Few plants are as useful as bamboo. A member of the grass family, it is fast growing and very prolific given the right growing conditions, which makes it eco-friendly too.
The bamboo plant is indispensable in the Japanese kitchen, where every part of it is used. The leaves and bark are employed as wrappers, as well as in cooking. (Those little green leaf-shaped pieces of plastic called baran that are used as a divider in bentō boxes and takeout sushi are designed to emulate the shape of bamboo leaves — better sushi places still use the real thing.) The stalks of the plants are used as food containers, and thin skewers made of bamboo are used for everything from yakitori chicken to testing if your cake is done. So many kitchen implements are made from bamboo that it’s impossible to list them all, but it’s particularly hard to imagine making proper sushi rolls without a makisu, a bamboo sushi roll mat.
Unable to view this article?
This could be due to a conflict with your ad-blocking or security software.
Please add japantimes.co.jp and piano.io to your list of allowed sites.
If this does not resolve the issue or you are unable to add the domains to your allowlist, please see out this support page.
We humbly apologize for the inconvenience.
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.