A Michelin star chef in Spain looking to put an unusual delicacy on the menu: fish semen.
Dabiz Muñoz, a chef from Madrid, was invited to try the dish by Japanese chef Hiro Sato, and was impressed.
The delicacy, called shirako, can be gathered from puffer fish, octopus, monkfish, and cod.
Semen is extracted by separating the sperm sacs of a male fish and can vary in color from white to a shade of pink.
Muñoz, 43, posted a photo of the fancy fish dish to Instagram on April 22 where followers shared their thoughts.
Those who have tried it have described it as “weird”, “smooth and creamy” and “tastes of the sea”, and some cannot accept the idea of eating semen from sea creatures.
“It’s hot off the grill and one bite. It was hard for me, but it had a very memorable texture,” commented one fan.
“I’ll skip this one,” wrote another.
Despite the mixed reviews, the celebrity chef was so taken with the polarizing food that he is reportedly considering adding it to his menu at his high-end restaurant, DiverXO, in Madrid, according to Jam Press.
The Michelin-starred restaurant offers “unexplored new ways of understanding the dining experience,” according to its website.
Shirako is not very popular on European menus, although some regions have introduced it. In Sicily, it’s called lattume and is used as a topping for pasta, while in Russia, pickled herring semen, called moloka, can be seen on menus.
In 2022, Muñoz was crowned the best chef in the world at the “Best Chef Awards” in Madrid for the second consecutive year.
