Stephanie in Japan: Food in Japan

I just wanted to make a brief (ok, not so brief) post here about food in Japan since many people probably have stereotypes or are just simply curious. First, I will mention a few misconceptions and/or things you might not know about Japanese food.

1) They eat super healthy: FALSE. Sure, many meals contain fish, rice, and veggies, but dear lord do they love to fry things as much as we do in America! Also, desserts, chips, and soda/pop are quite popular here. Lastly, they have a seriously sick obsession with mayonnaise here. They put it on everything including pizza, sushi rolls, every sandwich, and so on. Some may know the Japanese word bukakke (for a bad reason). You probably didn't know that the word literally means to squirt mayonnaise all over something, and it’s used commonly. >_< The reason everyone is so skinny is not because they eat healthy, it’s because they don’t eat as much and are quite active.

2) As I mentioned, in Japan, they have sushi rolls, but you probably didn't know that they aren't nearly as common as their counterpart: a slice of fish over rice a.k.a. real Japanese sushi. The majority of the rolls I've come across contain at least one of 3 things: mayonnaise, tuna salad, or egg. Ew, no thanks!

3) A traditional Japanese breakfast is basically the same as any other meal of the day: bowl of rice, bowl of soup, and piece of fish. It’s not to say that people don’t eat other things, but it’s still common to eat these things at breakfast.

4) I swear that 90% of the school lunches I've eaten in Japan have contained something gooey/slimy in it. Hence, they love slimy gooey stuff in Japan. Many desserts in Japan are very jiggly.

5) Putting extra wasabi on sushi is actually a bit rude. It’s a way of saying that you didn't make it in a way that’s satisfying to me so I need to add more.

6) Lastly, many people think that all Asian countries have spicy food which is true of some places like India, Thailand, or Korea, for example. However, I can honestly say that finding something spicy in Japan is like winning the lottery unless you are going to a Korean, Thai, Indian place and so on. Japanese food is NOT spicy. One time I got salsa from the store, and I was so excited for finding it. I took it home, opened it, and was very disappointed. It was like eating plain tomatoes. I would describe Japanese food as quite bland. Salt is basically the only seasoning they use. For goodness sake, they eat a plain bowl of rice with basically every meal! It doesn't get much blander than that!

Indian food in Japan.

Next, I want to talk about some of the things it’s really hard to find or are crazy expensive in Japan that are common in America.

1) REAL CHEESE!!!!!!!!! This for me is the number one most difficult thing because I LOVE CHEESE! I eat it every day in America. First of all, normal Japanese cuisine doesn't generally contain cheese. So in other words, it’s just not that poplar. Also, because there aren't many dairy farms in Japan, it’s kind of rare. However, people in Japan seem to like Italian food a lot such as pizza and pasta, so cheese is available. The only issue is the quality. The basically have one type of cheese here unless you want to spend a fortune for real cheese. It’s called processed cheese, and it tastes like nothing. It’s all white, too. Imagine white Kraft singles shredded and put in a small bag. That’s basically the norm here. You can buy some real cheese in Japan such as red cheddar, bleu, gorgonzola, brie, feta, and camembert, but it’s like $6-$10 for a brick the size of you cell phone! Sometimes I cave, but the price is so ridiculous that I rarely bring myself to buy it. Oh, also, they have cream cheese and sour cream too, but it’s also on the expensive side. I’d like to mention that one type of cheese they do sell that isn't common in America is “dessert cheese.” Basically it’s more of their processed cheese in a creamier form with flavors mixed in like earl grey or rum raisin. :S

2) I already mentioned the lack of spicy food. They don’t sell any types of hot pepper in the grocery store that I’ve seen. I even asked once, and they said they didn’t have any spicy peppers.

3) Cilantro/coriander. Something I used frequently in America when making Mexican food. I have finally come across some dried cilantro recently which was like finding a pot of gold, but forget finding it fresh.

4) Flour tortilla shells. Let’s just say, if you want to eat a flour tortilla in Japan, you have three options. One: make it from scratch (I've done this several times in times of desperation). Two: have a family member send you them (I've done this too). Three: Go to a really big city like Osaka or Tokyo and find one of the like 3 Mexican restaurants in the city, and order a burrito. I’m lucky enough to have this option. I think I’d jump in front of a train if I didn't lol. Actually, there are some foreign food stores here and there that you can sometimes find tortillas in, but again, they cost a lot and are rare. I'm a Costco member. I haven't noticed tortillas there, but they probably have them in there somewhere.

5) They have like every other mushroom under the sun except portabello.

6) Olives (purple/green), olive oil, basil paste, and all things Mediterranean and delicious are a fortune if they are even sold to begin with.

7) Black beans and pinto beans: the base of most Mexican food, forget it.

8) They have some American pops in Japan like Coke, Pepsi, Sprite, and Fanta but don’t have my favorites like root beer, cream soda, cherry coke, or Dr. Pepper unless you can find them in a specialty shop.

8) They have many fruits in Japan, but they are very expensive. Think like $5 for 10 strawberries or $15 for one melon. That’s all I can think of for now.

So, my grandpa sent me a ton of stuff to make Mexican food one day. It
was like heaven!

Lastly, now that I have bitched and moaned about Japan not having the stuff I like, I will talk about the good things. Overall, I like Japanese food. I just get sick of not having cheese, Mexican, or spicy things, but Japanese cuisine as a whole is very suitable for me. Besides meat (excluding fish and chicken), I will eat pretty much anything else. Japanese food is very heavy on rice, fish, vegetables, tofu, and noodles: all things that I like. I love going to kaiten sushi, eating fried veggies, and drinking a large amount of tea every day. Plus, there are many non-Japanese options still available. I still eat pizza and pasta on a regular basis. I do what I can in the way of Mexican food. I work with what I've got.

Some things I really like:

1) TOFU! They have so many varieties, and I like them all!

2) Grocery stores have a large variety of pre-made food and meals out and ready to go made throughout the day. You can just take it home and eat it. So when you don’t feel like cooking, you just grab something and take it home. Some examples of things are sushi, deep-fried everything, potato salad (which by the way, I don’t like potato salad in America, but I like it in Japan), regular salads, rice dishes, bento, sandwiches, and more.

3) Salads in Japan. This is kind of tricky…they don’t have a bunch of interesting salads in Japan like they do in America, but they have a typical garden salad which I enjoy more than an American garden salad. I wish they had a variety of salads like they do in the US, but as for their normal salad, it’s pretty good. It’s different in that it’s mostly shredded cabbage and not lettuce. Sometimes they’ll throw a few lettuce leaves in there. Also, corn is common along with some variety of tomatoes, cucumbers, onion, daikon (Japanese raddish), or carrots. The selling point for me is that everything is super finely shredded. I really like that. Plus, the most common dressing is like a sesame soy dressing which I like a lot.

5) There are many places in Japan where you can cook food in front of you which is always fun whether its, yakisoba (stir-fried noodles), yakiniku (grilled meat (or veggies)), or okonomiyaki (savory pancake).

6) Nomihodai are fun. You pay a flat, cheap fee to drink as much alcohol as you want in a period of time like 2 hours. Also, they have tabehodai which is the same idea but with food.

7) Meal sets. If you go to a traditional style Japanese restaurant, you can order set courses where you can get a lot of different small dishes. Most of it is vegetarian or only seafood which works out nice for me. You get hot tea, like 5 small appetizers (usually one is soup), a main course, and dessert (and sometimes a special drink after). I enjoy eating a lot of different small courses and a relatively small main dish than in America where you get like two or three big things.

8) Onigiri. Rice balls filled with fish and wrapped in seaweed. I will miss them when I’m back in the U.S. They are the perfect traveling snack.

9) The abundance of maccha desserts. Maccha is high quality powdered green tea, and they make desserts and lattes that are made with maccha. YUM!