せんべい - 日本の文化を英語で説明しましょう。
Rice crackers
We often like to start talking about Japanese foods by looking them up in an English-English dictionary. We couldn't find anything for rice crackers in our dictionary though. So, we went back a step to see what a cracker is defined as. Our dictionary defined it as a thin, crisp wafer often eaten with cheese or other savory toppings. That brought us to the word wafer. So, we checked wafer, finding that a wafer is a very thin, light, crisp, cookie or cracker.
To Americans, crackers are generally not sweet. They may be salty or have another flavor, but they are generally not sweet. Cookies are usually sweet; crackers are generally not. Rice crackers are not defined by sweet or salty. They are defined by being made from rice. Perhaps this is a case of mistranslation from day one, and rice crackers should have been called rice wafers.
Americans know exactly what crackers are as our store shelves are loaded with them. We know crackers come in different flavors from salted to vegetable to beyond. Americans may be interested in rice crackers being more based in soy sauce flavors than in salt flavors or that they were traditionally made over charcoal. Americans may want to know what the many different flavors are. The key difference between the average American concept of crackers and the Japanese concept of rice crackers returns to the issue of sweetness though. Americans do not view crackers as being sweet. Japanese view rice crackers as being made from rice; the flavor or degree of sweetness is irrelevant.
If you look at this picture in an American supermarket, you can see wasabi rice crackers, tamari rice crackers, and sesame rice crackers right over Brown Rice Snaps flavored with onion garlic, unsalted sesame, and vegetable. Above are nut and rice cracker snacks. The wasabi, tamari, and sesame rice crackers are on sale now - only $1.69. How does that price compare with rice crackers you may have bought recently?
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