abalone (wabi)

is the most romantic shellfish, collected as it is by hand, by female, almost-nude deep-sea divers (ama) with almost superhuman lung capacity.

Perhaps the most romantic shellfish of all is the abalone (awabi). This deepwater snail with a shell the size of a man's hand has delicious meaty, though muscular flesh. It is caught by diving into deep cold waters in the Inland Sea and the coast of the Japan Sea. Early on in prehistory it was discovered that women have much more stamina for this work than men, and thus were born women deep-sea divers (ama). It was not only their almost superhuman lung capacity that enabled them to stay underwater longer than men but the fact that they practiced their craft almost in the nude that contributed to their awesome reputation among the straightlaced Europeans writing about them in the nineteenth century. With little more than a pry-bar and face mask, they dive to extract a controlled number of the shellfish and bring them to the waiting boats on the surface.

abalone (wabi), n.Definitions

abalone (wabi)