They're slippery. They're slimy. And they're alive.

This coming week, Fine Living Network will be airing episodes of our favorite Iron Chef Japan in which creatures of the deep are battled every night at 11/10 Central. Watch as these chefs attack and cook living sea creatures in a way that makes you wonder if you're a bad person for watching. This is an excellent week for anyone who hasn't had enough Halloween, or likes Animal Planet and wishes Japanese chefs could be involved.

Not for the squeamish, these squirmy seafoods do get slaughtered right in front of your very eyes. Mother nature would be proud watching the food chain established so aggressively, but your mother might think you need therapy. You be the judge!

Oh, and click here for the Iron Chef Drinking Game.

• Vietnamese Bun is not a soft roll.
• Just because you're eating alone doesn't mean you have to make a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or throw a frozen dinner in the microwave.
• Where do Boston teens eat after school?
• You will never get me to eat squid.
• It might be getting warmer, but it's still a good time for hearty stews.
• What is sacchetti?
• This week's recipes: Black Bean and Ginger Soup with Yellow Rice Pilaf, Chicken Stew with Grapes and Tarragon, and Roman-style Mozzarella Toasts.

It should be no secret to most Slashfood readers by now that I'm a sucker for Japanese snack foods, especially the fishy ones. So, naturally I nearly fell off my chair when I heard of postcards made from dried squid.

The squid postcard pictured here is the brainchild of a fishing cooperative from the coastal town of Susami in Japan's Wakayama prefecture. Surumail, as the postcards are known, takes their name from the surume variety of squid, which is a local delicacy. The critter has been turned into jerky, flattened and then vacuum-packed at which point you can then affix the label and send the whole lot it to your friends and loved ones as a keepsake of your time spent in Susami. The cooperative says it sells between 4,000 and 5,000 of the squiddy souvenirs yearly.

[via Neatorama]

The web's first Japanese pizza page, as this web site proclaims itself, shows your the truly odd pies they're creating over there. Now, I'm all one for a little adventure in food, but come on, mayonnaise and octopus on a pizza? Gah.

I also love the design of the site. I said to myself, "wow, that's very 1996," and then I scrolled to the bottom of the page and found out that the page was created in 1995. OK, so I was a year off. I love how it looks like they haven't changed it since then (no kidding here, I'm actually serious).

But that still doesn't mean I'm going to throw scallops or crab legs on top of my pizza.

I recently learned that a Japanese confectioner, Sapporo Gourmet Foods, makes lamb-and-vegetable-flavored caramels. It also offers Sapporo-beer flavored candy. I'm no stranger to odd snacks and have fond memories of eating tiny candied crabs (yes, crabs, with shells)  that I bought at renowned snack emporium Aji Ichiban. So what really piqued my interest in this article was squid-flavored chocolate from Takuma Shokuhin. A cursory Web search pulled no results for the company. It did list an old blog entry for chocolate-covered shredded squid, which doesn't sound half bad, kinda salty and sweet. I'm pretty sure this is not the same thing as squid-flavored chocolate.

Before I trek out to Mitsuwa, has anyone ever had either of these strange treats or know where to get them in New York City?

When one sets out to create a list, it is important to set standards. What criteria will be used to rule out inappropriate items? Why is this item on the list in the first place? The BBC's list of the top 50 things to eat before you die seems to be lacking some of these standards. Apparently, viewers and readers voted on food items, which were narrowed to a field of 50 based on the number of votes received. The top 10 were:

1. Fresh fish
2. Lobster
3. Steak
4. Thai food
5. Chinese food
6. Ice cream
7. Pizza
8. Crab
9. Curry
10. Prawns

It's a fancy word, "cephalopod," but it's really just squid and octopus at the sushi bar.

Octopus is called "tako," and is usually cooked, which might be more appealing for people who are squeamish about eating raw fish, but than again, it is octopus. Though some talented sushi chefs may know of some secret way to tenderize octopus, I have found that it is pretty bland as well.

"Ika" is squid, and this one is usually raw. It looks harmless because of it's plain white, slippery smooth texture, but like octopus, even raw, ika is fairly tough to chew. However, you may also recognize ika by cross-hatch knife cuts on the squid, which a sushi chef's attempt to make it a little more palatable. Like octopus, I usually skip the squid as well.

Previous lessons at the School of Fish:
Saba - holy mackerel!
Hirame - white fish, sometimes halibut
Tai and Suzuki - snapper and sea bass
Maguro - tuna
Toro - fatty belly of tuna
Shiro Maguro - "white" tuna, aka albacore
Ahi tuna
Hamachi - amberjack, aka yellowtail
Sake - salmon
Gai - the bivalves, i.e.clams, scallops, and oysters
Ebi - shrimp

I still remember with exceptional clarity the most disgusting thing I ever ate. Just to be clear, we're not talking about drinking spoiled milk on a dare or being a contestant on Fear Factor, but rather ordering off a menu with no coercion whatsoever. I was in an izakaya, a Japanese pub, in Manhattan and decided it was time to try something new. I am by no means leery of outlandish foods. I have gleefully savored ceviche, sweetbreads, and calf spleen sandwiches. When it comes to Japanese food I am a sushi purist who warmly embraces uni as well tuna and natto handrolls. As for izakaya grub I have no problem with liver sashimi, although I'm somewhat less enthusiastic about okra and raw octopus.