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6–8
as an hors d’oeuvre .Easy
Published 1982
These thumb-size logs of deep-fried shrimp paste wrapped around the middle with a band of crispy seaweed remind me of Japan, not because this pretty, very Japanese-looking dish probably originated there, but because it recalls the street workers I watched daily during my summers in Kyoto. They were plumpish men turned red by the sun, who in spite of the intense Kyoto heat wore dark woolen bands around their bellies to protect the spirits which reside in one’s middle.