If you're planning to be in Japan in time for the eel-eating season, be careful if someone offers you an Unagi Nobori.
That's Japanese for "surging eel," or "sudden spike," depending upon who's doing the translating. It's a drink made by Japan Tobacco Inc. that just went on the market in anticipation of the annual eel season.
The yellow, non-alcoholic drink is being marketed as a nutritional supplement carbonated beverage. It contains extracts from the head and bones of eel and five vitamins -- A, B1, B2, D and E -- contained in the fish. Consumers will be slurping it up on the next traditional eel day, August 5 this year.
ON THE WEB
• Unagi (Japanese eel) recipes
• Japanese fish
• Run Your Own Unagi Restaurant (game)
• Dowd's Guides