From favourite childhood pet to fried delicacy, it appears the fortunes of the Axolotl (the neotenous larval form of the Mexican Salamander) have fallen on hard times…
A blind tasting of one of the creatures reveals how delicious it is (they are not uncommonly eaten in their native country of Mexico), and an interview with a commercial Axolotl fishery in Japan reveals that (culinary) supply and demand are brisk:
The boom is particularly painful for some, as the creatures became popular childhood pets in one of Japan’s short-lived marketing booms in the 1980s, after a TV commercial for the still extant “UFO” brand of yakisoba ramen featured one of the animals; the name was soon popularly altered from “Axolotl” to ウーパールーパー / Uupaaruupaa after the advert:
It seems they were a victim of their own popularity, as once the boom subsided one of the very companies supplying them had a surplus and opted to switch its marketing efforts to culinary usage; now they are considering exports to China and Korea.
However, everyone agrees that they are delicious, so such objections seem not to have much traction, at least amongst those tasting them.
2ch for its part is almost universally horrified by the practice, a stark contrast to its usual defence of eating whales and dolphins as “they are no different from cows or fish, you eat those don’t you?”…
Via Itai News.
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Poor Woopers
Proof Japanese are cannibals, they will eat anything, fucking sick freaks.
I'm not Japanese, and I WILL eat just about anything......dog,cat,rabbet,snake,grasshoppers,ants,squrrels,rat,cow,moose,deer,elk,bear,cougar,etcetcetc.....
Hell, don't get caught in a servival experience with me or your on the menu, you becha!
And then Japanese protest Australia for exposing them as "people who will eat anything".
I would eat that and such. but it's so cruel. It's like eating a Mudkip, so cruel.
but seriously how can people have heart to eat something that is soo cute ?
damn elevens why dont they start trying to fry their pennis?
I herd you liek Delicious Mudkips
D:I
D:/
What in... The axolotl is a fucking endangered species, Japan! What the hell are you thinking!
Endangered in the WILD......
You really think they are going to eat enough to do harm? Especially when they are eating captive bread animals? Did you think they were sloging there way thru the mud of Mexico hunting the last of them?
They'll let anybody on this site.....
Just like the whales right?
I see what you did there
They let whales on this site?
The axolotl is currently on the International Union for Conservation of Nature's annual Red List of threatened species!!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axolotl
No thanks...
So I herd u freid mudkips
stop eating the poor mudkips there endangered :(
"It seems they were a victim of their own popularity, as once the boom subsided one of the very companies supplying them had a surplus and opted to switch its marketing efforts to culinary usage; now they are considering exports to China and Korea."
A surplus of a critically endangered (according to wiki) species?
>A surplus of a critically endangered (according to wiki) species?
If you read the wiki article, you would know that the endangered part refers only to the WILD Axolotl. Just look at reference 1 and you'll see this WILD word pop up everywhere.
Don't sweat it, I've been trying to tell them for days, but they are just to damn stupid to learn.
I don't think it matters where it is endangered. This care-free attitude towards endangered species isn't normal either.
Is it really ok to be like this?
mankind are nasty, i want to install a ufo factory of human meat like pc game prey ^o^
LET ME SHOW YOU MY POKEM-
AHH! WHY ARE YOU EATING MY MUDKIP!?!
Our school had a pet one.
I can't bear to think of such eating practices!
Zadom from Suikoden V ? But it's kinda cute, I want one ! (as a pet)
Last Pic. was great. :3
It can't taste any worse than whale meat. Whale meat tasted pretty bad when I had it on "remember WW2 day". But if it's fatty or rubbery that would explain it's popularity in Japan as everyone there seems to enjoy that texture.
I don't think we have enough links to the wikipedia page for Axolotl so here we go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Axolotl
Uupaaruupaa is soo cute. I want one.
bastard
Tacos FTW!!!
Now if only we can turn it into an anime loli with a penchant for touching hands...Among other things...
NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Axolotl (aka ajolote) is in danger of extinction!!!
stop eating it! wicked
I'm from México.
Can someone please confirm if there is a sort of "Mexico-mania" in Japan right now? Because I've seen a lot of references to Mexican food on this webpage. Tacos last week and now an article about Axolototl O_o
By the way Axolototl is a word in a native Mexican language (ie: not Spanish, but nahua). Most of Mexicans, like yours truly call this creature "Ajolote" (pronounce:- a - ho -(as in "hot) - lo -(as in "lot”) -te- (as in "telephone"). And is actually a delicacy (it's not something you eat on a daily basis).
If you are curious about their taste, I can say they taste like fish.
By the way: Ajolotes (or Axolotl) are bread for human consumption in special farms; they can be found in the wild in almost every lake in central Mexico (which includes the states of Mexico, Mexico City, Puebla & Hidalgo). Axolotl are BY NO MEAN an “endangered species”. To say Axolotl is endangered is as silly as to say shrimp or cows are endangered species.
Comparing the Axolotl survival status to shrimp and cows is fucking moronic.
They aren't even close to being endangered in the wild and could easily thrive without human intervention, unlike Axolotl which will soon ONLY be able to survive in fisheries.(Until they're eaten :P)
Cow worldwide pop.: ~1.5 billion, with over 280mill being worshipped in India.
Shrimp pop.: Who the hell knows. They lay a fuckload of eggs and are fished by the millions of tonnes. There are probably a bazillion of them floating around in the ocean.
Axolotl pop.: 700-1200 in the wild... 30k in the fishery in the above movie. Doesn't seem like the worldwide pop., even after factoring in the slave mudkips being eaten/experimented on, would equal a significant amount.
So I guess all the sites saying they ARE critically endangered are lying emirite? Like this one:
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/1095/0/full
"Justification: Listed as Critically Endangered because its Area of Occupancy is less than 10km2, its distribution is severely fragmented, and there is a continuing decline in the extent and quality of its habitat and in the number of mature individuals."
I /facepalm at people who think it's no big deal if they die off in wild because just because they're being breed in farms. Too bad the breed ones are pussies and would get owned in the wild since they aren't taught how to survive in a fish tank. Re-introduction would be next to impossible, especially after you introduced those foreign fish that eat their babies.
you sir, just hit the nail
More like a constant moderate popularity, mainly of Mexican food.
Thanks a lot Artefact. Since you are well read about such topic, can you please tell me if some other mexican foods are known (or even are mild famous) in Japan besides tacos, burritos, and Axolotl?
There are plenty; for example: mole (an spicy chocolate sause served with boiled chicken), sopes, tamales, quesadillas, enchiladas & chilaquiles.
so I herd u liek Axolotl...
poor mudkip... well at least they die in tasty way =.=
That would be written in English as "oopaloopa," methinks.
It's look like a lizard to me though.
probably like deep fried fish
will try :3
OMG! I had one years ago...
How was it? Tasty?
I didn't eat it...
Why not??? Did it just die and go bad before you had the chance???? Or do you not like to crispy critters that you know personally?