No disrespect to the wonderful and vast assortment of food play sets that allow kids to plate pretend omelettes or experience the thrills of teatime, but this maguro model, which guides whoever yields the maguro bōchō through the process of butchering a whole tuna, is really just the best. Designed by Tsukiji Fish Market vendor Kazuyoshi Watanabe and produced by Hobby Stock, this $300 model is essentially the Rolex Submariner of food toys.
The cool thing about Watanabe’s quasi-educational but definitely awesome maguro is that in addition to letting kids learn how a tuna is broken down into ten pieces, the toy is packaged in a fish box similar to ones used by fishmongers. It even comes with a special “knife” and a cutting board.
Time to break down the tuna.Photo: Courtesy of Hobby Stock
When all is said and done, your kid will be left with a big mess of basic sushi cuts, including akami, toro, chutoro, and otoro. That’s it — your kid is now well on his or her way to becoming a sushi master, and pretty soon you’ll be sitting down for a big 27-course omakase. Say good-bye to rubbery sunny-side-up eggs forever! (Unless they’re part of that 27-course omakase.)
Your tuna, all broken down.Photo: Courtesy of Hobby Stock
What your kid does with the head, tail, is up to them. Maybe soup? Whatever. Predicatably, this fish isn’t (yet) available in the States, but you may be able to score one on Amazon.jp if you’re lucky. For an extra thousand yen or so, maybe they’ll even fly it in overnight, on ice.
Sushi tuna model teaches kids how to dissect maguro [Spoon & Tamago via Fine Dining Lovers]
