Leave it to chef Rene Redzepi of the famed Nordic restaurant Noma to share a food video on his Instagram feed that will absolutely terrify you.
He posted a video last week of a freshly caught sea urchin moving. One look at this thing moving and it instantly becomes clear that this sought-after, under-the-sea umami flavor bomb has been the inspiration for many horror film monsters.
It’s all in the mouth. Look:
Creepy, we know. Here’s the thing: that scary-looking mouth is fairly harmless. It’s not going to bite you. The structure is made up of five hard plates that come together like a beak. And they use their beak-like mouths to scrape algae off of rocks.
That mouth doesn’t stop anyone from catching sea urchins and cracking them open to get to the uni ― ahem, the gonads ― that’s so beloved in Japanese cuisine (and has mixed reviews in the states). We just thought you should know that it’s there.
Bon appetit!
