Waiter, is that a spine in my can?

Photo by Riki Altman

Eel doesn't really look like any other fishy-type thing served at a sushi restaurant. But having it delivered warm and covered in that sweet eel sauce atop a dragon roll is quite different from attempting to eat it from a can.

The packaging looked innocent enough, and besides the eel, there wasn't much more than soy sauce, sugar, salt, and MSG. Once I took a can opener to the lid, I was confronted with a half-dozen of those slimy creatures -- spines intact.