The man was handling a rice eel with a knife of an unusual shape not seen in Japan

Fishmonger holding unusual type of kitchen knife — Man cutting rice eel

There was an eel on a round cutting board at the fish shop I saw at the Shuixian Temple Market in Tainan. To be precise, it was not an eel, but a rice eel. The name makes you think that eel and rice eel are two very similar species, but in fact they are only similar in appearance and name. Although they are found in Japan, they are not commonly used as ingredients in cooking. However, it is a major ingredient here, and Tainan's local dish "Swamp Eel Yi Noodles" is also made from it. When walking around the market in Tainan, it is not unusual to see people selling rice eel. Unlike eels in Japan, rice eel in Taiwan is not a luxury item.

A man wearing a striped polo shirt was happily slicing rice eels on the cutting board. I looked at his hand and saw that he was using an unusual knife. It was not a Chinese knife, but a knife with a semi-circular blade. I wondered if it was common in Taiwan to use this type of knife to cut rice eels, but no one else was using this type of knife to cut eels. On the other hand, there were people who were slicing milk fish with such a semicircular knife. I don't know how they use them differently. I just learned that there are many different types of knives used by fishmongers.

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