Samの英語チャンネル

Today, fried chicken is also your gateway to Japanese culture and linguistics.

Japan loves seasonal foods, and for fall, many of the country’ delicacies are prized for their mature and subtle tastes, such as matsutake mushrooms, eggplant, and saury. But if you crave heartier fare with stronger flavors, don’t despair, because in Japan fall is also the time to eat the moon.

Because of the clear skies and mild temperatures of autumn nights, plus various harvest-season traditions, September is when Japan classically enjoys moon-viewing, or tsukimi, as it’s called in Japanese. Tsukimi also happens to be a term used in Japanese cuisine to describe adding an egg to a dish, since a cracked egg’s shape and coloring resembles the full moon, and so this month two tsukimi fried chicken sandwiches are coming to the menu at KFC Japan.

While the tsukimi sandwiches’ raison d’etre is steeped in Japanese culture and linguistics, one of the variants is more “JAPANESE!” than the other, and that’s the Torori Tsukimi Wafu Chicken Filet Sandwich (“Melty Tsukimi Japanese-Style Chicken Filet Sandwich”) pictured above. Along with KFC’s famous 11 herbs and spices, the deep-fried chicken cutlet is treated with a soy teriyaki glaze before it’s topped with a lunar-representative fried egg, shredded cabbage, and a dollop of mayo.

▼ Cheese is an optional add-on if you want things to get even meltier.

On the other hand, the comparatively more occidental Torori Tsukimi Chicken Filet Sando (almost the same name, but without the wafu/”Japanese-Style” part) goes without the soy teriyaki glaze, but replaces the standard mayo with an olive-oil enhanced version, while also swapping in lettuce for the Wafu’s cabbage. It’s also offered with or without cheese.

The cheeseless sandwiches are priced at 460 yen (US$4.20), while their cheese siblings will cost 30 yen more. They’re all on sale now, but for a limited time, so it’s best not to even try to fight the temptation to eat them, especially if you’re hoping to try all of the other tsukimi foods Japan will be rolling out.

Source: PR Times via Peachy
Top image: PR Times
Insert images: PR Times (1, 2)
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Source: SORA NEWS24