Onigiri and couscous — two ways to say home

The onigiri is Japan's pocket comfort food: a palm of rice pressed into a triangle, a surprise filling — salted salmon, pickled plum — and a crisp band of nori seaweed. Mothers tuck them into lunch boxes; convenience stores sell millions a day. It's food for one person, on the move. Couscous is the opposite pole: a mountain of steamed grain on one big plate, vegetables and meat on top, the whole family around it — especially on Friday. It's food for everyone, at the same table, at the same time. Same idea underneath, though: a humble grain, prepared with care, carrying the taste of home. A Japanese student abroad misses onigiri exactly the way a Tunisian abroad misses Friday couscous.