All About Japan

Add Some Totoro Flare to Your Dishes

Japanese Food Ghibli Healthy Japanese Food

It’s pretty clear that the most memorable Ghibli character is Totoro. With his mixture of fuzzy cuddliness and latent power, the forest spirit appears at once both the childlike and the ancient, making him an elegant metaphor for the appeal of the studio’s films themselves. Plus, Totoro is the most versatile Ghibli character to grace your plates.

https://twitter.com/blacktotoros/status/729324876318818304/photo/1

Japanese Twitter user @blacktotoros is extremely straightforward in her self-introduction, describing herself as a “Japanese girl loving cooking Totoro meals.” Among her creations are Totoro inarizushi, sushi rice wrapped in fried tofu and decorated to look like the anime star.

https://twitter.com/blacktotoros/status/730005498909593600/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

Some of her Totoro meals even incorporate props, such as this fried-rice rice ball that’s holding an umbrella that’s actually a leaf of shiso (Japanese basil).

https://twitter.com/blacktotoros/status/729790113941696513/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

While all of the dishes @blacktotoros photographs look like the character, the resemblance is strongest in these konnyaku (starchy gelatin) Totoro soaking in oden.

https://twitter.com/blacktotoros/status/729646351135473665/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

@blacktotoros takes a lot more creative license with the coloring on this Totoro potato salad, which cleverly incorporates a hard-boiled egg to recreate his charmingly round tummy.

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