Quote:
Originally Posted by MMM
I wonder if it is regional. I asked two Kansai moms before posting, both knew Americans had a strange habit of doing it, but had never heard of a child asking or a parent allowing it in Japan.
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I highly doubt that it is regional, because parents do
not allow it around here. I`ve never seen or heard of a parent allowing it - but I`ve seen plenty of kids ask and try to do it. Obviously it`s going to to depend on the kid, but I doubt it`s uncommon. I`ve seen the same thing up on the northern coast.
It`s just like licking up the soy sauce left after eating sushi, or wanting to eat furikake straight from the pack (with no rice). Doctors get a huge number of children coming in who drank whole bottle (table sized) of soy sauce. Kids just like the salty flavor, I guess. It doesn`t really have much to do with whether parents allow it or not.
It`s not something parents are going to brag about, but it happens. I think it`s also something that parents tend to forget about. A mom in our building took her younger daughter to the hospital about 6 months ago because she poured the whole bottle of soy sauce on her rice and drank the "soup". Even after throwing up because of it, the little girl kept asking for the "soup" and they had to hide all the soy sauce. The older sister consistently requested it because she liked the soy sauce parts of egg and soy sauce rice, but not the egg parts.
But fairly recently, she was asking me about whether it`s true that people overseas put it directly on their rice because NO Japanese person ever would, not even little kids, because they all know better. Umm... What about your daughters? She`d totally forgotten about it. They knew better now.
I am thinking kindergarten level, not older children. The local kindergartens and care centers make a point to not have soy sauce on hand (and ask to not put any in lunches) as the smaller kids will try to drink it straight or use it in parent-horrifying ways like squirting it straight on their rice.