Fish Heads In My Sack Lunch

A few weeks ago, my 6-year-old told me she didn't want to take onigiri in her sack lunch for her field trip.  I suspected that this day would come, but I had to ask just the same.

"Why don't you want to take onigiri?"

"Just 'cuz." I could tell she didn't want to tell me something. Upon further pressing, it became clear that she really wanted Uncrustables for her sack lunch. Being the lazy mama that I am, I was pretty easily persuaded that this was the way to go. If you don't know, Uncrustables are frozen, pre-made peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with the crusts removed. You throw one in your kid's lunch in the morning, and by lunch time, it is thawed and ready to eat.

I have to admit, as much as I should have against this processed food product, they're pretty darn good. And convenient.

This exchange reminded me of my own homemade lunches my mom would pack when I attended school in the U.S. It was always a demoralizing experience for me. My mom never packed PB&Js. Never. Nope. I got the pleasure of opening up my lunch to onigiri, dried whole fish, and seaweed. Also some type of vegetable or fruit. But that wasn't the problem. It was the onigiri, dried whole fish, and seaweed. The moment I opened my lunch, my mortification would begin.

"Ewww. What stinks?"

"Ewww. What IS that?"

"Ewww." "Ewww." "Ewww."

Now, some 20 or, er, 30 years after the fact, here is the answer to your questions. Here is onigiri:

Onigiri is a ball of rice, seasoned one way or another, often filled with something, and often wrapped in dried laver/dried seaweed. In my case, my mom seasoned the onigiri with salt, and either filled it with roasted fish or umeboshi. (Umeboshi is a salt-preserved plum-type fruit.) It was always wrapped generously with dried seaweed, and always shaped liked his photo--a triangle. I loved them and I still do, but I hated finding these little treasures in my lunch just for the attention it attracted.

Dried fish. My mom, despite the fact that we lived in Northern Utah, and Japanese food items were scarce, somehow always had a plentiful supply of these little guys. They are called niboshi, and are usually used to make soup stock, but my mom was truly a non-cook, so she gave them to us as highly nutrition snacks.

They are slightly bitter, slightly salty, somewhat fishy, and I liked these just fine as a kid, but hated finding them in my lunch.

Despite my feelings about these Japanese lunches, my mom never stopped making them, and I always dreaded opening my lunch with my friends. I later found out that my friends actually looked forward to seeing what was in my lunch because they were so interesting. In hindsight, I think I should have shared some of what was in there, but I was too embarrassed to bring too much out into the open.

Years later, when I would come home to visit, my mom would often send me off with a sack lunch of onigiri, dried fish, seaweed, and veggies and fruit when it was time for me to leave. I loved these and, as an adult, I was always happy to show off the goods. After I married, my husband also grew to look forward to these onigiri lunches we would take with us when we left her home.

I wonder now if my kids will also feel some embarrassment at some point about having a different lunch from everyone else's. I also wonder, however, given that we live in a much more global community, if they will fit right in. Well, either way, I'm happy to make onigiri, but absolutely not above throwing an Uncrustable into a sack and calling it lunch.