Inari Zushi. Photo: Kendra McDuffie, "Notes on a Journey to Japan."

Kendra, my housemate in Japan, today posted on her blog about Inari Zushi, or rice stuffed in fried tofu skin. Inari is one of my favorites sushi (another being Tamako Yaki), not only because it’s tasty, but also because it’s vegetarian. Duh! After I moved out of my host father’s house, it was Inari Zushi that saved my life, time and time again. You can buy it—for cheap—at a convenient store without having to worry that it would taste like paper, unlike all the trash they sell in convenient stores here in the U.S. Best of all, it’s very filling so I could eat it for lunch and go about the rest of my day without being hungry.

I noted from her post the origin of this sweet treat. She wrote:

Today I learned how to make Inari-zushi, a type of sushi made of soft tofu skin stuffed with sushi rice and either sesame seeds or shiso, a pinkish picked leaf. We made ours with kuro-goma or black (kuro) sesame seeds (goma). It is named after the shinto god Inari of rice and harvest whose messengers are foxes. The favorite food of a fox is said to be fried tofu skins.

Strange how I suddenly thought of Kitsune Udon right after I read her description. Recently, I had to look up Udon ingredients, and found a recipe for Kitsune Udon written by a guy named Marc. As kitsune literally translates to fox in English, Marc made certain his readers know fox isn’t part of the ingredients. He also admitted that he never knew why the dish was called “Fox Udon” but speculated that the abura age or fried tofu skin has a color similar to a fox. It sounded good, but not quite correct to me.

Then Kendra answered my question without even trying. Sure, this is just another educated guess, but if you connect the dots between Shinto tales and Kitsune Udon, you will realize that the dish was named after Inari God of Rice’s messenger foxes because they love abura age.

I don’t blame them foxes. Abura age is god-send.

You might be able to make Inari Zushi just by looking at her photos, which feature my hands trying to stuff rice into the thin tofu pockets.

Me stuffing rice into abura age. Photo: Kendra McDuffie, "Notes on a Journey to Japan."

Looking at these pictures makes me yearn for that old-time. It was the best time of my life yet. Every time I think about Japan and Osaka, all I can recall are laughter and happiness. Bad things did happen, but they don’t even feel real to me anymore.

And I miss buying a four-pack of Inari Zushi from a convenient store. It was the best.

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