A Mystery Revealed

In Japanimation movies, the shapeless, dumpling-like food that characters are inevitably pulling out of knapsacks, unwrapping and chewing accompanied by a satisfying sound effect of unknown origin has always perplexed and disturbed me. However, such foodstuffs have now been located in mid-town Manhattan.

Finally I've found a place in the neighborhood where there's no mention of quesadillas, baked manicotti or croutons rotting in large stainless steel basins. I prance over on my lunch break, dazed from too much time on the internet, and gleefully devour little rice balls stuffed with seaweed or pickles and an assortment of turnip-like tubers and tofu things in comforting broth. And they have ramen with pork a la Tampopo where you simultaneously utilize ladel and chopsticks to acheive a holistic consumption experience. The ladels are bamboo, of ingenious design.

Now, on the very same block, it looks like they are opening a take-out place that specializes in rice balls. This is very exciting, certainly the greatest incentive yet to not throw myself out the window of my workplace, falling a triumphant six inches to to the roof of the structure next door.