Something on rice

In this case, konbu (the seaweed).

About 10 years ago, a friend I had invited to stay to dinner with me asked me if Japanese really ate just plain white rice, which he thought was rather tasteless. I told him that was true of most Japanese most of the time. But often, Japanese put something on their rice, and I often wonder what percentage of rice in Japan is actually eaten completely plain. Certainly my daughter almost never has just plain white rice, or even plain brown rice. She likes it either wrapped in nori, the thin sheets of seaweed that are wrapped around the ubiquitous onigiri and some kinds of sushi, or else sprinkled with furikake. That's a real kid kind of rice topping. It's make of dried fish, egg, vegetables, and/or assorted industrial chemicals -- at least, that what they look like from the vivid pinks and yellows of some of the flakes.

Furikake is probably a modern take on an old custom of sprinkling whatever you have available on rice to make it tastier. A more formal, more adult version of this is called ochazuke. Originally this was, as the name says, green tea poured over (leftover) rice -- an easy way of warming up rice for a quick breakfast. You can buy packets of ochazuke in any supermarket, it's on the shelf next to the furikake. The labels are generally less colorful, more adult-looking, though the principal is the same; GIVE THE RICE A LITTLE MORE FLAVOR. Most people just put one or the other on fresh rice, straight out of the rice cooker since rice cookers can keep rice pretty fresh overnight.

Of course, the basic principle is always to give plain rice more flavor through salt and a few bits of something-or-other. I'll sometimes use konbu or hijiki, two different kinds of seaweed. Some people simply stick an umeboshi (pickled plum) in the middle of a serving of rice. This not only looks good, the powerful flavor of the umeboshi makes the rice near it tasty, as well as flavoring your mouth for whatever you eat for the following five minutes.