As today I was biting into a tasty おにぎり (onigiri: a Japanese riceball snack), I realized as I got to the tuna filling that I couldn't stand to have the filling facing downward.
Background for those not in the know: onigiri come in a zillion varieties, with the most popular sold at convenience stores tending to have a filling of some sort (fish eggs, tuna, salmon, pickled seaweed...). Though the filling is in the center, it tends to be near the top or the bottom. Imagine the "top" or "bottom" of pizza or something.
Anyway, I figured that it made no sense to have the filling on the top, because there are more taste buds at the bottom half of my mouth. I flipped the onigiri over, and it just felt wrong. Where did this irrational feeling come from? I suppose from a lifetime of eating toast with spread on top?
Regardless, the snack was finished without further incident.
Comments
it's like eating a jelly doughnut-starting at the fill hole end first so that you don't eat up all the jelly (or other filling such as Bavarian cream) &
end up with just bread for the last bite. Any other examples from the peanut gallery (aka the other readers of this blog)? Come on you can comment about things other than butts...challenge!
Posted by: dad | April 10, 2007 8:11 PM
nyaw....... It's because of gravity. That's why it only feels right if most of the filling is on the top. The very act of biting into it will force the filling elsewhere and gravity will move it down!
Posted by: ma | April 11, 2007 10:43 AM
See, gravity of course plays a part with the jelly/toast combination, but with onigiri, not only is the filling inside a ball of rice, but it's also protected by a layer of dried seaweed. So it can't possibly fall out!
Posted by: Justin | April 12, 2007 1:31 PM