Is it possible to bring up a squid-related topic about which I have nothing to say? So far, the answer seems to be no.

I'm not sure if I should be proud--or find some more hobbies.

Anyhoo, today's blog-babble is tipped off by odori-don, the dancing squid rice bowl. (That linked article includes a video, for the morbidly curious.)

As I understand it, odori-don is prepared by first separating the mantle, or the body of the squid, from its head and arms. (Remember, squid are cephalopods--"head-footed"--and their arms are attached to their head rather than their body.) If you've ever had calamari rings, those are slices of the tubular mantle.

Western cuisine tends to throw away the head and arms, but they're plenty edible. And, for some people at least, they're a good source of entertainment. Squid muscles, like all muscles, can be stimulated to contract with the addition of sodium. In the case of odori-don, sodium is provided as soy sauce poured onto the squid's head and arms, causing them to "dance" around the bowl, which contains rice and the sliced-up mantle.

Some people find this disturbing or downright cruel. But it's worth pointing out that decapitation is one of the quickest methods of killing a squid. The squid is dead, as dead as the frog legs that kick and the chicken body that runs. Furthermore, the squid's death was a good deal faster, and its life a good deal more natural, than the lives and deaths of many factory farm animals.

The obvious difference, of course, is the consumer's proximity to the animal's death. Veal is very cooked and very quiet. If it were served as a twitching calf's head atop a decapitated body, perhaps it would be less appetizing?

(Yes, the title is a reference to the band.)