Here's yet another reason for our vegetarian friends to gloat over we meat-eaters. (Warning this story is disgusting.)
The other day, a customer told me about her horrific dinner party the night before. It was "fresh fish" day at the local grocery store, and she'd discovered a beautiful piece of fresh, wild-caught coho salmon in the case. She thought that would be perfect for her dinner party -- grilled with a mustard and dill sauce. Yum! So, she took the fish home, prepared the sauce, made some black rice and salad, and prepared the grill.
That evening, the guests were there, and everything was going well -- until she went out to the grill to flip over the salmon. It had been cooking about four minutes, and on the back side of the fish was a little (actually two and a half inch) worm wriggling its way out of the flesh trying to escape the heat. Of course the woman screamed, and everyone came running. She showed them the worm, and tried to pull it out with the tongs, but it wriggled back inside. Everyone gagged a little, and decided they'd stick with salad and black rice for dinner.
So, it turns out there's a parasite called anisakis that lives in most wild-caught fish, particularly fish caught in the northern Pacific. Something like 85% of Alaskan fish tested in one study contained anisakis eggs, and a smaller percentage contained the adult worm.
Now here's the really disgusting part, the worm can survive in raw or undercooked fish, and it can live in the human body for about two weeks. Most people diagnosed with anisakiosis (infection by the worm) find out because they feel a tickling in their throat and cough up a worm that's been trying to crawl out of their stomach. Other people are misdiagnosed with crones disease or some other terrible intestinal infection, because the worm tried to burrow into their intestinal wall, causing terrible stomach pains.
Most cases of anisakiosis are reported in -- you guessed it -- Japan, where raw fish is a staple of the diet (sushi anyone?). Farm-raised fish doesn't contain the parasite or it's eggs. But, according to the FDA, moat wild-caught fish probably does, and fresh fish should always be eaten well-done (although freezing kills the parasite and its eggs, if you really must have raw sushi).
Herbivores, begin gloating now!