Not only were western cultures happily eating raw fish for ages, at one point they were uh, in fact eating it so raw as for it still, in fact, to be alive.

That’s right, today we’re talking about the 1939 craze of college students competing to swallow as many as they could of the humble goldfish.

-------------------

Thank you to Athletic Greens for being a sponsor for this episode.

To make it easy, Athletic Greens will give you a FREE 1 year supply of immune-supporting Vitamin D AND 5 FREE travel packs with your first purchase. All you have to do is visit www.athleticgreens.com/EMERGING to take ownership of your health and pick up the ultimate daily nutritional insurance!

-------------------

Please support me on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/foodhistorypod

Find transcripts and sources on the website: www.foodhistorypodcast.com

-------------------

References:


https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/great-goldfish-swallowing-craze-1939-180954429/#:~:text=The%20Great%20Goldfish%20Swallowing%20Craze%20of%201939%20Never%20Really%20Ended,-A%20Harvard%20undergrad's&text=One%20of%20the%20weirdest%2C%20most,once%20eaten%20a%20live%20fish.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldfish_swallowing
https://americanhistory.si.edu/blog/2011/01/1939-the-year-of-goldfish-swallowing.html
https://www.ripleys.com/weird-news/goldfish-swallowing/
https://dutchreview.com/news/live-goldfish-swallowing/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odori_ebi
https://www.businessinsider.in/india/news/the-fish-prasadam-remedy-annual-festival-where-thousands-swallow-live-fish-to-cure-asthma/articleshow/91811468.cms#:~:text=In%20Hyderabad%2C%20fish%20prasadam%20is,that%20fish%20prasadam%20cures%20asthma.