Armpit onigiri: Would you like human sweat added to your Japanese rice snack? (video)

Onigiri is a delicious snack from Japan made of sticky rice that's shaped into triangles or balls and stuffed with anything from little bits of veggies to fish to different types of meat. You can find them at any convenient store in Japan, and they're super cheap (around 64 US cents).

Unless, that is, they contain the "unique flavor" of human sweat. For that extra ingredient — sourced from women's armpits — it will cost you a pretty yen, according to a the South China Morning Post. Or more like $1,000 yen (close to $6.50).

The snack is now being prepared by young women who use their armpits to shape the balls, a strange culinary twist that has gone viral on social media.

Before making the onigiri, all the ingredients and the body parts they come into contact with are disinfected.

The girls then exercise to produce sweat, and use their armpits instead of their palms to knead and shape the rice balls.

The finished product is then sold at high prices in some restaurants – as much as 10 times that of regular rice balls. …

Some restaurants openly demonstrate the process, proudly promoting their star chefs and the unique technique by allowing customers to visit the kitchen.

[From South China Morning Post]

I was hoping to find a behind-the-scenes video from a restaurant showing how the sweat-infused delicacy is prepared and served, but the closest thing I could find was this TikTok video from 2022 (see below, posted by ofargo):

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