Japanese People Eat “Parents and Children”?

Have you ever heard of a Japanese food called “Oyako don”? This term means “parent-and-child” bowl and it is one of the very common Japanese foods that many people and even children love. Why do Japanese have a dish called parent-and-child bowl?

Here is the answer: This is what Oyako don looks like. Since it is “don” which means a bowl, there is a topping and rice underneath. On top there is chicken meat and eggs with some onions. Chicken is the “parents” and eggs are the “children”. They mix these two ingredients with broth when cooking, and it has sweetened soy sauce flavor as they put a lot of sugar in it.

During lunch time in elementary school, they sometimes serve a similar dish called “Tanin don” which means “stranger bowl”. On that day, it is not chicken and eggs but instead, it is pork and eggs. They called it stranger bowl because pigs and eggs are not relatives. However, this variety of dish is not very common.

Fortunately, Japanese people do not eat human parents and children, but chicken and eggs on top of rice is a very tasty non-cannibal alternative and one of the common dishes in Japan.