Is Fish Sperm The New, Less-Expensive Foie Gras?

Foie gras is one of the most controversial foods in the world: states have banned (and then un-banned) the fatty goose liver, and animal rights activists are concerned that the geese and ducks used for the haute dish are not raised or killed humanely. At the annual celebration of innovative international cuisine, Madrid Fusion Manila, which took place in the Philippines this year, media and food buffs noticed an unusual trend in the Filipino culinary world: fish sperm as the new foie gras. Apparently fish sperm, especially tuna sperm, has a consistency and taste that's similar to foie gras, but it's much cheaper at about $3.30 per pound, according to CNN.

Fish sperm would probably make anyone squeamish (although we eat the female counterpart, fish eggs, in our sushi dishes), but chef Margarita Forés, who presented tuna sperm as the focal point of her dish at Madrid Fusion Manila, insists that it is commonly eaten. In the Philippines, no part of the animal is wasted. She further proved this by following up with a serving of beef with pig udders. Bruce Ricketts from Mecha Uma also cooked the sperm of Spanish mackerel.

But eating reproductive fluid from underwater creatures is hardly a new innovation. Shirako is a Japanese delicacy, and it is the milt, or sperm sacs, of male cod. Eat up!