Noodles and Rice

Niku Man

by Tom on October 18th, 2007

Unlike Superman, Ultraman, Anpanman and all of the other superheroes, Nikuman is just plain lazy.  You will often find him lying around in a glass cabinet in a convenience store or in the front of a specialist nikuman shop.  He is often found in the fridge or the freezer of a supermarket and will benefit from a few turns in the microwave or a sauna in a steam pot to bring him back to life.  No, Nikuman is not a courageous or active crime fighter but he can sure be a life saver, to a lonely and starving pedestrian on a cold Japanese street.

Nikuman are what I previously knew only as Chinese steamed pork buns, except that the filling isn’t the same.  The standard filling is made of meat (niku) and various vegetables and whatever else they can find.  However there are also pizza man, curry man, an man, and a few others.  They are all eaten hot (sometimes painfully so) and are sold in paper bags to stop them going too soggy.  Although the best way to prevent sogginess is to eat them as quickly as the skin on the inside of your mouth will allow.

The good news about these buns is that they are hot, taste great, are cheap and easy to find.  The bad news is that no one is too sure what is inside them.  I believe that even the workers at the factory are forced to wear blindfolds so that they cannot see what they put into the mix.  Actually I don’t want to know.  In this case ignorance is the only thing that keeps me buying niku man.

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POSTED IN: Fast Food, Japanese, Street Food