National Rice Ball Day
This Japanese staple is delicious, adaptable, nutritious and cheap, so choose your favorite way—or a few ways—to dress your Rice Ball, and enjoy the sticky delicacy.
Celebrate authentic Japanese onigiri culture with limited-edition rice ball offerings and DIY recipe content targeting food enthusiasts and cultural explorers.
- DIY onigiri-making tutorial: 5 trending fillings for April
- Behind-the-scenes: How Japanese restaurants prep authentic rice balls
- Customer spotlight: Your best onigiri creations (UGC campaign)
- Onigiri history deep-dive: From 11th-century preservation to modern comfort food
Rice Balls have been a central part to Japanese cuisine for centuries, and are known locally as onigiri, a word which means “to hold on to”. An excellent description of how one consumes this delicious treat. The history of the rice ball can be traced back as far as the 11th century when they were called Tonjiki and were, in fact, a popular addition to lunches and picnics. It was kind of a universal food that had some remarkable qualities, not the least of which was the ability to form an air-tight seal and thus protect and preserve meat stored within.
Don’t fancy a cold rice ball for dinner? No problem! The Onigiri is created by dipping the rice in vinegar, helping it to bond and form that formerly mentioned air-tight seal, but an application of soy sauce dissolves those bonds and creates a loose rice dish mixed with the materials it’s stuffed with. Might as well and throw that into the frying pan and heat it right back up again!
Up until the 1980’s, all Onigiri had to be crafted by hand, making this a rare and expensive treat normally only found at Japanese restaurants. In the 1980’s all that changed with the invention of the machine that created triangular onigiri, and the process has been continuously improved from that day forward, making mass-produced onigiri available to the masses!