Decorative Rice Bundles

The Japanese take for granted the versatility of rice as a picnic food, since they enjoy eating rice at room temperature, molded into a number of attractive shapes. One of the most popular shapes is called maku no uchi or “between the curtains.” The name refers to the boxed meal that, in the old days, was taken to the theater and eaten between acts. Using molds or kata, as they are called in Japanese, the rice is coaxed into five bite-sized cylinders, which are then decorative