Last week on Top Chef, contestants broke out their filleting knives for a Quickfire challenge judged by guest Eric Ripert, chef and part owner of the world famous French seafood restaurant Le Bernardin in New York City.

First up to fillet were sardines—-hard to debone because of their small size but pretty standard fare. Next came arctic char—-much bigger, still fairly familiar. Then came something rarely seen on dinner menus, much less in home kitchens—-freshwater eel.

We at Pop Omnivore wondered why we knew so little about eel as food. So we decided to investigate.

According to Larousse Gastronomique, eels are “snakelike fish with a smooth slippery skin." The culinary encyclopedia then goes on to say, "Eels are sold alive. They are killed and skinned at the last moment as the flesh deteriorates rapidly, and the raw blood is poisonous if it enters a cut – for example, on one’s finger.” Cooking the eel detoxifies its blood.

On the show, Chef Ripert told contestants that the eels had just been killed and were definitely dead, even though they continued to move. Though the movement is strictly nerve-related and not a sign of life, it can be, well, unnerving. Says Ripert, “They will move for hours. Seriously, for hours.” Indeed, many of the chefs looked squeamish as they dealt with the rather gruesome process of peeling and filleting their challenge.

In America, we don’t see much eel for sale. “I think a lot of people are scared by the fact that they look like a snake, and I don’t know too many chefs that enjoy receiving eels at the restaurant,” says Ripert. We’ll spare you the details about the killing of the slithery fish, but Ripert puts it rather succinctly: “It’s a very unpleasant process.”

In parts of Europe and Asia, however, eel is a more common sight on the plate. The French like to braise it with red wine and garlic. In Japan, where it’s believed that eel can boost stamina in hot weather, the fish is often glazed with miso and grilled. Scandinavians and Germans smoke their eel and serve it with rye bread, while the British put it in a savory pie.

So what does it taste like? “It’s not a very refined fish, and many times, they taste like mud,” says Ripert. Um, they taste like mud? “Yes, they live on the bottom, in the mud, and many times they acquire that taste. It’s a very earthy fish.” He explains that this is why strong ingredients, like wine, are often used when cooking eel—which is on the fatty side--to help mask that muddy flavor. On the show, the contestants did not have to cook their eel once it was filleted, but Ripert says he would have had them make a stew if the challenge had gone further.

Eels aren’t widely available in the U.S. but they can be found at some Asian markets. If you’re not interested in dealing with them live, just ask the fishmonger to do the “processing” for you. Remember, though, that they do continue to move for quite a while after they’ve been offed. If you’d prefer to prepare your eels sans the residual muscle movement, Ripert suggests keeping them in the refrigerator a day or two before cooking.

Finally, we asked the master seafood chef-- who will soon be starring in a PBS cooking show of his own--for a recipe, should any Pop Omnivore readers feel inclined to cook up some eel. We want to know who’s up for the challenge! P.S. If you can’t find eel, monkfish will be a fine substitute.

-Catherine Barker

Matelote of Eel
Serves 4
2 pounds eel, peeled and filleted, reserving the bones
2 tablespoons canola oil
2 small shallots, minced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
2 cups red wine, preferably Merlot
1 cup chicken stock
1 cup button mushrooms, washed and quartered
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs thyme
2 tablespoons butter
sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Cut the eel bones into 3 inch pieces.  Heat a large sauce pan with the canola oil over medium high heat; when the pan is hot, add the eel bones and sear lightly.  About 3 minutes.

Add the shallots and garlic and cook until soft. Add the red wine and reduce by half.  Add the chicken stock; bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes.
After the sauce has cooked for 10 minutes, remove and discard the eel bones.  Season the eel on both sides with salt and pepper and add the eel, mushrooms, bay leaf and thyme to the sauce. Cover and simmer over low heat for 30 minutes.

Finish the braised eel by stirring in the butter and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Admit it: You watched the Super Bowl ads—and laughed at the one where a bunch of clothed chimps were working on a car in a suburban guy’s home garage. A neighbor asks the guy, “What’s with the chimps?” The guy replies, “They’re grease monkeys. I love ’em.”

Not everyone loves ‘em.

I spoke with critic Robert Shumaker, director of orangutan research at the Great Ape Trust, a research facility in Des Moines, Iowa, that studies the primates.

First of all, chimpanzees are not monkeys, right?

You’re 100 percent correct. Chimpanzees are definitely not monkeys. That’s a common misperception—to call chimps monkeys.

Why does this misperception persist?

Kids grow up being told that chimps are monkeys. Like “Curious George”—a “naughty monkey.”

So what are chimpanzees, then?

Chimps are great apes. The list of great apes is very short: chimpanzees, gorillas, bonobos, orangutans, and humans.

Then what are monkeys?

Monkeys are the hugest group in the primate order. [There are] a few hundred types. Generally, monkeys are physically much smaller than great apes. Great apes clearly demonstrate more sophisticated cognitive ability across the board than all monkeys.

Did you see the “grease monkey” ad last night?

I admit that I saw it on the Internet.

Did you laugh, and then get mad?

I didn’t laugh. I don’t think it’s funny. I’m just frustrated and sorry to see another company pick up chimps as something to laugh at.

Why are you frustrated? Are apes in entertainment not treated well?

There are different standards among different trainers. But the practices I find really objectionable are that the babies are not properly socialized with their mothers—that affects the mothers, too. And then [there’s] the issue of what happens to them as they get older. They’re only used for a short period for entertainment compared with their lifespan. In general, once they reach adolescence or young adulthood, they’re less easy to work with. And people want to see little cute chimps.

What’s their entertainment lifespan typically like?

Maybe ten years or less, and chimps can live into their 50s or 60s.

What happens when show biz is through with them?

Some chips go to retirement facilities—places that might take them and care for them for the rest of their lives. They’re run by nonprofits. It costs an enormous amount of money to properly care for an adult ape, and these organizations can’t just take an unlimited number of chimps or apes of any kind.

Sometimes they stay with trainers and live at trainers’ facility. Sometimes what have been termed “roadside zoos” end up with those animals.

Historically there’s been concern that chimps like these go to biomedical research. I don’t know of any cases where that’s happening now.

It turns out there’s another insidious impact of chimps in ads.

A study at Chicago’s Lincoln Park Zoo found that people felt great apes were endangered, except for chimpanzees. When the [study authors asked] the reasons why, a large number said, “We see them on TV and ads and whatever, and you couldn’t do that if they’re endangered.” We replicated that study at the Great Ape Trust and found exactly the same result. The entertainment industry would argue that [it raises] awareness about great apes. All great apes are endangered, but the data suggest that people assume chimpanzees can’t be endangered. And that does impact conservation attitudes.

- Marc Silver

Last week, The Amazing Race featured a glistening soup made with chunks of sheep rump. Some contestants slurped. One gagged. A vegetarian tried but failed to take it down (thus losing out on a chance for the $1 million prize). And here at Pop Omnivore, we wondered. What is this dish all about? And what's up with using the backside?

First of all, a bit (more than what Borat taught us) about Kazakhstan. It is the ninth-largest country in the world. Its official language is Russian. Its state, or national, language is Kazakh. It is the world's seventh-largest producer of wheat. Its biggest city is Almaty, where the soup slurping took place, and the capital is Astana.

But what about its food?

Having never been there myself, and living in a city (and country, for that matter) that is sorely lacking in Kazakh restaurants, I've yet to get a taste. But I have learned that horse meat and sheep meat (aka mutton) are eaten in abundance, and that dumplings and pasta tend to round out most meals. The national dish is something called besparmak, which translates to "five fingers." It involves hunks of horse meat and noodles, and is meant to be eaten with the hands, hence the name. Another horse-derived favorite is a drink called kumis--this is fermented mare's milk. And then of course there is that soup. Recipes for it are elusive, but the star ingredient, as we know, is the back end of a sheep—specifically, a fat-tailed sheep. According to The Oxford Companion to Food, the tail on a fat-tail "may be a wide, beavertail-like flap, or a long kangaroo's tail with fat deposits along its length, or any intermediate shape. Among the world's hundreds of fat-tail breeds there are many odd curls, S-shapes, and wedges...the tail can be home to a substantial slab of fat with a texture somewhat like bacon, though of course with a muttony aroma."

That said, the soup is considered a delicacy, and I'm not one to knock another country's cuisine and pride therein. In fact, I'm curious about the taste and would love to read a recipe. Has anyone out there tried it? Can anyone share a recipe? May I please skip the fat-tail and just use bacon?

-Catherine Barker

Ninjas were medieval Japanese mercenaries whose clandestine tactics were a counterpoint to the chivalrous standards of the feudal Samurai class. Apparently, they’re also really into outrageous obstacle courses!

That’s what you’ll find out if you tune in for tonight's brand new Ninja Warrior marathon, a gymnastic battle of speed, strength, and agility imported to the U.S. by the gadget and games channel G4. The show challenges 100 aspiring ninjas to jump, climb, swing, hang, and slide their way through a daunting series of obstacles. Perhaps the most difficult is the spider jump, where contestants spring off a trampoline and try to catch themselves by splaying their arms and legs against two vertical panes of Plexiglass. The spills into the murky water below are all part of the fun!

To be fair to ninjas, the mystery surrounding them has allowed popular culture to have its way with them. They have been pitted against James Bond, turned into Italianate talking turtles, and promoted as landlubbing rivals to pirates. There is no historical evidence to support these interpretations or to back up the belief that they could fly, vanish into thin air, or bestow wisdom, Dear Abby style, about topics as diverse as barbecue and podcasting.

Even the famous image of the ninja as the masked man in black isn't quite accurate. They more likely dressed in a variety of disguises. Their traditional ninja-yoroi armor had a tinge of red, so that no one could tell if they were bleeding from an injury, according to ninjutsu grandmaster Masaaki Hatsumi.

When asked what makes a ninjutsu warrior great, Hatsumi once said. "There is only thing I would single out, and that is to keep going." So maybe the 100 contestants who confront the Ninja Warrior obstacle course are on the right track after all. Many are return contestants, coming back for more abuse and humiliation. This trend supports my favorite pop culture axiom about ninjas: the law of inverse ninja strength.

The inverse ninja law says the fewer ninjas that are around, the more deadly they become. If several dozen ninjas attack you, they'll run around like crazy and you can probably escape. But if a single ninja targets you, watch out. This Ninja Warrior TV marathon offers proof. Spills are fast and furious in the heavily populated early rounds. But as the pack thins, you will be amazed at the endurance and skill on display.

As for those who fall face first into the water with their first steps, maybe they should have stuck with that anonymous black ninja mask.

-Brad Scriber

Do sharks have eyelids?

That’s one of the questions tossed about in a TV ad for a mobile phone that will not only make prank calls but will also tap into a wealth of internet information.

Only the ad never answers the shark question.

Ever curious, Pop Omnivore went to an expert to find out: Samuel Gruber, a shark biologist who teaches at the University of Miami's Rosential School for Marine and Atmospheric Science.

Here’s what he said: “Fish have no eyelids. Sharks have among the most elaborate eyelids and ocular adnexa in the animal kingdom. There are sharks that can close their eye in a way similar to ours. Others have a third eyelid. But some do not have eyelids. instead of closing eyes, they roll their eyes upward and backward to protect the delicate transparent cornea.”

Pop Omnivore was puzzled. But, um, aren’t sharks … fish?

Gruber was very kind about our ignorance. “Ah I see--you think sharks are fishes.  This is not so.”

Our eyelids are now fluttering like crazy. How can this be?

“Sharks are fish-like vertebrates but are as different from fishes as humans are from frogs,” says Gruber. “Sharks evolved from the jawless fishes as did the true bony fish about half a billion years ago but have been on an independent evolutionary track for lo these half billion years.  Thus sharks are in a different systematic order from fishes and are very different kinds of animals.

“So when I say fish have no eyelids I mean that bony fishes (Osteoichthyes) are lidless; in contrast sharks (Chondricthyes) have a variety of mobile lids not seen in the bony fishes.”

Now I don’t care how good a cell phone is. There is no way you are going to find out all that stuff by cruising the Internet!

Plus, Gruber totally made us feel better by adding: “I would hazard a guess that not one in 100,000 people knew that sharks are not true fishes!!”

-Marc Silver

In the beginning, there were 16 designers. They sewed, cried, coined catch phrases, made dresses out of seatbelts. In the end, the winner of the fifth season of Project Runway was Leanne Marshall, a Portland-based designer with an eye for detail and a love of sustainable fabrics. Pop Omnivore spoke with Marshall (above, left) about how her surroundings influence her work, what it means to be a "green" designer, and why she'd never use Styrofoam fabric.

First up, a geographic question: Did moving from California, where you grew up, to Oregon affect your aesthetic?

Yeah, definitely. When I came to Oregon, I became much more inspired by nature and the whole sustainable materials thing really started. Portland’s a very green, ecofriendly city, and it’s just a natural thing to do here.

So Portland sparked your interest in sustainable fabrics?

You can actually buy sustainable textiles here, and I was in a pretty small town in California, so I was going to Joann’s Fabrics, where the options weren’t even available.

Is sustainability one your trademarks?

I wouldn’t call it my trademark, but over half the fabrics I use are sustainable. I think there are a lot of lines out there that are green just to be green, and that’s not me. As a designer I strive to make beautiful clothes, and if they’re sustainable, that’s great.

Are there fabrics you absolutely wouldn't use?

(Laughs). Well, if there were Styrofoam fabric, I probably wouldn’t use that. I probably wouldn’t use a lot of the traditional cottons that have been farmed using lots of pesticides, especially when organic cotton is better quality.

What was the hardest thing about the green challenge on the show?

The models chose the fabrics. I work with a lot of sustainable textiles and I’ve never seen that ugly brown [fabric] in my life! Other designers were working with the same textiles, and I was trying to do something different, but I guess that was a flop.

Your final collection was obviously influenced by nature, with lots of green and blue fabric and wavy shapes.

Being in Portland, it’s so easy to go to the park a couple blocks away and from there I sketch what’s around me. A lot of the natural shapes I gravitate toward end up being floral patterns interpreted in an architectural way.

The way I get the most inspired is when I take the materials and start playing with them and folding them and twisting them and cutting them and seeing what I can create out the material instead of a basic shirt. Once I get the details, I figure out where can I go with this, what would look good. My process is sort of backwards that way.

That you start with the details and move on to the big picture?

Yes.

Is it more costly to use organic and sustainable fabrics?

They do cost more, but it’s definitely worth it to use these sustainable fabrics. In terms of quality, I don’t think there’s any jersey that’s better than bamboo jersey. It’s not that difficult of a choice to use them. They are a bit more expensive but they always sell.

Do you think the green fashion movement will hit the mainstream?

I think it already has. It’s still a little bit behind in terms of the number of fashion designers using it. There are so many big name designers out there, and I can only think of a few names that are using it.

I want to do high fashion that is sustainable, and that’s where [the industry] is lacking. There are a ton of great green and sustainable lines, but in terms of high fashion, it doesn’t really exist so much.

What’s next for you?

I’m moving to New York. The time is right. I’ve always wanted to try being in the New York fashion scene. I’m going to get my line going and finally have some people helping me, rather than just doing it all on my own, and hopefully show at fashion week again pretty soon.

-Winona Dimeo-Ediger

Those little bowler hats—called “bombins”—perched quaintly on the heads of Aymara women in Peru and Bolivia, and every once in a while, on the heads of reality show contestants, certainly have an intriguing history, we’re just not sure which intriguing history it is. 

See, while we were researching how this particular accessory made its way from Europe in the 1920s and became a staple of traditional Aymara dress, we came across some great stories. But experts haven’t been able to tell us which, if any, of the stories are true. Myth or truth, here are a few interesting tales:

Story #1: A large shipment of bowler hats arrived in Bolivia, destined for the heads of European workers based there. The hats, however, were too small for them, so they were distributed to the locals, who came to love the miniature look and kept the custom going. And going. And going.

Story #2: A local store owner accidentally ordered a large quantity of European derby hats. Horrified at his suddenly large stock of strange headwear, he decided to market them as a women’s accessory. The hats caught on and soon, that’s all he was importing.

Story #3: Some sources say that however bombins got to Bolivia, they have remained popular for so long because women believe the hats increase their fertility. 

So, which story do you like best? Which one do you think is true?

-Winona Dimeo-Ediger

National Geographic photographs by Ivan Kashinsky
 

Contestants on The Amazing Race were surprised, in the most recent episode, to find out that a wrestling challenge in Bolivia involved wrestling with women! Who wear petticoats!

Clearly, they did not read the story in the September issue of National Geographic on the women wrestlers of Bolivia. Here's a brief excerpt, which makes it clear that the segment on the TV show barely conveyed the nuttiness of a wrestling league that makes the World Wrestling guys look like lil' babies.

"Watch out!" the entire audience shrieks. Yolanda has been celebrating her victory, but Claudina, as proof of her evil nature, is about to lunge at her from behind. Yolanda spins too late; Claudina knocks her flat and clambers like a crazy person onto the ropes. "I'm the prettiest!" she yells at the audience. "You're all ugly! I'm your daddy! I'm the one the gringos have come to see!"

Check out the story and a photo gallery on our site. Not to mention video of the throwdowns!

Amazing Race fans, stay tuned to Pop Omnivore ... we're busy tracking down the origins of the wee  Bolivian bowler hats that were prominently featured on the show.

-Marc Silver

In October’s cover story, we introduced you to the first life-size, scientifically accurate reconstruction of a Neanderthal woman that's based on fossil anatomy and ancient DNA. She is five feet tall. She is heavily muscled. And you've surely noticed that she’s not wearing any clothes. Anthropologists believe that in summer, Neanderthals probably went naked.

Although the cover headline reads “Neanderthals Revealed,” we thought Wilma, as magazine staffers affectionately call her, might have occasionally craved a cover-up. So we asked some of the Project Runway designers to sketch an outfit for her, featuring materials that would have been available in Neanderthal times: animal skins (aka “leathuh”), fur, bones, and ocher body paint. Two National Geographic magazine designers also took on the challenge of answering the question: "What Would Wilma Wear?" Here are the fashion-forward ensembles they came up with.

Since there are no official judges for this challenge, we ask you, our readers, to share your opinions. Vote for your favorite. The winner will get immunity in the upcoming Cro-Magnon challenge!

-Winona Dimeo-Ediger

Blayne Walsh, Season 5

Known for his colorful, urban designs on Project Runway, Blayne segues
into very vintage women's wear with light-colored leather, fur, feathers, and
bone detailing. Watch for that fashion-forward fur boot, complete with
claws (fierce!) to spring up on couture runways in future seasons. Blayne
plans to launch a menswear collection.

Johnathan Kayne Gillaspie, Season 3

Johnathan envisioned Wilma in a chic, midriff-baring outfit made of animal
hide, with the sides "sewn together with sinew from captured prey."
The shoulders are covered to protect Wilma's light skin from the sun, but
are cut to allow air under the top. Johnathan usually works with fabrics
like tulle and satin to create prom and evening gowns at his
Oklahoma-based studio. 

Joe Faris, Season 5

Joe used ocher-dyed leather thread, leaves, and fur to create a figure-flattering
wrap dress for Wilma, and topped it off with a classic dinosaur tooth closure.
Body art completes the look. And as all women know, a spear is always the
ultimate accessory. In addition to heading his own label, RedFly, Joe is
senior designer for outerwear company Schott NYC.

Terri Stevens, Season 5

Terri thought Wilma should strut her stuff in a tight bustier, leather jodhpurs, and
knee-high boots constructed of fine strips of bear. A bone necklace dangles
from Wilma's formidable neck. The look is topped off with a show-stopping
yak coat. Terri has her own (yak-free) clothing line, Funkin' Beautiful.

Mollie Bates, National Geographic magazine

Wilma sports a luxurious fur wrap dress (designed to show off her body art)
and a lavender-grey feather capelet to warm her shoulders and
accentuate her fiery red hair. Wooden platforms painstakingly carved with
rudimentary tools form the base of her t-strap bone sandals, and Wilma
accessorizes her wrists with bangles made from the teeth of her neighbors
(whom she cannibalized). When she's not dreaming up outfits for cannibals,
Mollie is a designer for National Geographic magazine. Not that we're biased,
but we think she deserves  extra credit for designing to fit Wilma's true
proportions. 

Ruben Rodriguez, National Geographic magazine

Ruben put Wilma in a trendy mammoth tusk mini with leafy accents and an 
eye-catching red carnation top. He included a lichen-covered beach
umbrella--perfect  for twirling daintily on a hot day, or scaring away sabertooth
cats. Ruben usually puts his imagination to work as an art and design
coordinator for National Geographic.

Last night on The Amazing Race, taxis took a toll. One racer got slammed in the head when a cabbie was closing his trunk. One team picked a cab that wouldn’t go, another team hopped in a cab that went way too fast, and a third team simply couldn’t find a cab anywhere.

In real life, cabs bedevil travelers as well. National Geographic staff writer Jennifer Holland remembers a vacation on Isla Mujeres with her mother. When they arrived at the Mexican island, across the bay from Cancun, they thought they’d save a few bucks by hiring a guy with what looked like a pedicab. The guy put their luggage on his vehicle … and pedaled away!

Holland and her mom gave chase—up and down streets, in tropical heat—for 30 minutes. They had no idea if this guy was going to take their luggage to the hotel or disappear with it. “He knew we were following him, but he didn’t slow down,” Holland says. Turns out he was honest—he took the luggage to the right place and waited for them there. “I guess I thought we'd be able to hop on the back with the bags,” says Holland, "or that we'd stroll alongside him at an easy pace."

When their vacation was over, Holland and her mom took a regular cab back to the dock, where they saw other unsuspecting tourists frantically pursuing luggage-laden bicycles.

Readers, do you have your own taxi tales of woe? Please share! Maybe you’ll spare some other traveler a cab meltdown.

-Marc Silver