Cultural References

• A recipe for Shabu-shabu exists in the PC game The Sims 2. Sims can eat Shabu-shabu to satisfy their hunger need, or offer it to another sim. This is one of many recipes available in the game.

• In the movie Lost in Translation, Scarlett Johansson and Bill Murray's characters eat lunch at a shabu-shabu restaurant in Shibuya, Tokyo called Shabuzen. Later on, Murray comments, "What kind of restaurant makes you cook your own food?"

• On the "Fire '77" episode of Barney Miller, Detective Nick Yemana (played by Jack Soo) is making shabu-shabu instead of his usual pot of bad coffee. The shabu-shabu Yemana is making appears to the other officers to be even worse than his coffee. Detective Wojciehowicz remarks to Yemana that his lunch "looks like garbage". Yemana speaks up for the shabu-shabu, responding "Are you kidding? This is a Japanese delicacy. Fish heads, cabbage leaves, cucumber rinds, celery tops..." As Wojciehowicz walks away, Yemana notes "Come to think of it, that is garbage..." Later on, however, the dish's integrity is vindicated, as Yemana offers the first bite of the fully cooked shabu-shabu to Capt. Miller, who is surprised to find that, though he was initially repelled by the stuff, it turns out he likes it. Yemana then begins to eat. After taking one bite of the shabu-shabu, he grimaces, and mutters "I wonder what went wrong..."

• The 2-disc DVD for Night at the Museum has a cut scene where Ben Stiller's character is trying to get investors to invest in his shabu-shabu restaurant. One of the potential investors is a dentist who comments that he doesn't think the idea of families with children and babies in a restaurant with pots of boiling water is a good idea.

• On the Japanese television show Iron Chef, famous yokuzuna Akebono had said that his three man Heya or "sumo stable" put away 60 servings of shabu-shabu in one sitting.

• In an episode of the cartoon Chowder, Schnitzel must rescue Shabu-Shabu from the Teriyaki Triad.