Unagi

For other uses, seeUnagi (disambiguation).

Unagi

Unaju,Japaneseunagicuisine
Place of origin	Japan
Main ingredients	Eel
Media:Unagi

Unagi(ウナギ)is theJapaneseword for freshwatereel,particularly theJapanese eel,Anguilla japonica(Nhật bổn man,nihon unagi).Unagi is a common ingredient in Japanese cooking, often askabayaki.It is not to be confused with saltwater eel, which is known asanagoin Japanese.

In Japanese cuisine

Unadon often comes with "Kimosui"(liver soup)

Unagi is served as part ofunadon(sometimes spelledunagidon,especially in menus in Japanese restaurants in Western countries), adonburidish with sliced eel served on a bed of rice. A kind of sweet biscuit calledunagi piemade with powdered unagi also exists.Unagi is high inprotein,vitamin A,andcalcium.

Specialist unagi restaurants are common in Japan, and commonly have signs showing the wordunagiwithhiraganaう(transliteratedu), which is the first letter of the wordunagi.Lake HamanainHamamatsu city,Shizuoka prefectureis considered to be the home of the highest quality unagi; as a result, the lake is surrounded by many small restaurants specializing in various unagi dishes. Unagi is often eaten during the hot summers in Japan. There is even a special day for eating unagi, theMidsummer Ox Day(doyo no ushi no hi).

Unakyuis a common expression used forsushicontaining eel and cucumber. As eel is poisonousunless cooked,eels are always cooked, and in Japanese food, are often served withtare sauce.Unagi that is roasted without tare and only seasoned with salt is known as "Shirayaki."

Sustainability

Seafood Watch,asustainable seafood advisory list,recommends that consumers avoid eating unagi due to significant pressures on worldwide freshwater eel populations. All three eel species used as unagi have seen their population sizes greatly reduced in the past half century. For example, catches of theEuropean eelhave declined about 80% since the 1960s. The Japanese Ministry of the Environment has officially added Japanese eel to the “endangered” category of the country's Red List of animals ranging from “threatened” to “extinct”.

Although about 90% of freshwater eel consumed in the U.S. arefarm-raised,they are notbred in captivity.Instead, young eels are collected from the wild and then raised in various enclosures. In addition to wild eel populations being reduced by this process, eels are often farmed in open net pens which allowparasites,waste products, and diseases to flow directly back into wild eel habitat, further threatening wild populations. Freshwater eels arecarnivoresand as such are fed other wild-caught fish, adding another element of unsustainability to current eel farming practices.

External links

• Media related toUnagiat Wikimedia Commons