Eel chosen as Japan's 'Dish of the Year' in 2024

I like eel. It goes well on a bed of rice. Delicious. Thing is, it's not exclusively a 'Japanese' cuisine, in some localities people cook and dine on it too.

I ate eel for the first time this year. It was good but too sweet. We ate a lot of eels when we were kids.

I like eel but recognize it as an extremely endangered species.

Sea temperatures rising and overfishing have contributed to their demise.

The illegal trade in the juvenile glass eels or elvers is still rampant.

Probably needs to be a moratorium on taking from the wild for a number of years to research all aspects.

But it isn't going to happen. Peoples appetite for the delicacy outweighs any notion of conservation.

And the black market just makes it too attractive to criminals.

Not the best image for "Dish of the Year".

I love it, but it seems to be a kind of luxury for many people now.

I like eel but recognize it as an extremely endangered species.

Sea temperatures rising and overfishing have contributed to their demise.

What is called うなぎ in Japanese is actually freshwater eel. But in general, I agree: The seas are being depleted of everything.

What is called うなぎ in Japanese is actually freshwater eel. 

But they are born in the sea, so sea conditions will affect things.

This is an endangered species and is subject to lots of very questionable commercial practices where foreign raised eels are parked in Japan for however long to rebrand them as "domestic eels" so they can be sold at a premium. I bet some people don't even bother doing this and just relabel Chinese eels as domestically raised.

"Dish of the Year" should be sustainable and in some way innovative and forward looking. Given the huge problem they pose for farmers, venison from culled deer should be the type of thing getting promoted. Or those kyon mini deer, if there is any meat on them.

My absolute favorite, we eat it at least once a month, either my wife buys it and makes various dishes or we drive over to Yanagawa and splurge.

I bet some people don't even bother doing this and just relabel Chinese eels as domestically raised.

Not really.

You can actually tell the difference.

https://thejapanesefoodlab.com/farmed-vs-wild-unagi/