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Fugu
The hardest to understand among all the weird and wonderful culinary traditions of Japan, a small number of people still die from fugu poisoning every year. The fact is that the fugu fish is one of the very least appetising of marine morsels. But the knockout punch is a poisonous chemical called tetrodoxin found in its skin, blood, ovaries and especially in its liver. This is a toxin that makes cyanide look like Aspirin - one match-head worth can kill thousands. Just touching a fugu the wrong way can be deadly; thanks to the hundreds of years of tradition and experience that offers the delicate cuts required to render the fugu, or blowfish, edible.
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