I personally love sushi and sashimi. The incredibly smooth texture of fine raw fish is a wonderful dining experience. Have you ever wondered how this could be possible?
In order to survive, all species must adapt to their environment. At the same time, most of us prefer to eat our meat cooked. That is certainly true for animals that live on the land. But it isn't true for many sea creatures. This excerpt helps explain why:
"Fish are so soft. You can stick your finger through their muscles," he says. "Try doing that with a chicken or cow. Fish muscle is very different than that in land animals."
Why? Because fish can afford to be lazier than terrestrial animals. Fish essentially float all the time. So their muscles don't work constantly to fight gravity. (The buoyancy force in water counteracts the gravitational force, which makes fish virtually weightless.)
"Fish don't have to support their body weight," Mouritsen says, "so their muscle fibers are shorter and less tough than those in land animals." The same goes for the connective tissue holding the muscle fibers together: It's delicate and weak.
The result? Fish has a silky, smooth texture when it's raw, and a flaky, light texture when it's cooked.
Land animals must fight the constant pull of gravity and develop much more tough, fibrous muscle that needs to be cooked to break down that connective tissue.
Even among fish, there is a wide diversity in color.
"Fish that are constantly on the move — say, a tuna — have muscles that are always working and burning carbohydrates aerobically," Mouritsen says.
The muscles need oxygen to make energy. And the molecule that carries oxygen to muscle contains iron. Guess what color iron is in the fish? Red.
In contrast, fish that mostly hang out in one place or on the bottom of the ocean — say, for instance, flounder — have muscles that don't rely on oxygen to create energy. No oxygen means no iron to carry it, which means the muscles tend to be white. (Of course, most fish have a mixture of these two type of muscles and thus can look red, white or pink.)
Here is a link to the full article: Sushi's Secret: Why We Get Hooked On Raw Fish : The Salt : NPR
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