Odori-don, also known as dancing squid rice bowl, is a Japanese delicacy. This dish features a whole intact and dead squid served fresh on rice, and uses soy sauce to create a disturbing illusion of bringing a dead squid back to life. Once soy sauce is poured over the dish, the sodium chloride in the soy sauce gets absorbed by the squid and attaches to chemical receptors. These sensors pick up the sodium chloride and change the voltage membrane producing an electrical impulse that ultimately triggers the contraction of the squid鈥檚 muscle. The tissues respond to this chemical stimulus since many of the cell metabolites are still intact in the recently dead squid. The result is the squid you are about to eat practically dancing its way off your plate!
