[SWAF-Potluck] An idea for the next potluck? :^)

[Andy Sorfleet]

​

ttp://www.vancouversun.com/
VANCOUVER SUN
Saturday, August 30, 2014

Mia Stainsby



p. E4.

Eat but don't touch the plate

Invoking Japanese samurai tradition, Vancouver caterer serves food off
female models


​

[photo caption]
Naked Sushi has arrived in Vancouver. A catering firm run by chef Mike
Keenan offers a nearly naked model festooned with sushi placed on sanitized
leaves for special events. Guests are required to pick up the sushi with
chopsticks.

Samantha, in Sex and The City did it. And so do 'exotic' entertainers who
might show up at a bachelor party -- only they'd be willing to throw in a
lap dance.

But now, for the first time in Vancouver, there's an up and up catering
company that offers "naked sushi," the naked referring to a naked woman who
becomes a living, breathing human plate.

Let me clarify. She's not totally naked. There are four flowers and
double-sided tape to conceal privates. When she takes her break, she puts
on a robe which she is lying on.

Mike Keenan, first started Naked Sushi in Toronto in 2010 (where he's
catered "a few thousand events" and started up in Vancouver in July. He
expects to do even better in Vancouver with its "open-minded food culture"
-- but let's be honest here, Spam sushi would arouse the same interest.

Keenan has been a chef for 13 years and worked in a Japanese restaurant for
seven years. He has a catering licence and makes the sushi in a friend's
Japanese restaurant, which has passed health inspections. The owner of the
restaurant doesn't want the name disclosed because of the "stigma," says
Keenan.

Regarding food hygiene, Keenan says the food doesn't touch the model's
skin. It's placed on sanitized leaves. "It's no different than a server
walking to a table with a plate."

The naked sushi idea began during the samurai period in Japan, he says. "It
was a subculture to the geishas. It would take place in a geisha house as a
celebration after a victorious battle."

Like a hockey team winning? I asked.

"Not if you're a Canucks fan," he said.

In Japan, the practice is called nyotaimori. "It's a 50-50 split. Half the
Japanese think it's cool. Others say it's for samurais and hookers. But
chefs who are really into sushi, they think it's beautiful." Which is why,
I suppose, there are no naked men displaying sushi.

Even gay men prefer female sushi bearers, Keenan says. "I once asked some
men organizing a post-Pride Parade party (in Toronto) if they wanted a male
model and they said, 'No, no! We want a female.' "

In Japan, it's more of a restaurant thing where chefs will do it upon
request. "It's much bigger in the U.S.," says Keenan. "There's one in L.A.
with Playboy models."

Is it sexploitation or art? "I guess it could go either way," Keenan says.
"We are very proactive when it comes to the safety of the models and invoke
a lot of rules. We've never had a problem where they were made to feel
uncomfortable."

Keenan or someone else is at almost every event and models are never left
on their own. "If anyone breaks the rules, the party's over. we just leave.
But we've never had an issue. Our clientele are usually professionals who
have learned how to behave in society."

Although nyotaimori rules include no speaking to the model, Keenan allows
models to talk because it's asking too much to have them be still for two
hours (with a break). Guests can only pick up sushi with chopsticks and
can't make lewd, inappropriate comments or gestures.

Models make $200 for the two hours. Keenan says real models work best
because they're used to posing and working under difficult conditions. "The
challenge is to find a body that can hold the sushi. "Someone can have the
fittest figure but it can't be too round or too curvy or the sushi will
fall."

Pricing ranges from $20 a person to $85 with a minimum of 12 guests. The
latter includes side dishes and a server for extra food, like salad,
oysters, gyoza and dessert.

When it comes to Naked Sushi rules, Keenan says women are the ones who
break them. "I did an event where a girl walked up and licked the model.
Women are probably worse because they're thinking they have all the same
parts and they can do, whatever."
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/swaf-potluck/attachments/20140830/6290ea36/attachment-0001.html>
-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: vansun-140830-e4.jpg
Type: image/jpeg
Size: 35579 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://lists.resist.ca/pipermail/swaf-potluck/attachments/20140830/6290ea36/attachment-0001.jpg>