Eerie footage shows 'zombie' meat crawling off a plate in restaurant — science says it's possible
A restaurant customer had their zombie nightmare come to life after a piece of meat “crawled off” a dinner plate. The bizarre encounter had the internet sweating while the customers screamed their lungs out in fear and disgust. We all have had those fever dreams of a zombie apocalypse taking over humanity, and this eerie incident could be the start, maybe? Luckily it is backed by a scientific explanation that explains what may have caused a seasoned chunk of meat to wiggle out of a plate looking for freedom, as seen in a video shared by YouTube channel KX News (@KXNewsND).
The chilling moment that lit up social media in 2019 captured a plate of raw meat sitting on a restaurant table. Everything seemed normal at first, when suddenly a piece of chicken started twitching and pushed itself out of the plate and onto the floor. Naturally, the customers were terrified as the entire footage was crammed with shrieks and yells. The footage was reportedly posted by a Florida woman, Rie Phillips, amassing millions of views as the “zombie chicken” video. There is a lot of speculation on the origin of the video and where it was filmed, although it is presumed to be an Asian restaurant.
As several outlets and social media channels reshared the bizarre incident, it drew loads of attention from viewers. Many resorted to jokes while others expressed health concerns. “That’s not what I meant when I told them I wanted my chicken to go,” quipped one person (@venomwarrior8759) while another (@melissacastro13) pointed out, “It’s a sign of quality and freshness.” “Welp! I’m gonna stick with veggies for a few months,” chimed someone else (@MagicMarty90). Meanwhile, a flood of jokes flanked the comments. “Everybody gangsta til the chicken starts walking,” joked an internet user (@Dragonfree97) while another gagged, “Yeah I’ll have the haunted chicken. Does that come with fries?”
Jokes aside, there is a real scientific explanation for the meat twitching as absurd as it may seem. Salt is reportedly the culprit here. When freshly cut meat is exposed to high amounts of salt, the neurons that are still active in the meat chunk react to the sodium ion, resulting in the movement. To explain, neurons can remain active even hours after a creature is dead and tend to interact with any energy sources around to maintain that membrane potential. Therefore, the excessive dosage of salt and soy sauce may trigger active neurons to fire back and cause muscle contraction, according to Scientific American.
There are reports that the piece of raw meat seen in the video was actually obtained from a frog and the restaurant it came from practiced “ikizukuri”, a Japanese culinary technique used for preparing sashimi (raw fish) from live seafood, per BBC. Tuna, salmon, and squid are some of the ingredients served raw. In this method, the guests are recommended to pour soy sauce on the seafood and watch it dance on their plates. Speak of consuming only fresh ingredients.
While this way of making seafood is open to debate, an actual protest broke out after a restaurant in Tokyo sparked controversy with its sashimi preparation. Asadachi restaurant was condemned by people worldwide for a nerve-wracking video of sashimi prepared from a bullfrog in 2012. Japanese chef Mamie Nishide, from New York’s Japanese Cooking Studio, disagreed that this technique resonated with their culture, as reported by Fox News.