Though plastic sushi grass is a modern development, the idea behind it has been around for centuries. Flowers, leaves, fruits and branches have been used to line vessels in Japanese cuisine for over a millennium, according to Nancy Singleton Hachisu, a James Beard Award–winning food journalist and an expert in authentic Japanese cuisine.

The use of leaves to separate food, however, became common during the Edo period (1603–1864). “Originally, the Kanto region (around Tokyo) used sasanoha [leaves from the bamboo plant], while the Kansai region (around Kyoto) used haran.”

  • @over_clox
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    7222 hours ago

    It’s so you get your daily dose of microplastics, obviously.

    • Max
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      2 hours ago

      you mean to get your 12th daily dose of microplastics?

      jokes aside, i hate when my sashimi touches the ginger for take-out. the spots denature (is that the correct term in english?) as if it was cooked. i sure wish they used more shredded raddish.

      • @over_clox
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        1222 hours ago

        As a native English speaker, I’m not entirely sure if ‘denature’ is or is not the best word, but I totally understand what you mean.

        And honestly, off the top of my head, I can’t even think of a better word, so denature(d) works I guess.

        Still, what’s wrong with bamboo leaves or other natural things? Why plastic now?

        • @FauxLiving
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          28 hours ago

          It’s the right word.

          The acids denature the proteins causing them to become firm and opaque just as if they had been cooked.

          There are some dishes, like Ceviche, that use this effect intentionally (“cooking” fish in lemon juice).

        • @Nurse_Robot
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          1021 hours ago

          Money. Plastic is cheaper, easier to store, doesn’t spoil, etc

          • @over_clox
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            21 hours ago

            I’ve literally seen cotton paper money that’s older and still more durable than the dryrotted plastic slides at our city park.

            Please don’t feed me a line of shit by trying to say plastic ‘doesn’t spoil’

            • @glimse
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              916 hours ago

              That’s a false equivalence.

              That hot dog sealed in epoxy is like 5 years old and still looks the same. But the piece of wood I left in my yard last October is rotted and useless now.

              Therefore, hot dogs are stronger than lumber.

            • snooggums
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              821 hours ago

              Paper money left in wet conditions rots.

              Plastic out in the sun and weather conditions breaks down a lot faster than in a storage room.

              • @over_clox
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                -721 hours ago

                You know what’s funny about the plastic cards? They come with an expiration date, often just a mere 4 years after you got the card.

                Yet you can still spend a cotton paper bill from 50 years ago, assuming you weren’t stupid enough to store it in a swamp or a rat infested basement…

      • @over_clox
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        214 hours ago

        You ever eat shark or alligator?

        I’ve had both, even if they’re not technically considered as fish. But if it’ll just as soon eat you, I’ll just as soon eat it, preferably first.

        • halyk.the.red
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          514 hours ago

          I was commenting on the frightening amount of plastic in our oceans, but I suppose sharks and alligators would get even more platic from kayaks and surf boards or whatever.

          • @over_clox
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            414 hours ago

            Sea creatures not only consume microplastics, they also literally ‘breathe’ in the feces of other sea life.

            Imagine if our air was filled with gaseous shit.

            Oh, wait…

    • @beezzeeb
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      621 hours ago

      Excuse me, some of us like our microplastics wrapped in macroplastics!

      • @over_clox
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        1221 hours ago

        Found the Lego connoisseur.

        • @beezzeeb
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          21 hours ago

          A good building block of a nutritious diet!

          • @FauxLiving
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            18 hours ago

            Podiatrists hate this one trick