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By Mathias Cena with Cecilia Sanchez in New York
TOKYO, Feb 15, 2024 (AFP) – Wrapped in seaweed and filled with scrumptious fillings, “onigiri” rice balls are shaking off their repute as an affordable and uninspiring snack in Japan — and attractive hungry converts overseas.
Mouth-watering photos on social media, rising demand for inexpensive lunches, and a surge in tourism to Japan are all drawing individuals to the common-or-garden onigiri.
Simply ask any of the 50-odd clients lined up in a quiet nook of Tokyo for the restaurant Onigiri Bongo to open.
Prior to now, “nobody got here between lunch and dinner, however now clients queue continuous”, stated 71-year-old Yumiko Ukon, who runs the greater than half-century-old store.
Some watch for eight hours, stated Ukon, whose staff makes some 60 several types of onigiri, bulging with conventional fillings like pickled plum, or extra uncommon choices similar to bacon with soy sauce.
Onigiri Bongo solely has 9 counter seats, however sells round 1,200 rice balls every day.
“After I was younger, onigiri was one thing you’d make at residence,” Ukon advised AFP. “Now individuals purchase onigiri, or exit to have onigiri.”
Lengthy fashionable as on-the-go gasoline in Japan, onigiri have been eaten for over a millennium within the nation, the place they had been as soon as taken onto the battlefield by samurai.
The fast bites could be present in comfort shops on virtually each nook, ubiquitous sufficient to be banal.
However with extra guests than ever flocking to Japan, and the nation’s popular culture booming in recognition, onigiri are actually additionally changing into a lunch choice abroad.
Japanese rice ball chain Omusubi Gonbei has opened shops in Paris and close to Grand Central Station in New York.
“It’s gentle, wholesome and simple to eat,” stated 53-year-old buyer Sean King, who first tried onigiri in Japan and was “very completely happy” to seek out them within the Huge Apple.
“You don’t have any regrets after consuming one.”
– Reasonably priced lunch –
The oldest rice ball restaurant in Tokyo, Onigiri Asakusa Yadoroku, was included within the 2019 Michelin Information, elevating the standing of the snack.
“From that second, individuals who noticed onigiri as an on a regular basis chew to eat started to see it as a top quality dish,” stated Yusuke Nakamura, president of Japan’s Onigiri Society.
Spending on onigiri and different pre-prepared rice merchandise has grown by 66 % over the previous 20 years in Japan, figures from the inner affairs ministry present.
In 2022, onigiri had been the second-most-frequently bought ready-to-eat meals in Japan after bento lunchboxes, based on the Japan Prepared-made Meal Affiliation.
And the variety of specialised onigiri retailers is rising shortly, Nakamura stated.
The development has been pushed by demand for takeaway meals throughout the pandemic, but in addition inflation, with individuals selecting onigiri over a restaurant meal to economize.
Whereas imported grains like wheat have develop into costlier due to the warfare in Ukraine, “the worth of rice, grown domestically, is comparatively steady”, Nakamura defined.
Japanese individuals have deep cultural hyperlinks to rice, stated Miki Yamada, who runs “Warai Musubi”, a catering service specialising in “omusubi” — one other identify for onigiri.
Within the Shinto faith, “rice is an providing made to deities”, and the standard triangular form of onigiri could also be a reference to mountains, the place many Shinto gods dwell, the 48-year-old stated.
– ‘Premium’ rice balls –
Yamada, whose household are rice farmers in Fukushima, realised the potential of onigiri after pondering up methods to advertise rice from the area after the 2011 nuclear catastrophe.
She started posting photos of her completely offered rice balls on social media, and the enterprise grew from there.
Onigiri retailers often can’t afford promoting, however on-line posts by followers exhibiting totally different kinds of the colorful dish have performed a giant position of their new recognition, the Onigiri Society’s Nakamura stated.
Youthful clients are additionally attracted by “premium” rice balls made with high quality elements, with numerous different cereals combined in to make them extra nutritious.
Miyuki Kawarada, 27, is president of Taro Tokyo Onigiri, which opened two retailers within the capital in 2022 promoting top-quality onigiri at as much as 430 yen ($2.85) every.
Kawarada needs to open dozens of onigiri eating places overseas and thinks the snack might someday dethrone sushi as Japan’s best-known culinary export.
Onigiri “could be vegan, or halal, and could be tailored to go well with totally different cultures”, she advised AFP.
“In Japan, but in addition overseas, I need to renew the stuffy, old style picture of rice.”
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