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New wafu torori hanjuku tsukimi burgers from Lotteria are an edible Japanese vocabulary lesson

Casey Baseel Aug 29, 2024
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Linguistics you can taste.

In addition to being a way to provide nutrition and spread joy, food is sometimes a way to transmit language too. You don’t have to be fluent in French or Italian, after all, to know what “flambé” or “al dente” mean when you see them on a menu or in a cookbook.

If you’ve been reading SoraNews24, or simply have spent much time in Japan in the fall, there’s a pretty good chance the word “tsukimi” has creeped into your vernacular consciousness. Coming from the words tsuki (“moon”) and miru (“look at”), tsukimi originally means “moon-viewing.” Since a raw egg dropped into a bowl of noodles looks a full moon before the heat of the broth cooks it, noodles prepared this way also came to be known as tsukimi-style, and in recent years hamburger restaurants in Japan have started using tsukimi to describe special burgers with fried eggs that they serve for a limited time in autumn, coinciding with the traditional moon-viewing (as in actually looking up at the moon) party season in Japan.

But there’s still more Japanese vocabulary to learn, and more mouthwatering tsukimi burgers to eat, thanks to Japanese fast food chain Lotteria’s Torori Hanjuku Tsukimi Fair and the Wafu Hanjuku Tsukimi Zeppin Cheese Burger.

First, let’s unpack the linguistics of the event name. Torori is an adjective used to describe something melty or gooey, but in an enticingly appetizing way. The cheese on a pizza that’s right out of the oven, or the chocolate/marshmallow mix inside s’mores straight from the campfire, are torori. Han means “half,” and juku originally means “ripe,” as in a ripe piece of fruit. Hanjuku therefore literally means “half-ripe,” but the meaning of juku can also extend to something that’s mature or complete, and when you’re talking about eggs in Japanese, calling an egg hanjuku or “half-done” means that it’s a soft-boiled egg (because it wasn’t cooked all the way to hard-boiled status).

So the Torori Hanjuku Tsukimi Fair consists of four burgers with especially melty soft-boiled eggs, starting with the Wafu Hanjuku Tsukimi Zeppin Cheesenburger (590 yen [US$4]).

OK, so now we’ve got two more vocabulary words, starting with wafu. By itself, wa means “harmony,” but it can also refer to Japan itself (since way back in the day, Japan was called “Yamato,” which was written with the kanji characters for “great” and “harmony”). Fu is another multi-purpose word, as it originally means “wind,” but can also mean “style” (as we’ve talked about before), making wafu “Japanese-style.” Finally, zeppin literally means “absolute item,” but in the sense of a work of art that you simply must experience, i.e. a “masterpiece,” and also happens to be part of Lotteria’s Zeppin Cheeseburger premium cheeseburger line.

So all together, the Wafu Hanjuku Tsukimi Zeppin Cheesenburger is a “Japanese-style soft-boiled egg premium cheeseburger.” Why Japanese-style? Because of the teriyaki sauce, made with coarse-ground ginger and garlic for extra flair, and the addition of yuzu (a Japanese citrus fruit somewhere between an orange and a lemon) in the mayo. The cheese here is a mix of red cheddar, gouda, mascarpone, and parmesan, so clearly a lot of thought and effort has gone into making this a zeppin of cheeseburgers. And yes, Lotteria promises that the soft-boiled egg is extra torori.

Also part of the Torori Hanjuku Tsukimi Fair is the Wafu Hanjuku Tsukimi Ebi Burger (590 yen), so yeah, here’s a bonus Japanese vocabulary word, ebi, which means “shrimp.” This sandwich keeps the teriyaki sauce and yuzu mayo but swaps in a shrimp cutlet, ditches the cheese, and adds shredded cabbage, Japan’s favorite veggie accompaniment for cutlets.

Getting back to beef, the Wafu Hanjuku Tsukimi Teriyaki Burger (520 yen) sounds like it would just be the Wafu Hanjuku Tsukimi Zeppin Cheesenburger without the cheese, but it’s actually a little different, as it has lettuce, regular non-yuzu mayo, and mustard.

And finally, the Wafu Hanjuku Tsukimi Umakara Teriyaki Burger (590 yen) starts with the Wafu Hanjuku Tsukimi Teriyaki Burger as its base, then adds jalapenos and a sauce made from red chili peppers, garlic, and vinegar to make it all so very umakara (“deliciously spicy”).

The whole lineup goes on sale August 30. Oh, and if you’re wondering what’s up with those upwardly angled French fries in the poster…

…autumn is also when the susuki (pampas grass) turn a beautiful golden color in Japan. Moon-viewing artwork also contains depictions of susuki too, so Lotteria has used fries in their place, making their new burgers an indirect Japanese linguistics lesson and an art history one too.

Source, images: PR Times
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