Eat they did. Upon entering Temple that night, every diner was issued one pair of fine wooden chopsticks. They were also given a list of rules: Don't speak to the models, don't touch the models and don't say anything inappropriate. You might be eating raw fish off a semi-naked person, but please don't treat them like strippers.

As the sold-out crowd poured into Temple's main dining room, Howell, Jaworski and two other models were lying on tables scattered throughout the restaurant. But there was a peculiar hesitation. Like true Minnesotans, nobody wanted to go first. Soon, though, the tables were as crowded as the crab-leg platter at a Chinese buffet.

Chopsticks in hand, Lily Crooks, 25, stood with a group of friends just feet from one of the male models. After watching someone else make the first move, she rallied her group: "OK, now we better move in."

Her roommate Ellie Blades, 27, went straight for the male model's chest. Crooks, the right thigh.

When asked about the sushi's quality, Blades smiled and said:

"It was the best piece of salmon I've ever had in my life."...

Nyotaimori, "female body presentation", is a service allowing restaurant customers to eat from the skin of a naked woman. Apart from her crotch, which is usually covered with some kind of garnish, the model's modesty depends on the (temporary) position of the food on her body. Also known as "body sushi", this phenomenon received a lot of media attention in the West in the 1990s. This coverage massively exaggerated the popularity of nyotaimori in Japan - these restaurants are actually very rare, and generally associated with organised crime rather than being mainstream.

Aside from the obvious attractions of salivating over a nubile body, it is claimed that nyotaimori warms the food to body temperature. Apparantly, this allows the diner to focus on the texture and taste, rather than its temperature...

A similar delicacy is wakame sake, which is poured down a model's body and drunk from the cup formed by her closed thighs. The name "wakame", meaning soft seaweed, refers to the pubic hair floating in the drink. This is not widely-practiced, and wakame sake is even rarer than nyotaimori.

There's just something about sushi that really gets me going. First, it's the look of it. Yummy, woman colors of orange and pink and red. Glistening rawness with sculptural, organic beauty. Almost every time I have sushi, I'll find myself holding a piece of sashimi in my chopsticks, mouth drooling as I admire it, saying to myself, "That is the sexiest piece of fish I've ever seen." The second thing about my sushi turn-on is the simple process of eating it: purposeful, carefully, hand to mouth, with care. Truly connecting with your food. Third, it's the process of appreciation: each piece tastes different, requires time for admiring and savoring. Fourth, and this kind of encapsulates everything: it's just so damn raw. And after eating a lot of it, something kicks into high gear inside of me and there is no looking back. Open the floodgates...

nyo (女) - woman
tai (体) - body
mori (盛り) - helping, plateful, serving, arrangement, etc.