My First Experience With Weird Japanese Foods

The Eurasian Tree Sparrow is a pretty common bird around Asia. It’s a cute bird, a small bird… I’d use many words to describe them, but delicious is not one of them.

Many Japanese people (most?) have not tried the grilled sparrow served on a stick at certain restaurants.  I have even seen questions on the internet from Japanese people asking if it really exists. You can order them at some izakayas or yakitori (grilled chicken) restaurants.
My own experience was similar to that of many people I’ve met who ate basashi (raw horse), whale, frog, wild boar, or other foods they wouldn’t normally have ordered. I was with a cute girl and she ordered for me. It was when I’d first arrived in Japan and didn’t know what a rare delicacy I was about to try to enjoy.

We were in an izakaya, kind of like a beer house that serves many different kinds of food primarily for the purpose of selling even more beer, and promotes conversation and letting loose. We were in Kochi, one of my favorite towns in Japan.

My friend ordered two “suzume yakitori” along with some normal izakaya foods such as edamame, sashimi, karaage (boneless fried chicken), other types of yakitori (literally “grilled bird” but usually it’s chicken), and some delicious gyoza or potstickers. This restaurant even had a wonderful dish that was like gyoza, but instead of the normal outside, the filling was stuffed into an eggplant. Delicious.

I digress.

I noticed that the ceiling of this particular restaurant had a net running its length. There were a lot of birds flying around up there in the rafters and I figured there had been a roofing problem and the net was keeping diners from being disturbed. Little did I know that it was this particular restaurant’s version of a lobster tank.

The birds on the dish were spread-winged, skewered, and grilled with a soy sauce based sauce. They looked like they’d been roasted in mid-flight (although I’ve heard that they are most often served in a more understated pose). My friend told me I could eat the bones, head, beak and all. I did as I was told. My first indication that this was not a common Japanese food was when she was surprised that I ate it, and when she subsequently asked me to eat hers.

Since then, I’ve eaten and enjoyed a lot of the foods I listed above. A non-Japanese guy traveling alone and ordering basashi (the above-mentioned raw horse) has delighted quite a few shop owners. I’ve even received complimentary orders of fried chicken or other foods for my boldness.

Grilled sparrow however is something I don’t think I’ll have again. There was very little that could be called meat, the bones were edible but not enjoyable, and the skull and beak were no fun to eat. I didn’t really like the taste of the head at all.

If anyone’s interested in this dish, I’ve found a recipe for suzume yakitori with photos! Here is a link: Grilled Sparrow Recipe… but this is not a page for the faint of heart.

When you come and visit Japan, please enjoy a lot of the unique foods we have and please don’t be shy. This is one of the few foods I can’t really recommend.