On our early morning walk yesterday we were startled by an unusual sound. Thwap. Thwap. Thwap. It was the sound of a man slapping a dead Octopus against a rock. I was transfixed by this seemingly violent act, which as it turns out is the traditional method of tenderizing the muscles. This slapping action is repeated upwards of 100 times before setting out in the sun to dry.
Short clip of our Octopus slapping encounter:
While this may be the Greek island method I came across an interesting video where a very upscale restaurant uses a more modern approach to effect the same results:
The Greeks love octopus, and nearly every restaurant will have fresh grilled Octopus on their menu, and while I admit to having ordered the dish in Nisyros, I am a bit conflicted over consuming such an intelligent creature, especially after having watched the documentary, My Octopus Teacher, on Netflix. The film follows South African filmmaker/diver Craig Foster as he is befriended by and forms a relationship with an Octopus in her kelp forest habitat.
Link to the trailer for the Oscar winning Documentary My Octopus Teacher:
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