In Japan, some terms get lost in translation, with words from other languages having a different meaning in Japanese, like “mansion“, which means “apartment“, “service“, which means “freebie” and “smart“, used to describe someone with a slim body.
On the other hand, there are words that have the same meaning in Japanese as they do in English, like “pizza“, “sofa” and “homo“, the latter of which is short for “homosexual” and a slur that some members of the LGBTQIA+ community have reclaimed in recent years.
So if “homo” means the same thing here as it does overseas, why is there a sausage brand called “Homo” in Japan? Well, according to Maruzen, the company behind the product, the word “homo” in Homo Sausage comes from the English word “homogenise”, referring to the way the sausages are processed.
This explanation is as much of a surprise to locals as well as foreigners, given that the English word “homogenise”, known as “kinshitsuka” in Japanese, is far from common knowledge. Either way, Homo Sausage is celebrating its 70th birthday this year, and to celebrate, it’s releasing a new version containing cheese.
Maruzen says, “We use a mild and melt-in-the-mouth cheese that goes well with the light taste of Homo sausage”, and if you’re wondering what Homo sausage usually contains, it’s a mixture of minced fish, mainly walleye cod, with the addition of tuna to give it a rich fish flavor.
The cheesy, fishy Homo sausage was perfected through trial and error, with a variety of cheeses tested in order to find the perfect balance between sausage and cheese. It’ll be available in three-piece bundles, with each sausage weighing 70 grams.
▼ Frying them lightly allows you to enjoy the melty cheese flavour even more.
If you prefer your Homo sausage sans cheese, the company will still be selling its classic variety in three and five piece bundles.
▼ There are 23.4 grams of protein in the three-pack…
▼ …and 39 grams in the five-pack.
The Homo Sausage Three-Piece Bundle with Cheese can be purchased at stores around Japan from March 4, at a recommended retail price of 357 yen.
We love cheese at any time of the year, so we think this is a great way to celebrate a 70th birthday.
Source, images: PR Times
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© SoraNews24
15 Comments
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factchecker
Homo sausages should be served with a dollop of marmite for authenticity.
Mr Kipling
Wallace...
Trust me, you never want to know what goes into a sausage or most other processed meat products. But especially sausages.
Mr Kipling
Anyone looking to buy this would be advised not to Google "homo sausage".
ian
They should package it with hard-boiled eggs for a satisfying snack
wallace
Ingredients: Fish meat (latte, armpe, tuna, etc.), bonding ingredients (paste wheat protein, starch, gelatin, powdered soy protein), pork oil, sugar, salt, seasoning seasoning, seafood extract, vegetable extract/processed starch, seasoning (amino acids, etc.), smoke flavor, spice extract, red color 106 (some parts include wheat, soy, pork, gelatin. )
nandakandamanda
Well, regardless of the taste, this is a pretty good advertisement for a new product, with such a click-bait name.
151E
I don't know what kind of foreigners the author is referring to but, in North America at least, milk used to be sold in grocery stores as either 2% or homogenized, so even most children would be familiar with this meaning. Furthermore the prefix 'homo' -- from the Greek 'homos' meaning 'one and the same' -- is used by most European languages, so again should be common knowledge for most Europeans as well.
Gene Hennigh
You youngsters have never had pickled bologna or eggs I bet. Spicy meat sticks, vinegar soaked sausage, or any of the good stuff. (I eat blood pudding, too, but do yourself a favor and don't look it up -- it will offend your senses.)
This sausage sounds great. Knowing the Japanese endeavor for excellence, I'm betting it's pretty good, even though it's not the top of the cuisine. The fact that it's made of fish and not pork or beef I find intriguing. I'd try it before saying it's bad. I doubt very much that one sausage will kill me, at least for a few minutes, and if it's not good, I won't have another. Gotta put it in your mouth first to judge. Perhaps it's not part of a standard meal, but as a snack it might be the go. Like blood pudding.
piskian
Yeah,we had it,and you don't live here anymore.
Nostalgia was treated as a disease until as recently as the 20th century,as most words ending in 'gia,' still are,for example 'neuralgia'.
Sausages are renowned (outside Germany)to be more than the sym of their myriad mysterious parts.
We called them'Walls' in the U.K, mainly because those were the only objects we were sure weren't in them.
Speed
You can call it homo, lesbian, confused, transwhatever but that doesn't look healthy.
RonJB
It looks like the perfect product to be sold by CMOT Dibbler.
Sausage inna bun.
餓死鬼
They probably didn't need to ® it. Doubt many others would be scrabbling to call their food products "Homo Sausage (With Cheese)".
3RENSHO
Those look delicious...
Moonraker
Sounds utterly disgusting.
Yubaru
FYI "mansion" does not translate to apartment.
A Japanese "mansion" is typically owned by the person who is living there, making it a condominium in English. An apartment is rented