Why Japan is Changing its Most Popular Food

Great video, just one side note: tuna with mayonnaise doesn't sound weird at all, it's one of the best combinations for canned tuna 😍

5:41 he didn’t explain the reason for the special packaging. The seaweed is packed separate from the rice and so it’s still crunchy when you open and eat it

The whole "food for the people" aspect is exactly what I love about "street food".

I think onigiri changed to the modern style for one reason: easier to make by machine. The older style onigiri , which you can still get pretty easily in Japan, is hand-made and is fairly labor-intensive.

If you think of the term, Onigiri 御握り literally means "Honorable handful". "razu" らず turns it into a negative term. So Onigirazu means "Honorable (not) a handful" which would mean an Onigiri that is bigger than a handful, implying more value for money. As well as being a hip and trendy term of course.

Like Italians have 2k+ forms of pizza, Japanese ppl have 2k+ forms of rice + seaweed

It would've also been worth mentioning that onigiri comes from the verb nigiru (握る), meaning to "grasp"/"hold", because of the way you have to mold the rice into its usual triangle shape whereas onigirazu literally means "without grasping" because you don't mold the whole thing into a ball. That's why nigiri also refers to the flat-bed type of sushi (握り寿司) as opposed to the "maki" sushi roll (巻き寿司) where maki means "to roll up" 😄

As a half japanese person who grows up in europ is onigiri a childhood memory food I know it's not the best food in Japan but for me it is the taste of the mother's love

Onigiri can be gluten free, but it typically isn’t when gotten from Japanese convenience stores. The gluten comes from the soy sauce used in the filling which is typically “cut” or bulked up with wheat.

I've been slightly obsessed with making onigirazu for breakfast (in the U.S.) the past couple months. I didn't realize it was such a recent evolution. Thanks for this video.

The Bill Wurtz “history of japan” reference made me laugh out loud

This video makes me feel better about how I fill my onigiri at home in the US as an old white lady, lol Of course, tuna mayo is a given, but my hubby is not into fish or strong tasting fish/ingredients I've put a slice of ham and cheese and scrambled egg for him. Or bacon and egg My other favorite is opening a tin of smoked kippers or smoked herring/mackerel and mashing it a bit for the middle. Smoky oily fish really goes well in the salty rice. Sometimes nice ripe kimchee goes right in the middle, too! I don't always have big sheets of nori so I tend to pack them naked and bring a few packages of korean gim snacks to wrap them in so it's still crispy. The trader joes teriyaki flavor is really good on the outside. Left over teriyaki salmon or chicken also goes well in there. I never claim its authentic lol But my half Japanese brother in law absolutely loves the smoked kipper ones. If we go out fishing for the day, I've been asked to bring double if he's going lol. But he brings the beer 🍺 😂 and edamame beans. Oh and occasionally a huge bag of deep fried salmon skin. Better than corn chips 😅

Makes sense that there's bargain bin sandwiches that you take at the local convinience store, but also gones that are a genuine meal. No reason onigiri can't be the same.

Honestly, I love these and thought it was more convenient than even a sandwich. I could buy a fifty-pound bag of rice that would never go stale and cost about 20% of what I would pay for even poor-quality bread so that is what I did. Plus a bad of rice that massive was only really sold at an Asian grocery I knew and so I got to pick up stuff not found in a typical grocery.

I love making onigiri at home. I usually go with tuna-mayo and black sesame seeds as filling/flavor.

My favourite kind of rice doughnuts are the ones that have a little bit of seaweed as a glaze and sour plum salty jelly filling. Canned fish jelly is alright too. Furikake sprinkles always liven up a doughnut!

Thank you for the video. Here onigiri is usually served in japanese restaurant as a starter for ramen, getting a window to the history and concept behind the food is actually much appreciated.

Onigirazu really reminds me of Spam musubi. Of course they both came from onigiri, but still interesting to see the convergent evolution.

I really like the concept your videos! At first, I thought you were a big channel already. Hope you keep producing these gems.

You know, it looks a lot like the onigirazu is more of merging onigiri with more european style sandwich fillings.