In Pacific Island cultures, the eel is often seen as an incarnation of an ancestor. Legend has it that the Tann put eels into rivers to guard the water supply of their tribes. Hawaiians believed that the eel was the pet of Kanaloa, the god of the sea, and that catching the eel required an elaborate purification ritual. These beliefs give rise to strict taboos. The Ifugao of the Philippines require that ritual eels be caught by the chief of the tribe, while the Toraja of Sulawesi, Indonesia, forbid women from touching eels, believing that it will lead to flooding. These taboos are in fact encoded in ecological wisdom: by sanctifying the eel, they ensure that its breeding season is not disturbed. These myths and beliefs are not mere imaginings, but profound observations and interpretations of the laws of nature by the South Island language community. The eel's life cycle - from sea to freshwater and back to sea again - is seen as a cyclical cosmic order. Their migratory behaviour was imbued with sacred significance as a symbol of ancestral spirits and the forces of nature.
Modern biological naming is equally poetic. The European eel's scientific name, Anguilla anguilla, is a corruption of the Latin word for snake, while the deep-sea eel, Gulper Eel, is named for its ability to devour its prey with a huge mouth. In his Ode to the Eel, the poet Neruda wrote: 'You are a flowing bolt of lightning / that pierces the darkness of the river.' -The creature has transcended the food chain to become a mirror for human philosophical projection.
Unagi has a delicious flavour and our frozen unagi kabayaki, unagi kabayaki frozen, frozen broiled eel and more will give you a taste of what really tastes good unagi, so get it and try it.