Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/05/03/armpit-onigiri-would-you-like-human-sweat-added-to-your-japanese-rice-snack-video.html
…
2 Likes
When I make them, I use a plastic mold and I wear vinyl gloves and the rice is still almost too hot…
1 Like
Oh, Japan, you… 
2 Likes
Have you ever wondered how a one-armed cook makes dumplings? Yes, that’s how.
6 Likes
Nope, nope, nope nope, Nope.
2 Likes
In an old Australian film, “Sunday Too Far Away” they tell the story of the cattle station with the one armed cook who made the most delicious rissoles. One day the stockmen spied on him, and yes, armpits were involved…
1 Like
A friend of my sister can hide a large orange in her armpit, she has joint hypermobility. I will not be passing this story on.
If you want Japanese food with the great taste of sweat, then I would recommend a much more pleasant solution:
6 Likes
Eh? It’s my go to hiking beverage here, but I’ve never thought of my sweat as being quite that sweet… 
(I did once wonder ‘what kind of animal is a pocari, and why does its sweat taste soooo good?!’)
The armpit seems like it’d make a not-bad shape for forming onigiri (it can’t go much worse than my attempt to make them with my hands) but I think I can do without waki no aji.
This is nothing new. You only have to look up “Cockle-bread”.
In certain quarters it’s a well-known love-potion. If you think that’s doubtful, consider the information that dog-thieves would keep a slice of bread in their armpit until it was soaked, and feed it to the dog they wanted to steal. The dog would have it’s olfactory senses overwhelmed with THIS HUMAN’s smell, and follow them anywhere. I’ve heard of a similar trick being used on horses. Do you imagine humans are that different?
5 Likes
Why yes. Yes I do think they’re that different. Dogs sniff and lick each other’s asses, but the thought of doing that to other humans makes me about as nauseous as, well, the thought of eating food that’s been rolled around in someone’s sweaty armpit.
5 Likes
I hope so!
4 Likes
2 Likes
The South China Morning Post is… not what it used to be.
1 Like
Given that humans are much less scent-oriented than other mammals, to the point where we don’t even have a functional vomeronasal organ the way they do, I am a lot more skeptical of people assuming we must all work the same.
I probably should have guessed this was not just human sweat but young woman sweat though. As soon as sex is involved some people forget we’re all basically the same type of biological system, and germs and hygiene still apply. 
3 Likes
Here’s the thing: this is not safe for the workers. Truly disinfecting the armpit without re-inoculating it with the normal healthy micro biome is a recipe for a dangerous skin infection. Worse, inoculating it potentially with food borne microorganisms increases that risk.
9 Likes
Uh, about that…
4 Likes
I don’t think that people are eating armpit rice to learn more about their chef. It’s fair to say that humans use their sense of smell to learn about other humans, but I don’t think that really has anything to do with @anon15383236’s point.
We’re different from dogs and horses. When I find a dead fish outside I don’t roll around on it. And I don’t want to eat armpit rice (or bread). I have an aversion to the thought of both practices.
Armpit onigiri is a kink for other people, and that’s fine, too, as long as people are safe and not being exploited. Any actual scent info that’s being transmitted via the preparation is going to be secondary to the idea of the preparation, though. It’s about desire, not chemical signaling.
3 Likes
My point was more specific to dogs smelling butts - we smell each other, just in different areas, and we’re not even aware of it.
Instead we slather ourselves with perfume… made with whale vomit and mammalian anal musk glands.
3 Likes
