Saturday, May 2, 2015

Culture: Onigiri (~700)

For over a millennia, the Japanese have enjoyed arguably the greatest "on the go" food in the world,  Onigiri (お握り).   A simple combination of rice, a filling and a bit of salt (often wrapped in seaweed and sometimes accompanied with a topping) produces a taste sensation that serves as everything from a yummy snack to a healthy and filling meal.  In the words of the immortal Strong Bad, on a scale from one to awesome, Onigiri is super great!



Since at least the Nara period (奈良時代), people in Japan have rolled rice into balls for ease of consumption.  Nowadays, onigiri is also often shaped as a triangle, especially when sold in convenience stores, although balls are common for bento boxes:




As you might expect, people have been doing creative things with the presentation of onigiri for a long time:




Among the most awesome inventions from the Land of the Rising Sun, the popularity of onigiri has  understandably spread through out East Asia and even reached California, which is unsurprising as the aptly named Golden State often serves to introduce great ideas to the rest of America.

Here, we see no less a personage than the ridiculously badass Kibagami Jubei enjoying one of these suckers!



If you're in the mood for some onigiri yourself but don't know where to start, check out this video from the hi*LAR*ious series Cooking with Dog:



やった !

No comments:

Post a Comment