饭团在日本意味着爱和安慰

AS IT IS 2015-11-28 In Japanese, Onigiri Means Love and Comfort 饭团在日本意味着爱和安慰

In Japan, onigiri rice balls are more common than sushi. And in Japanese culture, making onigiri is a way to show love.

"You can make an onigiri by rolling rice in the palms of your hands,” said teacher – or sensei -- Takako Taniwaki at an onigiri-making class in Washington, D.C.

Onigiri is a comfort food in Japan. People bring rice balls for lunch. They are good for a picnic, field trip and school event because they are easy to carry.

And Taniwaki calls onigiri the soul food of the Japanese. Mothers and grandmothers make rice balls for their children or grandchildren with love.

That kindness goes beyond Japan. Three organizations in Washington, D.C. hosted an onigiri-making class to raise funds.Their fund-raising goal is to tackle¹ hunger.

Hunger is a worldwide issue. More than 150 countries celebrated² World Food Day on October 16 to increase awareness³ of food-related issues.

Mayumi Uejima-Carr is co-president of Table for Two, one of the organizations raising funds and awareness. It is conducting its “One Million Itadakimasu" campaign until November 30. Itadakimasu is a Japanese word that expresses gratitude⁴ for food. It is a blessing⁵ said before eating.

"We want to think about children who need help," said Uejima-Carr.

Table for Two invites people to upload photos of making or eating onigiri to their website. The organization works with international companies to donate five meals for each photo uploaded. More than 2,300 photos have been uploaded so far from across the world.

Table for Two also supports schools in low-income neighborhoods in the U.S.

Uejima-Carr explained that food businesses donate 25 cents to upgrade⁶ a child’s school meal. That adds fresh vegetables to the meal.  

Onigiri is also called omusubi. O is a Japanese word giving honor to someone or something. Nigiri comes from the verb nigiru, meaning to grasp and musubi comes from the verb musubu, meaning to tie or roll. The words express ideas of connection and closeness.

What’s in onigiri? There are seasonings⁷ on the rice, pickled Japanese plums and baked salty salmon⁸. The students at the onigiri-making class uploaded their photos to the fund-raising website.

Then they ate onigiri together and said, “Itadakimasu!"

HOW TO MAKE ONIGIRI

Ingredients:

Rice

Fillings of your choice (Tuna, Pickled plum, chicken, salmon and so on)

Water

Salt

Dried seaweed

Steps:

Cook rice

Put half a cup of steamed rice in a rice bowl. Wait for it to cool down.

Wet your hand with water, or cut out about 10 inch sheet of plastic wrap. Put salt on your hands or on your plastic wrap.

Place the rice onto your wet hand or onto the plastic wrap. Slightly spread the rice.

Put the filling on the center of the rice then wrap it with the rice around it.

Roll the rice in your hands and make it into a triangle, a ball or a cylinder⁹.

Wrap the rolled rice with seaweed. If you used plastic wrap, unwrap the rice and then put the seaweed on.

Words in This Story

grasp -– v. to take and hold (something) with your fingers, hands, etc

1 tackle   

n.工具，复滑车，扭倒；v.处理，抓住

参考例句：

• Don't forget to bring your sports tackle with you tomorrow.别忘了明天带上你的体育用具。
• We have gained sufficient experience to tackle this problem.我们已经有了足够的经验来处理这个问题。

2 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

3 awareness   

n.意识，觉悟，懂事，明智

参考例句：

• There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
• Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。

4 gratitude   

adj.感激，感谢

参考例句：

• I have expressed the depth of my gratitude to him.我向他表示了深切的谢意。
• She could not help her tears of gratitude rolling down her face.她感激的泪珠禁不住沿着面颊流了下来。

5 blessing   

n.祈神赐福；祷告；祝福，祝愿

参考例句：

• The blessing was said in Hebrew.祷告用了希伯来语。
• A double blessing has descended upon the house.双喜临门。

6 upgrade   

vt.提高，加强，改善；n.提高，改善

参考例句：

• We need to upgrade the status of teachers.我们需要提升老师的地位。
• To upgrade a clerk to manager.将办事员提升为经理。

7 seasonings   

n.调味品，佐料( seasoning的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• It emphasizes the use of seasonings, so no two dishes ever taste alike. 它对调味品十分讲究。因此，没有两个菜会有同样的味道。 来自地道口语脱口SHOW 高中超越版
• The food made of flour and various seasonings is called moon cake. 中秋节的食品也是圆圆的，也象征着团圆，这种用面和各种作料做的食品叫月饼。 来自互联网

8 salmon   

n.鲑，大马哈鱼，橙红色的

参考例句：

• We saw a salmon jumping in the waterfall there.我们看见一条大马哈鱼在那边瀑布中跳跃。
• Do you have any fresh salmon in at the moment?现在有新鲜大马哈鱼卖吗？

9 cylinder   

n.圆筒，柱(面)，汽缸

参考例句：

• What's the volume of this cylinder?这个圆筒的体积有多少？
• The cylinder is getting too much gas and not enough air.汽缸里汽油太多而空气不足。