Swordfish = Worms!?

May 22, 2006 6:54 PM

Erm, I just ate raw swordfish. I mean, it was microwaved for a couple minutes. But mostly-- ceviche. Am I gonna die?

Cause after some frenzied googling, all i can find are these *very* creepy references to a single sentence in Kitchen Confidential. That and a bad John Travolta movie about computer viruses and things blowing up.

literally, I could go puke it up right now if i need to...

posted by greggish to food & drink (11 comments total)

Not at all. There's nothing wrong with it (besides the bioaccumulated heavy metals you'd ingest even if it were cooked).

Those worms are large and easy to see, and they don't hurt you anyway. You've probably eaten a bunch without knowing it.

Rest easy! You're fine. Sashimi.
posted by Miko at 6:59 PM on May 22, 2006

Phew.

(mmm...bioaccumulated heavy metals...)
posted by snortlebort at 7:05 PM on May 22, 2006

Salt water fish is fine raw, as long as it is fresh. I regularly eat raw salmon I get from the fish shop.

If it has a good texture and a pleasant smell, I've always been fine about eating it. As Miko said, sashimi.
posted by tomble at 7:24 PM on May 22, 2006

It's called kajiki.

Anything alive died within 10 seconds in the microwave.
posted by Saucy Intruder at 7:25 PM on May 22, 2006

Fresh water fish are far more likely than salt water fish to host parasites that are transmitable to humans (tapeworms, flukes... seriously bad stuff, hard to treat). Fresh water fish should always be cooked thoroughly.
posted by SPrintF at 7:34 PM on May 22, 2006

I hate to tell you this, but yes, you're going to die.

Eating the swordfish, however, is very unlikely to be the proximate cause. We've probably evolved to eat cooked foods, and cooking is a good idea, but the occasional bit of unspoiled raw meat is unlikely to harm you.
posted by Malor at 7:46 PM on May 22, 2006 [1 favorite]

You're ok. I've accidently eaten both fish and chicken raw and I'm still mostly alive.
posted by substrate at 7:49 PM on May 22, 2006

I have no idea about salt v. freshwater, or microwaving, but it does seem that swordfish can have all sorts of parasites (search for parasites in that page).
posted by advil at 8:52 PM on May 22, 2006

Four 4-5 oz swordfish steaks will cook to doneness in a microwave in about two minutes. Are you sure it was as raw as you thought it was?

But no, as others have said, you will die ... eventually ... and probably from something other than slightly undercooked swordfish.
posted by Orb at 9:06 PM on May 22, 2006

"Microwaved for two minutes" is no longer raw.

Depending on what power setting you used, you might have properly cooked fish. Easiest way is to examine the flesh of your microwaved fish: is it fully white and opaque? If so, it's done.
posted by madman at 1:50 AM on May 23, 2006

"We've probably evolved to eat cooked foods"

Really? How much evolution do you think has occurred during the last 200,000 years, compared to all that time were were just eating whatever we could get our hands on?

I'd say we're probably still optimized for eating uncooked food.
posted by Dunwitty at 12:00 AM on May 24, 2006