Japan, October 6, 2012

It is a bowl with salmon roe, a ball of wasabi, sliced squid sashimi and rice. Sitting on top of it all is a headless squid.

Looks ordinary, until you drizzle soy sauce on the squid.

A tentacle twitches as drops of sauce touch it, and almost bizarrely, the squid starts moving.

Could you stomach this moving dish?

This dancing squid bowl is known as odori-don or ike ika-don, and is a popular dish in Hakodate, Hokkaido.

The squid is killed just before serving, so the nerve cells are still active. What makes the squid "dance" is the sodium in the soy sauce stirring up neurons which causes the muscles to twitch.

According to Food Japan, the serving method was first served at Ikkatei Tabiji, a restaurant in Hakodate.

The dish costs around ¥2,000 (S$31.30).

Similar to Odori-don is the Korean dish Sannakji. Live baby octopus is served either whole or cut up into bits with the pieces served still moving.

Both raw squid dishes are popular with the respective locals.

Click on the thumbnails to view pictures of odori-don and sannakji.

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