At some point in its prehistory mankind would have routinely eaten living, or at least not entirely dead, creatures, but except for a little-known branch of Japanese cuisine called Ikizukuri , the practice is generally discontinued. Banned in Australia and Germany, but almost unknown in the UK, Ikizukuri is now attracting wider notoriety because a number of clips of people eating live snakes, frogs and (especially) fish have surfaced on video sites such as YouTube.

Family eats fish: In a Shanghai restaurant a fish is scaled, gutted, then fried with its head wrapped in muslin to keep it more or less alive until it is presented to an enthusiastic family of gourmets. Uncomfortable viewing for most Westerners, although not it seems for the unremittingly perky American narrator.

Gameshow contestants eat fish: The practice of dining on live seafood is clearly not as popular in Japan as some people might have you believe. On a Japanese TV show called Zenigata Kintarou (like our own Fear Factor), contestants seem to regard the wriggling “bush tucker trial” placed before them with quite some distaste.

American eats sea urchin: Ikizukuri enthusiast Andy Zohury uploaded a video of himself dissecting and eating a live sea urchin in the Gulf of Mexico. His tone sits midway between evangelical zeal and pure showing off as he helpfully describes exactly which parts of the animal to discard and which to consume alive.

Rowdy frat boys eat octopus: The journey of Ikizukuri from culinary tradition to asinine “dare” is complete with this final example. A live octopus is plucked from a tank in a South Korean restaurant, rapidly chopped into writhing fragments, then dropped into the open mouths of the giggling diners before being swallowed.

Tom Whitwell is away

Send your trends to microtrends@thetimes.co.uk