840 Speaker 1: could be, but it starts to feel more like there's 533 00:29:34,880 --> 00:29:38,240 Speaker 1: a nervous system disruption going on throughout your body. You 534 00:29:38,240 --> 00:29:41,240 Speaker 1: you eventually collapse to the floor. That's bad. Yeah, And 535 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:44,200 Speaker 1: you find your muscles are very weak and sluggish, and 536 00:29:44,240 --> 00:29:47,280 Speaker 1: eventually you are mostly unable to move your body of 537 00:29:47,360 --> 00:29:51,520 Speaker 1: your own free will. And then the vomiting begins, leaving 538 00:29:51,520 --> 00:29:55,720 Speaker 1: you barely able to order seconds on the big dish. Now, 539 00:29:55,760 --> 00:29:58,680 Speaker 1: this is a worst case scenario leading up potentially to 540 00:29:58,880 --> 00:30:05,200 Speaker 1: death in the event of improperly prepared fugu or puffer fish. Now, 541 00:30:05,320 --> 00:30:08,360 Speaker 1: I again, like the other cases, I don't want a 542 00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:11,280 Speaker 1: bad mouth a perfectly good food if it's prepared well 543 00:30:11,320 --> 00:30:15,200 Speaker 1: and and fugu is a perfectly excellent sushi fish, and 544 00:30:15,280 --> 00:30:19,000 Speaker 1: it's not inherently dangerous wind served the right way, when 545 00:30:19,040 --> 00:30:21,720 Speaker 1: prepared by a trained chef who knows what they're doing, 546 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:23,960 Speaker 1: who has a license to prepare this kind of food. 547 00:30:24,280 --> 00:30:27,880 Speaker 1: And since the introduction the introduction of protective measures like 548 00:30:27,920 --> 00:30:31,320 Speaker 1: government restrictions on who's allowed to prepare and serve fugu, 549 00:30:31,400 --> 00:30:34,880 Speaker 1: fugu poisonings and deaths have been rare. But there is 550 00:30:34,880 --> 00:30:38,320 Speaker 1: a reason that these protective measures have been put in place. 551 00:30:39,000 --> 00:30:42,960 Speaker 1: I've read that sometimes in Japan or maybe in certain places, 552 00:30:42,960 --> 00:30:47,520 Speaker 1: fugu is known by the nickname tepo meaning gun and 553 00:30:47,800 --> 00:30:50,960 Speaker 1: like so like gun sushi, and that kind of makes 554 00:30:50,960 --> 00:30:53,840 Speaker 1: sense us. So, some organs in the puffer fish are 555 00:30:54,240 --> 00:30:59,920 Speaker 1: naturally equipped with tetra detoxin, which is an extremely potent neurotoxin. 556 00:31:00,080 --> 00:31:02,760 Speaker 1: You all talked about tetra to toxin on the show before. 557 00:31:02,800 --> 00:31:04,160 Speaker 1: I feel like it's come up a time or two 558 00:31:04,840 --> 00:31:08,920 Speaker 1: in passing. It's very, very toxic by mass ingested. It's 559 00:31:08,960 --> 00:31:13,000 Speaker 1: reportedly about a hundred times as toxic as potassium cyanide. 560 00:31:13,960 --> 00:31:16,640 Speaker 1: So you at least the scene in the James Bond 561 00:31:16,680 --> 00:31:19,280 Speaker 1: movie where the bad guy, you know, he's committing suicide 562 00:31:19,280 --> 00:31:22,240 Speaker 1: with the cyanide pill, he would need a tetra to 563 00:31:22,280 --> 00:31:25,640 Speaker 1: toxin pill one one hundred the size of the cyanide 564 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,040 Speaker 1: pill be very easy to hide in a little compartment. 565 00:31:28,600 --> 00:31:30,959 Speaker 1: But anyway, tetra to toxin, what does it duty? Why? 566 00:31:31,040 --> 00:31:33,680 Speaker 1: Why does it cause all these problems? Essentially, it works 567 00:31:33,680 --> 00:31:38,400 Speaker 1: by messing up communication between the bodies, nerves and muscles 568 00:31:38,440 --> 00:31:43,000 Speaker 1: by blocking sodium ion channels uh and uh. And this 569 00:31:43,040 --> 00:31:47,000 Speaker 1: can lead to paralysis. Especially. The really creepy thing I've 570 00:31:47,040 --> 00:31:51,360 Speaker 1: heard is that it's conscious paralysis. That sounds especially horrifying. 571 00:31:51,880 --> 00:31:54,920 Speaker 1: You don't yeah, like you're you're aware of what's going on. 572 00:31:55,000 --> 00:31:58,360 Speaker 1: It doesn't necessarily knock you unconscious, but you can't move 573 00:31:59,000 --> 00:32:02,680 Speaker 1: and you you might might be having trouble breathing, having 574 00:32:02,720 --> 00:32:08,040 Speaker 1: a fast beating or irregularly beating heart. It sounds very scary, 575 00:32:08,080 --> 00:32:12,000 Speaker 1: but like I said, if this is properly prepared foogu meat, 576 00:32:12,080 --> 00:32:14,200 Speaker 1: this this is not a problem you should have. You 577 00:32:14,200 --> 00:32:17,680 Speaker 1: you'll find this tetra to toxin and especially high concentrations 578 00:32:17,680 --> 00:32:21,400 Speaker 1: in the fishes liver and go nads. So the chef 579 00:32:21,440 --> 00:32:24,320 Speaker 1: who knows what he or she is doing can cut 580 00:32:24,320 --> 00:32:26,480 Speaker 1: around the right parts of the fish, knows what to 581 00:32:26,520 --> 00:32:28,360 Speaker 1: do to prepare it right. They're not going to serve 582 00:32:28,400 --> 00:32:30,720 Speaker 1: you the parts that are going to kill you. But 583 00:32:31,480 --> 00:32:35,400 Speaker 1: what happens when when I don't know things go wrong? 584 00:32:35,600 --> 00:32:39,800 Speaker 1: When somebody doesn't know what they're doing, Uh, it's not pretty. 585 00:32:39,840 --> 00:32:41,880 Speaker 1: I wanted to read from a little case study of 586 00:32:41,920 --> 00:32:46,120 Speaker 1: fugu poisoning from nine that was hosted on a report 587 00:32:46,200 --> 00:32:48,880 Speaker 1: on the CDC website. So this is a case where 588 00:32:49,840 --> 00:32:53,240 Speaker 1: and there were three guys hanging out and they get 589 00:32:53,320 --> 00:32:56,360 Speaker 1: some fugu that was I believe shipped to them from 590 00:32:56,400 --> 00:33:01,400 Speaker 1: a friend in Japan. Yeah, and they're like, well, let's 591 00:33:01,440 --> 00:33:04,520 Speaker 1: try it out. So here's one of the cases. So 592 00:33:04,680 --> 00:33:07,000 Speaker 1: case one is a twenty three year old man who 593 00:33:07,080 --> 00:33:09,520 Speaker 1: he ate a piece of fougo quote the size of 594 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:13,480 Speaker 1: a quarter approximately one quarter ounce, so that's not that much. 595 00:33:13,920 --> 00:33:17,080 Speaker 1: About ten or fifteen minutes later, it says he had 596 00:33:17,160 --> 00:33:21,920 Speaker 1: onset of tingling in his mouth and lips, followed by dizziness, fatigue, headache, 597 00:33:22,120 --> 00:33:26,240 Speaker 1: a constricted feeling in his throat, difficulty speaking, tightness in 598 00:33:26,280 --> 00:33:31,440 Speaker 1: his upper chest, facial flushing, shaking, nausea, and vomiting. His 599 00:33:31,600 --> 00:33:35,040 Speaker 1: legs weakened, and he collapsed on examination in the e 600 00:33:35,160 --> 00:33:38,640 Speaker 1: D his blood pressure was a hundred and fifty over ninety, 601 00:33:39,280 --> 00:33:42,160 Speaker 1: heart rate was a hundred and seventeen beats per minute, 602 00:33:42,240 --> 00:33:45,480 Speaker 1: respiratory rate twenty two per minute uh, and he had 603 00:33:45,520 --> 00:33:47,680 Speaker 1: a slightly elevated temperature. And there there were a couple 604 00:33:47,800 --> 00:33:50,720 Speaker 1: other guys who had the same thing. Uh. One of 605 00:33:50,760 --> 00:33:53,760 Speaker 1: them reported that he noticed a tingling in his tongue 606 00:33:53,760 --> 00:33:56,000 Speaker 1: in the right side of his mouth, followed by quote 607 00:33:56,440 --> 00:34:02,520 Speaker 1: light feeling, anxiety, and thoughts of dying. It induces thoughts 608 00:34:02,600 --> 00:34:05,760 Speaker 1: of dying. It's kind of interesting, or maybe this is 609 00:34:05,800 --> 00:34:07,960 Speaker 1: maybe he just knew what was up at that point 610 00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:10,800 Speaker 1: he's like, oh, yeah, I just dates some fugu time 611 00:34:10,840 --> 00:34:13,080 Speaker 1: to have thoughts of dying. Yeah. I wonder if he 612 00:34:13,120 --> 00:34:16,560 Speaker 1: went into that scenario, you know, knowing the because that's 613 00:34:16,560 --> 00:34:18,320 Speaker 1: it seems to be one of the attractive things about 614 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:21,200 Speaker 1: the fish, about the quote the gun, right, is that 615 00:34:21,480 --> 00:34:23,560 Speaker 1: it is there's a sense of danger to it. Yes, 616 00:34:23,640 --> 00:34:26,279 Speaker 1: it's it's uh in this sense, it's not just a 617 00:34:26,320 --> 00:34:29,880 Speaker 1: really tasty food, but it's kind of a thrill experience 618 00:34:30,000 --> 00:34:33,160 Speaker 1: with the knowledge that you know, oh, if this goes wrong, 619 00:34:33,200 --> 00:34:35,719 Speaker 1: we could all die. It's I don't know, maybe kind 620 00:34:35,719 --> 00:34:37,960 Speaker 1: of like bungee jumping or something. You know that it's 621 00:34:38,000 --> 00:34:41,840 Speaker 1: inherently safe if your instructor has secured everything properly, but 622 00:34:41,920 --> 00:34:44,600 Speaker 1: the thrill of knowing that maybe something could go wrong 623 00:34:44,640 --> 00:34:47,279 Speaker 1: and I could die makes it more exciting. And in 624 00:34:47,320 --> 00:34:48,880 Speaker 1: a sense it's it's kind of you need to go 625 00:34:48,880 --> 00:34:51,719 Speaker 1: into any kind of restaurant scenario and you know, you 626 00:34:51,760 --> 00:34:55,640 Speaker 1: trust that the chef knows what they're doing and yeah, 627 00:34:55,719 --> 00:34:58,160 Speaker 1: but in most cases it's the difference between like, all right, 628 00:34:58,160 --> 00:35:01,120 Speaker 1: if the food taste good and there's a good chance 629 00:35:01,160 --> 00:35:02,719 Speaker 1: that the chef knows what they're doing. Here is a 630 00:35:02,760 --> 00:35:07,200 Speaker 1: case where it's it's live or die. But but then again, 631 00:35:07,440 --> 00:35:09,080 Speaker 1: this is something we touched on at the beginning of 632 00:35:09,080 --> 00:35:11,319 Speaker 1: the episode. But I don't think this is inherently all 633 00:35:11,360 --> 00:35:17,320 Speaker 1: that different from very mundane, familiar foods, not just interesting delicacies. 634 00:35:17,480 --> 00:35:21,000 Speaker 1: It's like, you go to eat a hamburger and if 635 00:35:21,040 --> 00:35:24,680 Speaker 1: this is you know, maybe uh meat that was ground 636 00:35:24,840 --> 00:35:29,640 Speaker 1: under unclean facilities and it was served to you undercooked, 637 00:35:29,840 --> 00:35:33,120 Speaker 1: and you know, the right set of circumstances line up 638 00:35:33,160 --> 00:35:35,560 Speaker 1: with people failing to do their jobs right and giving 639 00:35:35,560 --> 00:35:39,240 Speaker 1: you safe food. Yes, this could kill you too, Yeah yeah. Indeed, 640 00:35:39,239 --> 00:35:41,960 Speaker 1: like most of the items were discussing here today, they 641 00:35:42,000 --> 00:35:46,560 Speaker 1: are extreme and exotic examples of a truth that spreads 642 00:35:46,640 --> 00:35:50,480 Speaker 1: just across the menu for humans. But I wanted to 643 00:35:50,520 --> 00:35:52,880 Speaker 1: return to this case. These three guys who got foogu 644 00:35:52,920 --> 00:35:55,480 Speaker 1: poisoning in nine. Now, this isn't the only case of 645 00:35:55,520 --> 00:35:57,759 Speaker 1: food poisoning it It happens every now and then, but 646 00:35:57,840 --> 00:35:59,719 Speaker 1: this was the one case I looked at. All three 647 00:35:59,719 --> 00:36:03,319 Speaker 1: of these guys survived, so it's not necessarily a death 648 00:36:03,360 --> 00:36:06,200 Speaker 1: sentence even if you do get the poisoning. All three 649 00:36:06,239 --> 00:36:10,719 Speaker 1: were treated with intravenous hydration gastric lovage that means like 650 00:36:10,760 --> 00:36:13,960 Speaker 1: stomach pumping and cleaning the inside of your stomach. And 651 00:36:13,960 --> 00:36:16,759 Speaker 1: and activated charcoal, which I think the idea is that 652 00:36:16,840 --> 00:36:19,840 Speaker 1: the the toxins that were still in the digestive system 653 00:36:19,880 --> 00:36:24,560 Speaker 1: would bind the charcoal rather than entering the body's chemistry. 654 00:36:24,880 --> 00:36:28,520 Speaker 1: So another interesting fact about the tetra detoxin and fugu 655 00:36:28,600 --> 00:36:30,880 Speaker 1: and some there are other sea creatures that have tetra 656 00:36:30,960 --> 00:36:34,719 Speaker 1: detoxin to like blue ringed octopus and stuff. Uh, the 657 00:36:34,960 --> 00:36:39,400 Speaker 1: puffer fish raised in aquariums with clean water tend to 658 00:36:39,440 --> 00:36:42,800 Speaker 1: be non toxic. Okay, Well, that would lead one to 659 00:36:42,880 --> 00:36:46,239 Speaker 1: believe that they're acquiring these toxic property from something in 660 00:36:46,280 --> 00:36:49,720 Speaker 1: their diet exactly you see with a number of different animals, 661 00:36:49,760 --> 00:36:52,719 Speaker 1: including some some poison frogs from example. Yeah, and this 662 00:36:52,760 --> 00:36:54,880 Speaker 1: seems to be the case with the fugu. So it 663 00:36:55,120 --> 00:36:57,640 Speaker 1: what scientists think now is that they get their tetra 664 00:36:57,760 --> 00:37:02,399 Speaker 1: detoxin producing capabilities through something in their food, specifically through 665 00:37:02,480 --> 00:37:05,920 Speaker 1: eating foods containing bacteria. And it now appears to be 666 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:09,479 Speaker 1: the case that fugu become toxic by capturing and using 667 00:37:09,520 --> 00:37:13,520 Speaker 1: tetra detoxin produced by bacteria that produced the tetra detoxin. 668 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:16,080 Speaker 1: So they don't make the poison. They get that. They 669 00:37:16,120 --> 00:37:18,920 Speaker 1: get it from the bacteria, and they have evolved a 670 00:37:19,000 --> 00:37:22,160 Speaker 1: resistance to that poison that allows them to store it 671 00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:25,160 Speaker 1: as a defensive mechanism within their bodies. So, if you 672 00:37:25,200 --> 00:37:28,319 Speaker 1: are a spy extracting eurotoxins from a puffer fish in 673 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:33,000 Speaker 1: order to assassinate your target, you're using essentially a third party. 674 00:37:33,239 --> 00:37:38,279 Speaker 1: There's a middleman puffer fish generation poison. Okay, but yeah, 675 00:37:38,320 --> 00:37:40,200 Speaker 1: I do want to stress one more time. I don't 676 00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:43,080 Speaker 1: want to be an alarmist about fugu. They say, you know, 677 00:37:43,200 --> 00:37:47,400 Speaker 1: the chefs who are licensed to serve fugu know what 678 00:37:47,440 --> 00:37:50,000 Speaker 1: they're doing, and it's it's supposed to be a very 679 00:37:50,000 --> 00:37:53,480 Speaker 1: safe experience. Yeah, just maybe it's just some guy in 680 00:37:53,520 --> 00:37:58,680 Speaker 1: your dorm or apartment. What I'd really what I'd really 681 00:37:58,719 --> 00:38:01,360 Speaker 1: be worried about is if you're out, i don't know, 682 00:38:01,560 --> 00:38:04,960 Speaker 1: snorkeling or something and one of your buddies catches one 683 00:38:05,120 --> 00:38:09,880 Speaker 1: and says, let me prepare some boat side sashimi for us. Yeah, 684 00:38:09,920 --> 00:38:12,279 Speaker 1: that would be a good, a good opportunity to turn 685 00:38:12,320 --> 00:38:19,600 Speaker 1: them down. Probably, what do we have next here? Oh, 686 00:38:19,640 --> 00:38:23,480 Speaker 1: we have a nice cassava roots salad and oh a 687 00:38:23,520 --> 00:38:28,759 Speaker 1: little tapioca pudding on the side. Um, now here's one 688 00:38:28,800 --> 00:38:31,360 Speaker 1: I've had before. I've had tapioca pudding. Oh yeah, I 689 00:38:31,440 --> 00:38:33,440 Speaker 1: feel like most of us have probably had tapioca pudding. 690 00:38:33,480 --> 00:38:36,239 Speaker 1: Perhaps you've had bubble tea with tapioca bubbles in it? 691 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:38,800 Speaker 1: Is that? What that is? I believe in most cases 692 00:38:38,920 --> 00:38:40,680 Speaker 1: I always get the kind with the tapioca, but that 693 00:38:41,320 --> 00:38:44,359 Speaker 1: there may be another variety that is available as well. 694 00:38:44,520 --> 00:38:47,319 Speaker 1: I've never liked bubble tea. I found it kind of gross, Like, 695 00:38:47,360 --> 00:38:50,680 Speaker 1: why do you want little lumps in the stuff you're drinking? 696 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:54,759 Speaker 1: I need flavorful fold lumps in my beverages. I I 697 00:38:54,840 --> 00:38:59,480 Speaker 1: kind of dig it. Robert lamb endorser of lumps. Yeah. U. 698 00:39:00,040 --> 00:39:03,640 Speaker 1: Tapioca itself has its roots, if you will, in the 699 00:39:03,680 --> 00:39:07,360 Speaker 1: cassava root. So cassava is cultivated throughout the tropical world 700 00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:11,400 Speaker 1: for its roots, which are just superstarchy. They contain nearly 701 00:39:11,440 --> 00:39:15,840 Speaker 1: the maximum theoretical concentration of of starch on a dry 702 00:39:15,960 --> 00:39:19,560 Speaker 1: weight basis among food crops. So we're we're exceeding potato 703 00:39:19,640 --> 00:39:22,799 Speaker 1: territory here. Yeah. Um, And you can think of them 704 00:39:22,800 --> 00:39:26,359 Speaker 1: in terms of potato. There essentially like a tropical potato. Uh, 705 00:39:26,560 --> 00:39:31,040 Speaker 1: fresh roots contain about starch, very little protein. But yeah, 706 00:39:31,040 --> 00:39:33,160 Speaker 1: they have a number of different uses. They're used to 707 00:39:33,520 --> 00:39:37,120 Speaker 1: produce a cassava flour. So you get breads, you get tapioca, 708 00:39:37,680 --> 00:39:40,640 Speaker 1: you can get a laundry starch derive a laundry starch 709 00:39:40,719 --> 00:39:43,919 Speaker 1: from it. Uh, there's an alcoholic beverages that are made 710 00:39:43,920 --> 00:39:47,360 Speaker 1: from it, of course there are, yeah, and uh oh yeah, 711 00:39:47,400 --> 00:39:52,840 Speaker 1: there's also a cyanide producing sugar derivative that occurs in 712 00:39:53,000 --> 00:39:57,160 Speaker 1: varying amounts in most varieties of cassava. Wait wait, wait 713 00:39:57,200 --> 00:40:03,279 Speaker 1: wait cyanide. Yeah, so there's yeah, essentially cyanide in the cassava. Well, 714 00:40:03,360 --> 00:40:06,040 Speaker 1: good thing, there'd have to be as a hundred times 715 00:40:06,040 --> 00:40:07,360 Speaker 1: as much of that as there would be a the 716 00:40:07,400 --> 00:40:12,480 Speaker 1: tetrator toxin. Yeah, it's um. Just to back up a 717 00:40:12,480 --> 00:40:16,080 Speaker 1: little bit, Cassava probably was first cultivated by the Maya 718 00:40:16,400 --> 00:40:19,960 Speaker 1: and the Yucatanda peninsula, so quite a while ago. There's 719 00:40:19,960 --> 00:40:22,080 Speaker 1: been a lot of cultivation of this, a lot of 720 00:40:22,080 --> 00:40:24,640 Speaker 1: time for for humans to work out the kinks to 721 00:40:24,719 --> 00:40:27,239 Speaker 1: know what to eat what not to eat. Um. And 722 00:40:27,280 --> 00:40:30,319 Speaker 1: even back then, they developed a complex refining system to 723 00:40:30,440 --> 00:40:34,600 Speaker 1: remove poison from the plant by grating, pressing, and heating 724 00:40:34,640 --> 00:40:39,000 Speaker 1: the tubers, okay, and then they also they also used 725 00:40:39,280 --> 00:40:42,760 Speaker 1: some of the poison for darts and arrows. So basically, 726 00:40:42,760 --> 00:40:44,880 Speaker 1: you want to avoid the leaves, which have the highest 727 00:40:44,880 --> 00:40:51,200 Speaker 1: concentration of these cyanogenic glucosides, and you also want to 728 00:40:51,320 --> 00:40:54,680 Speaker 1: peel the roots as well, because the peel is also 729 00:40:54,800 --> 00:40:58,200 Speaker 1: fairly potent. But all the nutritions in the outside I know, 730 00:40:58,400 --> 00:41:01,560 Speaker 1: Oh no, wait, that's carrots. I mean I always when 731 00:41:01,560 --> 00:41:05,719 Speaker 1: I'm eating something, say, um, like a potato or what 732 00:41:05,840 --> 00:41:09,319 Speaker 1: is that delicious kind of German cross between an art 733 00:41:09,320 --> 00:41:12,799 Speaker 1: of choke and a sun choke. Yeah, I love sun chokes, 734 00:41:12,840 --> 00:41:14,480 Speaker 1: but I love the texture of the sun choke. I 735 00:41:14,480 --> 00:41:16,920 Speaker 1: would never want to eat a peeled sunchoke. But apparently 736 00:41:17,080 --> 00:41:21,080 Speaker 1: most methods call for peeling the cassava roote just to 737 00:41:21,239 --> 00:41:25,600 Speaker 1: avoid any potential poisoning UM. On top of this, cooking 738 00:41:25,600 --> 00:41:30,799 Speaker 1: the cassava tends to remove the toxicity UM, and adequately 739 00:41:30,840 --> 00:41:34,719 Speaker 1: processed cassava flour and cassava based products have a very 740 00:41:34,800 --> 00:41:39,359 Speaker 1: low cyanide content and are just very safe to eat. Okay, 741 00:41:39,520 --> 00:41:41,400 Speaker 1: So this is this is one of these foods, and 742 00:41:41,400 --> 00:41:43,800 Speaker 1: I believe there are other foods like this that are 743 00:41:43,880 --> 00:41:47,359 Speaker 1: sort of standard saples that are fine once they've been 744 00:41:47,400 --> 00:41:50,319 Speaker 1: cooked properly, but you wouldn't want to eat them raw. 745 00:41:50,640 --> 00:41:53,560 Speaker 1: Are Lima beans also in that cara beans are off 746 00:41:53,640 --> 00:41:55,920 Speaker 1: are also on the list of things that, yeah, you 747 00:41:55,960 --> 00:41:58,440 Speaker 1: definitely want to kick cook. I want to say red 748 00:41:58,719 --> 00:42:02,400 Speaker 1: beans as well. Red a de beans uh as well 749 00:42:02,520 --> 00:42:05,839 Speaker 1: are also on that list. Yeah, just things where you know, 750 00:42:06,200 --> 00:42:08,799 Speaker 1: we were fortunate to live in a time where long 751 00:42:08,840 --> 00:42:13,840 Speaker 1: ago people went through the painful and potentially lethal process 752 00:42:14,040 --> 00:42:17,320 Speaker 1: of figuring out which part of the plan is good 753 00:42:17,600 --> 00:42:21,239 Speaker 1: and under what circumstances is it good to eat? Uh So, yeah, 754 00:42:21,400 --> 00:42:24,920 Speaker 1: today we can enjoy tapioca putting, even though at some 755 00:42:24,960 --> 00:42:28,400 Speaker 1: point in the past um some Mayan's went to an 756 00:42:28,400 --> 00:42:31,160 Speaker 1: early grave because they had to figure out how it works. 757 00:42:31,719 --> 00:42:34,480 Speaker 1: That's something I think about often, the the the debt 758 00:42:34,600 --> 00:42:37,399 Speaker 1: we owe to our ancestors, the people of many, many 759 00:42:37,480 --> 00:42:40,120 Speaker 1: years ago who figured out what you couldn't eat and 760 00:42:40,200 --> 00:42:42,879 Speaker 1: paid for that research with their lives. Yeah. I mean, 761 00:42:42,880 --> 00:42:47,000 Speaker 1: without even getting into so many processing food processing technology, 762 00:42:47,080 --> 00:42:50,840 Speaker 1: I mean just the basic ability to turn grain into bread, etcetera. 763 00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:53,960 Speaker 1: It's just you know, I anytime I read about all 764 00:42:53,960 --> 00:42:56,400 Speaker 1: this stuff. I just imagined myself in the wilderness, starving, 765 00:42:57,160 --> 00:43:00,840 Speaker 1: trying to figure out which berries I dare eat ones 766 00:43:00,920 --> 00:43:04,279 Speaker 1: will kill me dead? Can I eat these mushrooms? I 767 00:43:04,320 --> 00:43:07,000 Speaker 1: don't know? God? Yeah, mushrooms is an entire that's an 768 00:43:07,120 --> 00:43:10,680 Speaker 1: entirely different area to consider there, because you have so 769 00:43:10,719 --> 00:43:14,960 Speaker 1: many delicious, food worthy mushrooms even in our our own 770 00:43:14,960 --> 00:43:17,759 Speaker 1: local environment here, and then so many just deadly ones 771 00:43:17,800 --> 00:43:20,200 Speaker 1: as well. Again, the rule with mushrooms is if you 772 00:43:20,320 --> 00:43:23,880 Speaker 1: really don't know, don't eat it. Yes, indeed, yes, And 773 00:43:23,920 --> 00:43:26,600 Speaker 1: people continue to learn that one the hard way. Okay, Well, 774 00:43:26,640 --> 00:43:29,080 Speaker 1: I wanted to find out though. All of these we've 775 00:43:29,080 --> 00:43:32,840 Speaker 1: talked about are are interesting to me in that they 776 00:43:33,080 --> 00:43:36,200 Speaker 1: become perfectly fine as long as you can trust the 777 00:43:36,239 --> 00:43:38,960 Speaker 1: person who prepared them. They're they're not gonna hurt you 778 00:43:39,040 --> 00:43:42,239 Speaker 1: if if you've acquired the food properly, prepared it in 779 00:43:42,239 --> 00:43:45,560 Speaker 1: the right way, and you check all the boxes, and 780 00:43:45,560 --> 00:43:47,640 Speaker 1: you're gonna be fine. But what is the food out 781 00:43:47,680 --> 00:43:52,279 Speaker 1: there that is not just interestingly dangerous in potentsia, you know, 782 00:43:52,360 --> 00:43:56,600 Speaker 1: in potential, but that that actually gets the most people. Well, 783 00:43:56,640 --> 00:43:59,520 Speaker 1: you know, prior to this episode, I might have guessed 784 00:43:59,640 --> 00:44:04,160 Speaker 1: poor yeah, you know, that could especially, yeah, or barbecue pork, 785 00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:07,160 Speaker 1: because they've been some headlines in recent years where where 786 00:44:07,160 --> 00:44:10,480 Speaker 1: there have been barbecue competitions and illness springs up. So 787 00:44:10,520 --> 00:44:12,600 Speaker 1: that would have been that would have been my guests. Well, 788 00:44:12,640 --> 00:44:15,719 Speaker 1: there was one report from September of two thousand nine 789 00:44:15,719 --> 00:44:18,040 Speaker 1: that the f d A issued, and it was it 790 00:44:18,160 --> 00:44:20,840 Speaker 1: was a list of the top ten most dangerous foods 791 00:44:20,840 --> 00:44:23,600 Speaker 1: in the United States at the time, based on the 792 00:44:23,680 --> 00:44:27,640 Speaker 1: number and severity of food poisoning outbreaks by food vector. 793 00:44:28,080 --> 00:44:31,200 Speaker 1: So not just like three guys eating fugu and stealing 794 00:44:31,239 --> 00:44:34,920 Speaker 1: the headlines, but actually actual thousands of people. Yeah, so 795 00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:37,160 Speaker 1: what was the culprit? You know, is it was it fugu? 796 00:44:37,320 --> 00:44:39,960 Speaker 1: Was it aki? No? It was none of these None 797 00:44:39,960 --> 00:44:42,000 Speaker 1: of these foods we've talked about even made the list. 798 00:44:42,440 --> 00:44:49,080 Speaker 1: The real criminal was salad, a specifically leafy greens, which 799 00:44:49,320 --> 00:44:52,080 Speaker 1: you know often feels like the safest thing. I know. Yeah, 800 00:44:52,120 --> 00:44:55,240 Speaker 1: as the Simpsons once observed, you don't make friends with salad, 801 00:44:55,360 --> 00:44:59,560 Speaker 1: especially if the salad is funneling listeria into your friends bodies. 802 00:45:00,160 --> 00:45:02,160 Speaker 1: Uh So, I want to read from the report. They 803 00:45:02,200 --> 00:45:05,560 Speaker 1: say iceberg let us, romaine let us, leaf let us 804 00:45:05,600 --> 00:45:08,400 Speaker 1: butter let us, baby leaf let us, immature let us, 805 00:45:08,440 --> 00:45:14,280 Speaker 1: or leafy greens, eskarrol in, dive, spring mix, spinach, cabbage, kale, arugula, 806 00:45:14,480 --> 00:45:18,920 Speaker 1: or shard account for of all the outbreaks linked to 807 00:45:19,000 --> 00:45:22,160 Speaker 1: the f d A Top ten UH. Those outbreaks sickened 808 00:45:22,200 --> 00:45:25,839 Speaker 1: over thirteen thousand, five hundred and sixty eight people who 809 00:45:25,840 --> 00:45:29,160 Speaker 1: were reported to have become ill, almost thirty percent of 810 00:45:29,280 --> 00:45:32,400 Speaker 1: all the reported illnesses caused by the f d A 811 00:45:32,520 --> 00:45:35,120 Speaker 1: Top ten UH. I don't know if it's still the 812 00:45:35,160 --> 00:45:37,360 Speaker 1: same today as it was in two thousand nine. I 813 00:45:37,800 --> 00:45:40,719 Speaker 1: hope this has changed in the past six years or so. 814 00:45:41,560 --> 00:45:44,719 Speaker 1: But as for food that not only sickened people but 815 00:45:44,920 --> 00:45:47,720 Speaker 1: killed them, I tried to look up food poisoning outbreaks 816 00:45:47,719 --> 00:45:49,719 Speaker 1: with the most fatalities to see if there was a 817 00:45:49,800 --> 00:45:51,719 Speaker 1: running thread, but I couldn't find one. It seems like 818 00:45:51,800 --> 00:45:55,279 Speaker 1: it was all over the place, and meats, cheeses, vegetables, 819 00:45:55,360 --> 00:45:59,799 Speaker 1: packaged food products like peanut, butter, bag spinach. I mean, 820 00:46:00,040 --> 00:46:04,560 Speaker 1: it seems like no matter where you turn, something that 821 00:46:04,600 --> 00:46:08,200 Speaker 1: you're probably consuming could kill you if something has failed 822 00:46:08,280 --> 00:46:11,840 Speaker 1: somewhere in the process between the farm and your face. 823 00:46:12,239 --> 00:46:14,000 Speaker 1: So what you're saying is that We could have many 824 00:46:14,040 --> 00:46:18,000 Speaker 1: more six course dinners like this one if listeners choose 825 00:46:18,040 --> 00:46:21,239 Speaker 1: to uh to attend it with us, right. But I'd 826 00:46:21,280 --> 00:46:23,960 Speaker 1: say the real takeaway here is that I think the 827 00:46:24,320 --> 00:46:28,000 Speaker 1: most dangerous foods are not the kinds of foods, uh 828 00:46:28,080 --> 00:46:32,200 Speaker 1: that that make people feel uneasy because they're unfamiliar, you know, 829 00:46:32,719 --> 00:46:36,160 Speaker 1: delicacies from other countries that many Americans wouldn't be familiar with. 830 00:46:36,680 --> 00:46:39,319 Speaker 1: That They're going to be things that you eat every day. Yeah, 831 00:46:39,320 --> 00:46:42,279 Speaker 1: things without that overt danger factor, but still with a 832 00:46:42,440 --> 00:46:46,879 Speaker 1: very inherent uh sense of danger if not prepared with 833 00:46:47,200 --> 00:46:51,959 Speaker 1: you know, a monicum of of decency and in awareness. Now, 834 00:46:52,080 --> 00:46:54,400 Speaker 1: let me let me offer a caveat even to the 835 00:46:54,440 --> 00:46:56,879 Speaker 1: last thing about salad. I I hope you don't take 836 00:46:56,920 --> 00:47:00,600 Speaker 1: this as a recommendation to stop eating salad. You know, 837 00:47:00,680 --> 00:47:02,759 Speaker 1: leafy greens are a wonderful thing we have as part 838 00:47:02,760 --> 00:47:06,120 Speaker 1: of your diet. And here's my recommendation. Don't buy the 839 00:47:06,160 --> 00:47:09,319 Speaker 1: pre bagged, pre wash stuff and just eat it straight up. 840 00:47:09,560 --> 00:47:11,959 Speaker 1: Buy ahead of let us cut it up and wash 841 00:47:12,000 --> 00:47:14,919 Speaker 1: it yourself. Get you a salad spinner. It's worth the work. 842 00:47:14,960 --> 00:47:16,879 Speaker 1: It's very nice. I don't know, that's a lot of work. Joe, 843 00:47:16,960 --> 00:47:19,600 Speaker 1: I kind of like just opening the bag, dumping it 844 00:47:19,760 --> 00:47:21,600 Speaker 1: and then opening the little packets and then I have 845 00:47:21,719 --> 00:47:25,879 Speaker 1: a salad. But well, okay, and no accounting for keeps 846 00:47:25,880 --> 00:47:29,400 Speaker 1: me from dying. I guess I'll try it, all right. 847 00:47:29,480 --> 00:47:31,040 Speaker 1: So there you have it. Uh, they we're going to 848 00:47:31,080 --> 00:47:34,719 Speaker 1: clear the dishes away here. Thanks to everybody for for 849 00:47:34,800 --> 00:47:37,279 Speaker 1: joining us for this dinner. I hope you enjoyed it 850 00:47:37,320 --> 00:47:50,120 Speaker 1: as much as we did. All right, So there you 851 00:47:50,160 --> 00:47:53,040 Speaker 1: have it, Dangerous Foods Part One. There will be a 852 00:47:53,080 --> 00:47:56,560 Speaker 1: brand new part two coming out in the days ahead. Oh, 853 00:47:56,640 --> 00:47:58,799 Speaker 1: you're gonna love it. There's some good stuff in. There's 854 00:47:58,800 --> 00:48:01,760 Speaker 1: some dangerous stuff, some poison the stuff, and some misunderstood stuff. 855 00:48:01,920 --> 00:48:04,120 Speaker 1: Things we think that our poisonous that have kind of 856 00:48:04,120 --> 00:48:06,880 Speaker 1: a reputation for being bad, but maybe aren't, or at 857 00:48:06,960 --> 00:48:09,200 Speaker 1: least aren't in the way that we, you know, think 858 00:48:09,239 --> 00:48:11,920 Speaker 1: that they are. Maybe they'll just poison your mind. Yeah, 859 00:48:11,960 --> 00:48:13,879 Speaker 1: And if you want to poison your mind a little more, 860 00:48:14,080 --> 00:48:16,160 Speaker 1: head on over to stuff to Blow your Mind dot com. 861 00:48:16,160 --> 00:48:18,400 Speaker 1: That is where you will find all of our podcast episodes. 862 00:48:18,480 --> 00:48:21,560 Speaker 1: You will find links out to our various social media accounts. 863 00:48:21,560 --> 00:48:24,759 Speaker 1: You also find blog post videos, you name it all 864 00:48:24,880 --> 00:48:26,600 Speaker 1: right there, Stuff to blow your Mind dot com And 865 00:48:26,600 --> 00:48:28,759 Speaker 1: if you want to get into this directly, you can 866 00:48:28,880 --> 00:48:31,480 Speaker 1: email us. As always said, blow the mind at how 867 00:48:31,560 --> 00:48:43,520 Speaker 1: stuff works dot com for more on this and thousands 868 00:48:43,560 --> 00:49:00,000 Speaker 1: of other topics, because that how stuff works dot com. 869 00:49:00,880 --> 00:49:03,280 Speaker 1: Twined twenty fine part proper