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Analyzing the Design of Unusual Japanese Butter Tableware

And I'm putting the "anal" in analyzing

By Rain Noe - October 16, 2020

in Object Culture | Food

Why is this shaped like this?

Let's talk about two things that used to not go together: Japan and butter. Like other East Asian cultures, butter was never a part of the traditional Japanese diet, and was actually treated with disgust when introduced by Europeans in the 19th century.

(Fun politically-incorrect fact: When living in Japan, I learned that the word "butter" was used in an outdated anti-foreigner slur. Both Westerners and overtly Western things were referred to as bata-kusai, "kusai" being Japanese for "stink." It was thought that eating butter produced uniquely European body odor, hence the slur was "butter stinkers.")

Today Japan has accepted butter (particularly where baked goods and confectionaries are concerned). Uptake isn't as brisk as in America or butter-crazy France, but it's produced locally (in the Hokkaido region) and consumed in enough quantities that the country experiences occasional butter shortages, like this one in 2014.

Also, butter in Japan doesn't come like butter in the 'States: It comes in slabs, as they've adopted the traditional European form factor. (I believe it's just us Yanks that form butter into sticks.)

American butter form factor

French butter form factor

Japanese butter form factor

Image credit: Jada Yuan

Why explains why, to Americans, Japanese butter dishes look strange and wide-bodied:

Yoshikawa EA?CO Butter Case Container

This one's even got an integrated cutter:

Skater Butter Cutter & Case

You probably noticed that funky knife in the photos of the Yoshikawa Case above. If you saw it out of context, you'd probably not know what it was:

Yoshikawa EA?CO Nulu Butter Knife

The angle in the handle is a function of the slab form factor of European/Japanese butter. The little holes are to extrude separate noodles of butter, which (the Japanese find) are easier to spread.

Yoshikawa EA?CO Nulu Butter Knife

The serrated side is for cutting toast.

Yoshikawa EA?CO Nulu Butter Knife

This design for a butter knife/grater takes the manufacturing a step further, stamping nacelles into the surface to guide the butter noodles:

Arnest Butter Knife Stainless Steel Grater

Lastly, there's this bizarre thing. Why on Earth should it be shaped like that?

KAI Rectangular Cut Butter Knife

My speculation--and this is based purely on the year I spent living there, during which time I witnessed fantastically anal-retentive table manners--is that a) This is for those who don't want to grate the surface of their butter, which probably gets messy as you work your way down through the slab, and b) this satisfies the Japanese need for order.

In other words, for us Americans who want a pat of butter, we just cut one from the stick; but for Japanese users faced with a slab, a crosswise slice would be too unwieldy to balance on your average butter knife.

An alternative would be to cut more manageable diagonal slices--i.e. cut a corner off of the slab--but I'm guessing a slab of butter with 45-degree angles cut into it would be too visually chaotic for Japanese sensibilities. This "tool" leaves behind an orderly 90-degree cut.

KAI Rectangular Cut Butter Knife

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Comments

Anuschka Conoci

4 years ago

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This is genius. If I would eat more butter I would see if I could buy this in Switzerland.

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ARF BARK

4 years ago

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I have a Japanese Lauffer (Towle?) Mondo butter knife exactly like this one pictured that I found in a curb alert box {8.5" long, 3.5"×1" blade, 1.60mm stock, .5” dia. handle}. This thing is amazingly designed, holy hell it's edge...; the paddle blade's full flat-grind profiling gives it the sharpest false edge I've ever felt, that this "butter" knife can easily dice up onions & peppers and even take care of beefier Tesoro tomatoes, I've prepped chef salads and super salads with just that knife. And, the long handle with the paddle blade's shape scrapes out the bottom of bigger mayo and peanut butter jars no problem, let alone how that it makes whipping up canned meat mixes or batters a far easier chore. I always take it with me whenever I go out for more than a day, like a weekend trip, camping or bike-touring. It's not just a butter knife, it's a buddy knife!

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Sean Horita

4 years ago

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Although the Japanese language appropriated 'pan' for bread, after the French 'pain', it is curious that 'bata' came from the English word.

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Tatiana Alisa

4 years ago

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It looks like the serrated side of the funky knife is not for slicing toast but for shaving the burned bits off toast. I mention it because.... that's amazing, I want one.

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David Beck

4 years ago

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My speculation for the noodler is it is for cold butter. It increases surface area, making the butter easier to soften/spread as you indicated. It seems to be far more efficient than scrapping a plain butter knife across the top of the stick. As with a lot of kitchen gadgets, they mostly try to wring out that extra ounce of efficiency.

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Nigel Alcorn

4 years ago

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I've used the butter noodler knife. Found it very disappointing. The noodles just clump together anyway, forming an awkward butter roll that is hard to spread, especially with the bent knife. But i appreciate the effort.

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