The Japanese sweet should not be treated this way…or should it?

If your taste buds are venturing out into the world of Japanese sweets for the very first time, one of the most palate-friendly items you can give them is the humble taiyaki. First created back in 1909 by Naniwaya, who still make them today in Tokyo’s Azabu Juban district, these little cakes are shaped like tai, which translates to Japanese red seabream.

These fish-shaped cakes are commonly made with pancake or waffle batter, imparting them with a flavour that’s familiar to foreign palates, while the inside of the baked sweet comes filled with a variety of fillings, ranging from the traditional sweet adzuki red bean paste through to vanilla custard, chocolate and even blue choc-mint.

▼ Take a look at the video below to see how taiyaki are made.

Given their easy-to-eat appeal, taiyaki have won over sweet lovers around the world, with a number of stores now selling the cakes outside of Japan as well. One of the places where taiyaki have garnered a following is in the United States, although according to a recent story shared on Twitter, the way the cake is eaten over there isn’t always the same as the way it’s traditionally eaten in Japan.

Twitter user @kikutarochan, who currently resides in the States, would like to bring this story to everyone’s attention, and he’s doing a pretty good job of it, as it’s already gone viral with over 332,000 likes and 15,000 retweets. This is what he had to say (translation below):

“An American grandmother sitting next to me was doing a horrible thing — spreading a taiyaki with butter and eating it. This is bad. Way bad. Champion bad. This is worthy of a prison sentence, so everyone: Don’t ever do this! Never! Definitely don’t buy taiyaki and take it home and put it in the oven toaster to make it nice and crispy and then spread butter on it!”

The harsh words of the tweet are all meant to be tongue-in-cheek, as that last sentence is written in a way that lets everyone know he actually tried grandma’s trick for himself, only going a step further by crisping it up in his oven toaster first before slathering butter on it.

And while the American grandma’s unorthodox actions might have irked the Twitter user at first, seeing as taiyaki is never usually served with butter in Japan, it turns out she’s actually done him a favour, as she’s introduced him to an unlawfully good combo that’s so bad it’s divine.

He’s not the only one who’s been converted to the sinful ways of buttered taiyaki, as many others left comments singing the praises of their own unusual preferences.

“Taiyaki needs butter AND honey, in my opinion!”
“Not just butter, but whipped cream, cream cheese and ricotta cheese as well!”
“Adding soy sauce makes it even more devilishly good!”
“I slice anpan [sweet rolls with adzuki paste centres] in half horizontally, lightly toast them in a toaster, spread butter in the middle and then sandwich them together again.”
“A bakery in Morioka makes sinfully good adzuki butter that’s sold in supermarkets around Iwate Prefecture.”
“Eating taiyaki with butter smothered on it is a delicious way to fall from grace!”

One Twitter user even pointed out that cafes in Aichi prefecture serve a local specialty called Ogura Toast, a dish that consists of toast topped with a red bean paste jam and butter or margarine.

▼ “By the way, what’s the punishment for Ogura Toast?”

@kikutarochan’s humorous approach to these sorts of “crimes” against taiyaki sparked a long series of comments from people in Japan, covering both sides of the debate and everything in between.

So how do you like to eat these little fish-shaped cakes? Personally, we’ll eat them any way we can, especially if they come shaped like Magikarp and Sega Mega Drive controllers!

Source: Twitter/@kikutarochan, Jin
Featured image © SoraNews24
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