Samurai Food and Customs

What the samurai did,...and didn't eat will surprise you!

Eating eel at mid summer is a Japanese tradition, as eel is said to increase your stamina during the long, hot humid months. Across Japan it is eaten in many ways, however the way it is prepared differs. In Kyoto, for example, the eel is pegged out on a chopping block, and cut along the gut. In Edo, it was cut along the spine. The reason for the difference? Cutting along the gut was seen akin to seppuku, and therefore was avoided in the great castle town.