Negitoro (Japanese: ネギトロ) is a Japanese cuisineofminced raw tuna scrape, the fatty parts of the fish that cannot be made into other meals, commonly served together with green onion.[1][2][3] In addition to being an ingredient to sushi of various types,[4][1][5][6][7][8] they are used as a rice bowl topping, forming negitorodon.[9]
Multiple hypotheses exist.
Negitoro is so named because it is a combination of green onion (Japanese: ネギ, romanized: Negi), and toro [Wikidata] (Japanese: トロ, romanized: toro, fatty parts of tuna).[10]Since the 1980s, with the appearance of new toro sushi combined with pungent vegetables,[11] the well-matched taste and combination of toro, green onion and nori seaweed have become popular.[12]
One of the restaurants hypothesized as the origin of the dish claims the dish was so named based on mugitoro [ja], a dish that was popular around the place at the time.[13]
In the field of construction in Japan, digging soil from the ground to constructing building is termed negiru (Japanese: 根切る), and it was hypothesized that the term adopted into negiru (Japanese: ねぎる) or negitoru (Japanese: ねぎ取る) to refer to meat being scraped.[7][1][2] Tuna fishing groups support the hypothesis.[2] However, dictionary editors question the hypothesis, claiming there is no verifiable usage of the verb form of the adopted word negitoru (Japanese: ねぎ取る), and thus the hypothesis cannot be sustained.[14] It has been suggested the negitoru origin hypothesis emerged after the 2000s,[7][1] and until the 1990s the mainstream hypothesis on the origin of the negitoro dish was that the term is a combination of green onion (Japanese: ネギ, romanized: Negi) and toro (Japanese: トロ, romanized: toro).[10][12]
Negitoro sold to the mass market and distributed into retail channels like supermarketsismass-producedinfish factories. They use lean meat of various fishes, including, for example, yellowfin tuna, marlin, bigeye tuna, and albacore, then adding additives like vegetable oil, shortening, lard, antioxidants, and condiments.[15][16] Dedicated fat products for the purpose of negitoro manufacturing have also been produced.[17]
Japanese consumer groups and magazines have raised concerns about such practices being possibly misleading and raising potential health concerns.[18][16][15] However, there are also claims that unprocessed tuna scrape is not popular.[19][clarification needed]
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