Yeah, that's the "bitter taste" I was talking about. ;-)

According to what I've read, the exposure to air causes increased "aku" which I am assuming is cyanogenic glycosides. Some bamboo shoots are actually eaten raw and don't taste bitter. The ones behind our house definitely require at least 20 min of boiling and actually taste better after being left in a vat of water overnight.

I would be curious whether the cyanogenic glycosides is actually the same as "aku" and the weird bitter taste of under-prepared bamoboo shoots or whether it is something else that's causing the taste.

In any event, under-cooked bamboo shoots don't taste very edible and if they're soft and sweet enough to eat, I'm pretty sure you're safe. I've never heard of anyone dying from cyanogenic glycosides in bamboo shoots myself.

Stu:

Here's a post about my background with Ryuichi: http://joi.ito.com/weblog/2007/07/30/ryuichi-sakamot-1.html

And a post about how this video came together: http://joi.ito.com/weblog/2008/05/20/video-of-cookin.html

One category of issues that I've heard of is foreign nationals who are naturalizing for citizenship whose spouses die during the waiting period. Many are now quickly deported. This is particularly unfair when the spouse is a US soldier who dies in combat. The non-US spouses of dead soldiers are often deported.

Another category that seems to be a problem is detention of immigrants based on very old charges. I heard that recently, an elderly woman was detained based on 10 year old drug possession charges and was not permitted to take her medication and died in detention. In many cases, those detained do not have access to the charges or the evidence and do not receive "rights" under the constitution because they are not citizens.

This is the kind of stuff that makes me proud to be Japanese. ;-)