Unagi o tabetara, suzushiikunate sekisu o sarerareru yo!
And for you who can read Kanji:
うなぎを食べたら、涼しいくなてせきすされられるよ！
What’s this all about? I recently read an article on The Atlantic Monthly website about how the Japanese believe eating eel, or “unagi,” keeps you cool. But not only that, it’s also supposed to be an aphrodisiac.
From the article:
…eating eel, known here as unagi, a nutritious food that is thought to provide stamina through the dog days of summer. The custom is so ingrained in the culture that there are special eel-eating holidays (July 19 and 31 this year) called Doyo No Ushi No Hi.
The tradition began centuries ago and has its origins in a convoluted theory involving the signs of the Chinese zodiac, in which the Ox is the symbol for the coldest winter month. In Japanese, the Ox is usually called ushi, or cow, and so any foods beginning with the syllable “u”–including unagi–is thought to bring a cool feeling with it. (Ume–salty plums–also are often eaten during summer, but unagi is most popular.)
…
Barbequed eel filet with a sweet soy sauce over rice–known as kabayaki–is the most common way the meal is prepared, but Juro and Tomoko ordered a sampling of dishes to initiate me. Up first: fried eel bones.
I never thought eel even had bones, which shows the depths of my ignorance, nor did I ever expect to actually like eating them. But I did. Thin and delicate, they were crispy and had the salty, seafood flavor of shrimp chips.
…
Next up was pickled eel with vegetables, which brought forth that rich texture that I recalled from the sushi. But the real treats were the next two dishes: barbequed eel wedged into a rectangle of tamago (a sweet egg omelet) and eel and vegetables wrapped with tofu skin and deep fried.
And in the comment section you’ll find:
…it’s also is a very potent aphrodisiac. And it’s more sustainable than powdered rhino horn and tiger penis. Win/win.
Thank’s to TabA for the Japanese translations of “Eat eel to be cool and get laid,” which he says is very difficult to translate into English. So you Japanese readers cut him some slack or offer up your own translation.