Bamboo, a family of grass, are one of the fastest growing plants on earth due to their rhizomes - a self-sustaining root system - which prepares their shoots (called in Japanese usually “takenoko” and written 竹の子 or 筍 - choose your poison - and toxic if not prepared correctly) so that they can explode upward (the phrase 雨後の筍のように is equivalent to the English “spring up like mushrooms” or “grow like a weed”) and solidify to avoid being eaten. The young, soft shoots are cleverly dug up by certain animals, including humans, at this time of year. Humans generally peel, slice, steep, and boil them before adding them to miso soup. This requires much work. Much, much work.

Two pieces of advice regarding bamboo shoots:

  1. Do not buy them as gifts for anyone.

  2. If you receive them as a gift (and, someday, you will), feel free to re-gift them to whomever you want to be passive-aggressive with.*

More at the link. - William

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bamboo_shoot

*Guys - it needn’t be said: never, EVER buy these for your wife. It would be like your wife bringing home a block of wood and saying, “Honey, can you make me a desk tomorrow?”