An onigiri you make inside its own packet is rather clever, don’t you think? Add hot or cold water, give the bag a good shake, and it forms a neat triangle of Japanese rice dotted with wakame. No bowl, and no cooking required.
The wakame, kelp, and scallop extract give the rice a gentle savouriness. Once rehydrated, the grains are tender with a lightly chewy bite. It is ready in 15 minutes with hot water or 60 minutes with cold.
In Japan, long-life foods like this are part of bōsai, the everyday culture of preparing for earthquakes, typhoons, and other emergencies. Rather than buying special rations and forgetting about them, households are encouraged to use and replace their stored food regularly.
Keep one with your emergency supplies, or tuck it into a hiking pack, camping kit, suitcase, or desk drawer. It also makes a funny and genuinely useful gift for someone who appreciates ingenious Japanese packaging.
Remove the oxygen absorber before preparation. Add approximately 67 ml of hot or cold water to the marked line, close the zip securely, shake about 20 times, and leave for 15 minutes with hot water or 60 minutes with cold water.
Cut the packet along the marked lines to form the triangular wrapper.
Do not microwave. Store at room temperature, away from direct sunlight, high temperatures, and humidity.
Contains mollusc (scallop). Packed in the same room as products containing prawn, wheat, milk, squid, and soy.
nutrition information (per 100 g)
energy : 1504 kJ / 360 kcal
protein : 5.7 g
fat, total : 1.0 g
saturated fat : approximately 0.3 g
carbohydrate : 81.7 g
sugars : approximately 1.0 g
net weight : 42g
made by Onisi Foods Co., Ltd., Japan
It began with a practical question: how could cooked rice be made light, long-lasting, and ready without a stove?
After working with steam locomotives and serving aboard submarines, Onisi Foods founder Toshiyasu Onisi turned his attention to starch and the curious behaviour of cooked rice. His research led to an industrial method for making alpha rice in 1944.
The idea is remarkably simple. Freshly cooked rice is carefully dried while preserving its structure, then brought back to life with hot or cold water. What began as a solution for difficult conditions has since found a place in emergency cupboards, hiking packs, and everyday travel throughout Japan.
This wakame onigiri is made with Japanese-grown rice at Onisi Foods’ Miyagi factory.
