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Japanese fried prawn becomes social media star

Oona McGee Aug 27, 2020
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Ebi fry food model comes to life, plays guitar, barbecues and longs for the sea.

If you’ve ever been to a Japanese restaurant, one of the first things to catch your eye would’ve probably been the window display filled with plastic food models. Glistening with realism, these samples show diners what’s available on the menu at a glance, making it easy to order a tasty meal, even if you can’t speak or read Japanese.

These days, plastic food samples have become popular in their own right, with vending machines dedicated to selling them and classes showing people how to make them. Now there’s even a food sample that’s become so popular it’s got thousands of followers on Twitter and Instagram, and its name is ebiflife.

Ebiflife is written out as “ebifuraifu” in Japanese, which melds “raifu” (“life“) with “ebifurai” (“ebi fry“). Ebi fry literally translates to “fried prawn“, a super popular food in Japan, and that’s exactly what this food sample is, although it’s unlike any other ebi fry we’ve ever seen…

The fried prawn has become a hit on social media, where it shares photos from its everyday life inside a typical Japanese home.

Ebiflife is fond of wearing straw boater hats, which do a remarkable job of giving it character.

Over the summer, the fried prawn has been relaxing around the house and enjoying a number of hobbies like playing guitar…

▼ …Eating ice cream while floating in the pool…

▼ …Barbecuing…

▼ … And sunbathing in the garden. Mmmm…the aroma of fried prawn…

Ebiflife is no free-loader, though, as it likes to help out with the cleaning when it can.

▼ But it’s yet to overcome its fear of the terrifying Roomba

Most fried prawns would find it difficult to navigate the giant stairs of a human home, but ebiflife manages them with ease.

And when it comes to dealing with the summer heatwave, Ebiflife is every one of us as it naps by the fan on the tatami mat floor.

One of the most poignant photos of ebiflife can be seen on its Instagram account, showing the fried prawn looking out the window, rubber ring around its waist, with the hashtag #海へ行きたい, which translates to “I want to go to the beach/sea”.

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by えびふらいふ (@ebiflife)

People everywhere have fallen in love with the fried prawn who longs for the sea, leaving comments like:

“Aw, it’s only natural for something born in the sea to want to return there!”
“I thought it was a hamster at first but it’s a fried prawn!”
“Omg this is exactly what I needed to brighten my day.”
“What a great idea to have an ebi fry as a pet instead of an animal!”
“I wish I could live with an ebifry but I’m allergic to them!”

It’s only been a little over a week since the fried prawn started its Twitter account and it already has over 40,000 followers.

出かけようと声をかけてから、30分経ちました...。 pic.twitter.com/wETXQdzzvB

— えびふらいふ (@ebiflife) August 24, 2020

That’s an impressive feat for a little plastic ebi fry! To keep up to date with ebiflife’s shenanigans, be sure to check the prawn out on Twitter and Instagram. And if you’d like to show your own love for ebi fry, don’t forget you can always cosplay as one with this wearable fried prawn sleeping bag.

Source: Twitter/@ebiflife
Featured image: Instagram/ebiflife
Insert images: Twitter/@ebiflife
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