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It’s common to say that a person poured their blood and sweat into building or making something, which could be a complicated dish, a piece of art, business, or anything else that one can think of. However, Japanese restaurants took this saying literally and have been infusing a popular native dish with human sweat.
Video Credit: Yuka In Tokyo/ YouTube
What is more surprising is people have gone gaga over the delicacy, making some restaurants sell it at a price 10 times higher than the original one. This dish is onigiri, Japanese rice balls. The new variant of this age-old dish has become so popular that it is currently making a mark on the global food trends. It has started a debate on social media.
Japanese Restaurants Infusing Human Sweat In Rice Balls
The authentic recipe of onigiri includes giving cooked white rice a triangular shape and wrapping nori (edible seaweed) around it. Before shaping the rice, it is filled with salted kombu, salmon, and other meat-based delight. It looks like a variant of sushi but presented in a different shape and size.
Maestros in the culinary world are often seen experimenting with old recipes to create a new masterpiece, boasting authentic flavours and modern craft. It seems like Japanese chefs have taken the experiment too far. In order to add human sweat to the recipe of onigiri, the restaurants aren’t purchasing new machines (not the food manufacturing units at least) or making human sweat in labs, they are hiring women (that’s correct).
According to an article published by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), women are preparing onigiri using their sweat. But there is a catch. They aren't using just any part of the body sweat to prepare the popular Japanese snack.
How Japanese Restaurants Are Infusing Human Sweat To Rice Balls
If the SCMP reports are believed to be true, not only the body parts of these women but also food is disinfected first to ensure rice balls are clean and healthy for consumption. The women, who are supposed to make the snack, exercise enough so that they start sweating.
Using the sweat of their armpits, they knead the rice into cylindrical or triangular shape. They are specifically asked not to use the sweat of the palm or any other part of their body. This trend has taken over the Japanese culinary landscape because natives are ordering it and willing to pay a higher price for human-sweat infused rice balls. Reportedly, some food joints are selling it at 10 times the price of onigiri that does not contain human sweat. The dish has gained so much popularity that many eateries are showcasing the process of making this new kind of onigiri to people. They are allowing customers into their kitchens so that they can ensure their snack has human sweat. The report also added that many customers said that there was no difference in taste (yet they paid 10 times the price).
