A Japanese Staple Makes Inroads Into US Lunches

Rice balls are quietly mounting a challenge to the West's sandwich habit. Onigiri—compact rice bundles long treated as Japan's everyday grab-and-go—are turning up in Los Angeles malls, 7-Elevens, British supermarkets, Paris patisserie-style counters, and thousands of North American grocery sushi bars, reports Nikkei Asia. In San Francisco, Koji Kanematsu's Onigilly has grown from a 2008 food cart into a seven-store chain, with a big assist from Japanese restaurant group Watami, which now owns a majority stake and shares his goal of 500 US outlets within a decade.

To win over American customers, Kanematsu reworked the classic: burger-like rice "patties," visible fillings, and a nuttier, semi-brown rice he says better suits US tastes. (Food & Wine previously called onigiri a "genius lunchbox staple.") Others are betting on strict tradition instead. Tokyo Onigiri in London, Omusubi and Kyoto Onimaru in California, and Paris shops like O-Kome lean hard on premium Japanese rice and "authentic" credentials, while France's Igiri and Germany's Eat Happy tweak recipes and packaging for local palates and longer shelf life. Prices are higher than in Japan—often triple—which makes the snack attractive to manufacturers as well. They're positioning it as an everyday, cheaper-than-sushi lunch, and see huge room for growth in the West. Read the full story.