Ceramics by Hanako Nakazato will be available in our shop on August 15th at 6:00 am ->
(Note: The spoon is an ordinary rounded-bottom variant and not the exotic flat bottom design)
Did you eat ‘strawberry milk’ when you were growing up? It was huge in the 70s in Japan (along with mini-skirts and permed hair), and I begged my mother to buy us the ‘strawberry spoons’ that were perfectly designed to squish the strawberries in the milk with their flat bottoms.
As a little girl, I always believed that “strawberries sprinkled with sugar and squished in milk” was a fancy western way to eat strawberries. But now that I think of it, I’ve never seen anyone eat strawberries in this way in the U.S. or Europe.
According to my parents’ generation, strawberries that first became available to the general public in Japan in the post war Showa era were extremely sour and so the Japanese concocted ‘strawberry milk’ as a way to enjoy this sour fruit.
Eyeing the massive demand for a utensil that efficiently squashed strawberries in milk, the ‘strawberry spoon’ was created in 1960 by Kobayashi Kogyo Co., a cutlery manufacturer in Niigata prefecture, and their ‘Romance’ line of cutlery received the prestigious Good Design Award in 1974. So this company joins the ranks of Japanese titans like Sony and Toyota as the pioneers of Japanese style.
Click here to look at Kobayashi Kogyo’s cutlery catalog. The said spoon is on page. 35, fifth spoon from the bottom in the photo #11617-000 at 850 yen
This marvelous invention lessoned the likelihood of strawberries slipping or flying out of the bowl across the table, which saved the day for a lot of busy Japanese parents.
And the best part is when all the squished strawberries are eaten, you get to drink the sweet strawberry milk straight from the bowl!
What an absolutely delightful story filled with memories, Ai! I so enjoyed this entry and especially appreciated the link to the catalog to get a closer look at the strawberry spoon. Thank you for including this information. It’s always a pleasure to see Hanako’s latest pieces, but even more so when they are holding such sweet treats.
Hello Mora!
I figured there might be a few people that appreciate finding out what the ‘strawberry spoons’ look like so I’m glad I added the link! Thank you, always, for taking the time to visit my website and read my blog, it means so much to me.
Ai
My Ukrainian Jewish grandmother used to squish strawberries and sugar with sour cream for lunch in the summer.
Thank you Holly for sharing the story of your grandmother. I appreciate it, now more than ever as I think about Ukraine and it’s people and how your story made me feel closer to them.