to be suprised that rice cakes are so lethal, 9 choked to death in Japan in last few days

[haveatarday]

Just heard this on radio 4. I feed dd lots of the small organic blackcurrant ones, tbh I had no idea they are lethal.

Aibu to cut them all out?

I find them very dry. Reason i dont eat them as they taste of plastic. Wonder if thats the reason why or just an off batch in japan. Where you learnt this?

It's not the rice cakes we have here - it's a special moist, glutinous type used during a religious festival in Japan.

Different rice cakes www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/05/nine-people-choke-to-death-eating-rice-cakes-in-japan

I presume they mean mochi which is not like our puffed 'grains' rice cakes. It's a massively sticky mass and people choke on it pretty much every new year in Japan I believe...

Here is the report, no need for scaremongering.

www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jan/05/nine-people-choke-to-death-eating-rice-cakes-in-japan

Different kind of rice cakes. The ones people choke on in Japan are mochi - grilled glutinous rice cakes, which are extremely chewy, and it tends to be elderly people who choke on them.

Are these the same kind of rice cakes though? Remember my parents buying rice cakes from a Chinese supermarket when younger that were not the dry crunchy type we think of, but smooth solid blocks, a bit like polenta but smoother. I can see someone choking on the latter, but not the former.

Just goggled this as my DD1 loves them, 9 people died after eating the mochi rice cakes which are completely different to ours. Apparently they are quite sticky and gooey.
I think we're fine. Having said that my DD chocked on banana last week so always a good idea to gave your first aid up to date so you know what to do.

Mochi is absolutely revolting - I was always surprised they were so popular.

Nothing like the dry cardboard type rice cakes

See this scene from Tampopo (brilliant Japanese film about food) where an old man goes against advice, eats mochi, chokes and is rescued with a vacuum cleaner - apparently this has actually been done in real life:

Whoops sorry ladies, I panicked and had no idea they were totally different jobbies!

That scene is bonkers

I miss Japan :sigh:

The western form of rice cakes are evil in a completely different way! Who wants to eat something that looks and tastes (I presume) like polystyrene?!

Rice cakes and quavers the only thing I choke on! (never to death though clearly, I'm still here)

I quite like a mochi now and then. Wouldn't give them to a child though, but I think there are warnings about that on the packaging.

It's funny, but you don't really get rice cakes (the polystyrene disk thing) here in Japan at all. I think I've seen them in international supermarkets.

Mochi are chewy, round and slippery, so yes a complete choking hazard. I would only give them sliced up, if I served them at all (no desire to).

Frankly, though, I think it's pretty funny that Japanese authorities make such a fuss about mochi while completely ignoring much bigger sources of danger in this country, such as lack of car seat use.