Soy sauce fish

Last updated

A soy sauce fish Take away sushi here comes with the cutest little ampules of soy sauce. Resealable too! (27461225666).jpg
A soy sauce fish

Shoyu-tai [1] , also known as soy sauce fishes, are small fish-shaped containers for liquid condiments such as soy sauce. [2] They were first produced in Japan in the 1950s, originally in the shape of snappers. Although their use decreased by the 21st century, they continue to be used in bento and sushi containers and airline meals.

Contents

Soy sauce fishes have spread in use as Japanese cuisine has grown popular outside of Japan. In 2025, as part of an effort to address plastics pollution, the Australian state of South Australia became the first place in the world to ban their use. [3]

History

Empty soy sauce fishes of various shapes Shoyu-Dai Diversity.jpg
Empty soy sauce fishes of various shapes

Soy sauce fishes were invented in the 1950s by the founder of Osaka Prefecture-based manufacturer Asahi Sogyo  [ jp ], Teruo Watanabe. [4] [5] This type of container is also referred to as shoyu-tai (醤油鯛, shōyu-dai), literally "soy sauce snapper", owing to the shape of the polyethylene containers were originally produced in during the 1950s. [6] Their use decreased by the 21st century, though they have continued to be used in bento boxed meals, sushi roll containers, and airline meals. [7]

As Japanese cuisine has grown in popularity in other countries, use of soy sauce fishes has spread alongside it. [4] Soy sauce fishes produced by Little Soya, based in Texas, US, were set to be taken on a NASA space launch to the International Space Station in 2014. [8] [9]

Use in recreational drugs

British charity GMFA's 2015 public health campaign, Good Chems, recommended use of soy sauce fishes to measure safe dosages of recreational drugs, among other practices aimed at preventing drug overdose. [10] The Sydney Morning Herald in 2017 highlighted the illegal recreational use of 1,4-Butanediol, some packaged in the containers, within Melbourne nightclubs. [11]

Environmental concerns

The sale and distribution of soy sauce fishes and rectangular soy sauce containers, among other plastics, was forbidden in the Australian state of South Australia in 2025 in an effort to address plastics pollution. [3] [12] According to deputy premier Susan Close, they were specifically banned over other condiment containers because they are "easily dropped, blown away, or washed into drains" and "too small to be captured by sorting machinery and often end up in landfill or as fugitive plastic in the environment". [13] [3]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Japanese: 醤油鯛, Hepburn: shōyu-dai; lit. 'soy-sauce snapper '
  2. ↑ 沢田佳久 2012, p. 10.
  3. 1 2 3 Wicklund, Eleanor (30 August 2025). "Australian state has become the first to ban soy sauce fish". News.com.au . Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  4. 1 2 "Australian state bans fish-shaped soy sauce bottles to curb plastic pollution". The Japan Times . Sydney. Jiji Press. 3 September 2025. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  5. ↑ ""弁当や寿司でおなじみ「魚型の醤油容器」 名前はなんていう? なぜ魚のカタチ? 開発元に聞いてみた". jocr.jp (in Japanese). Radio Kansai. 25 February 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  6. ↑ 沢田佳久 2012, p. 20.
  7. ↑ 志岐吟子 2016.
  8. ↑ Kaplan, David (22 July 2014). "Local food company Little Soya is bound for space". Houston Chronicle . Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  9. ↑ Basu, Tanya (4 February 2015). "The Mysterious, Murky Story Behind Soy-Sauce Packets". The Atlantic . Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  10. ↑ Strudwick, Patrick (14 March 2015). "This HIV Charity Is Telling People To Measure Out Drugs With A Plastic Sushi Bottle". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on 14 March 2015. Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  11. ↑ Silvester, John (17 August 2017). "It is legal to import but illegal to use – the drug flooding our streets". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 10 November 2025.
  12. ↑ "South Australia to become first place in the world to ban soy sauce fish-shaped containers". Sky News. 31 August 2025. Retrieved 11 November 2025.
  13. ↑ Graham-McLay, Charlotte (1 September 2025). "Fish-shaped soy sauce bottles are forbidden by an Australian state in an oddly specific plastic ban". Wellington, New Zealand: AP News . Retrieved 10 November 2025.

Bibliography

  • 沢田佳久 (2012). 醤油鯛 (in Japanese). アストラ. ISBN   978-4901203500.
  • 志岐吟子, ed. (January 2016). "[醤油雑文] 弁当の名脇役「ひょうちゃん」と「醤油鯛」". 望星  [ ja ] (in Japanese). pp. 41–44.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.