Day 11 – Food glorious food. Hot…erm. coffee and ochazuke
Posted on | March 13, 2008 | 10 Comments |
I thought I would take a break from talking about serious stuff and really get into what probably a lot of you are passionate about – Japanese food. I’m going to skip over all the boring stuff that gets gone over a million times in eating guides and such, though. Here’s a list of all the things I will not be going over – Okonomiyaki, Sashimi, Tempura, Soba/udon, Shabushabu and Yakiniku, Yakitori, takoyaki and expecially not SUSHI.
Why? Well, I wanted this post to be about the strange eating habits of Japan – not something you already know about!
I think the main thing about Japanese food that really shapes what you can eat in the country is the fact that unlike England, for example, which has many types of restaurants, which may or may not be run by the people of that background, serving “authentic” foreign cuisine, Japan has chosen not to actually have authentic cuisine. For the most part, foreign foods are integrated in a Japanese style so that the resultant product actually ends up nothing like the original food, but something original and quintessentially Japanese.
The best example of this is probably kare. I spell it like that because it differentiates it from Indian and English curries which are completely different. Japanese kare is a strange organism which is neither spicy nor tastes of curry. It has a variety of vegetables in it, most usually potatoes and carrots. All kare tastes pretty much the same all over Japan and is served with rice and gari (pickled ginger). However, somehow, it is very tasty. I would make the comparison between this and the very British Chicken Tikka Masala (now so popular that you can eat it in Dubai), but the essential difference is that British CTM actually tastes remotely like curry.
Another great example is bread. Japanese normal bread comes in packs of 3-5 slices (shokupan) which is handy for a couple of meals. They also have a variety of savoury and sweet breads (yes, meronpan is one of them – please note that meronpan contains NO MELONS) the likes of which you cannot find in any other country outside of an import shop. The fantastic thing about Japanese bread is that it takes the classical idea of bread and throws away all the rules – coming up with some completely heretical (and tasty)Â ideas. Meronpan, for example, is partially cooked cookie crust on a sweet bun. Karepan is a deepfried curry doughnut affair, and Yakisobapan is noodles in a bun. Not to mention the fact that you can get potato croquet in a sandwich. On the Chinese side of things, Japanese have also dabbled in bao (steamed buns) – called nikuman. In convenience stores you can buy chocolate nikuman and even ones filled with strawberry cream if you are so inclined. It makes a welcome change from the drab bakeries in the UK which pride themselves on traditional bread making that there is no real innovation.
I would probably avoid Japanese sandwiches if you’re used to ones made elsewhere – the only ones you’ll find are white, crustoff thin bread filled with fairly dull fillings in a vague attempt at English tea accompaniment. Go for convenience store bento instead.
Japanese people have developed an unconditional love of canned iced coffee (aisukohi) made by various brands such as Georgia (of the famous Emerald Mountain blend variety) and beermakers such as Kirin. Vending machines and convenience stores sell them both cold (tsumeta~i) and hot (at~takai) but even though coffee shops such as Starbucks are beginning to make an appearance, it looks like to do more business they really need to do a better range of cold coffee.
I could go on for hours and hours about Japanese beer. Most Japanese people think their beer is the best in the world – even though it is pretty much an impression of European lager. There are only really 3 beer companies (Kirin, Sapporo and Asahi) with a couple of smaller competitors like Orion all producing fairly similar stuff. Of notable difference is “black beer” like Yebisu from Sapporo, which is a rather tasty impression of something resembling a European dark lager or English dark ale. Trying to introduce the idea to a Japanese person that English ale is served at room temperature is rather like trying to convince Richard Dawkins that he is not, in fact God.
I guess no lecture on Japanese food would be complete without the mention of izakaya. I’ve looked it up and I think it loosely translates to “Place where you drink alcohol that is also someone’s home” or something like that. To make a British comparison, izakaya are a little bit like British pubs. Every small village has a hundred of them – basically small house like affairs that consist of a bar and maybe a private room. The sign on the front is often dirty or absent and the people filling it are very very local and very very Japanese. The thing that makes gaijin most scared of izakaya is the fact that the owners invariably speak no English, and the menus are inevitably handwritten in kanji hard enough to understand in print. The food, however, is usually top notch. Owners take the typical care and skill to preparing a dish as you would see in a top restaurant in the UK (aesthetics is everything) and the prices are usually really reasonable.
I’ve been fortunate enough to be invited out to a couple around Kamogawa – Last night with the Dermatologists I had a patty made of raw minced mixed fish soaked in mirin vinegar, followed by a single clam, then a selection of 8 different kinds of sashimi. Following that there was a whole plaice in black beany sauce and ochazuke which is rice soup with salmon, umeboshi and nori.
The weird thing is that each Japanese town and area seems to have its own specialist food – even the tiny ones. Around this area, the special food is the dried fish that is produced locally on drying racks in the spring time and lasts all year and each little town in Japan seems to have its own dish.
And what better souvenir to take back from Kamogawa than an omiage of locally sourced rice crackers (senbei)? Omiage are boxes of sweet or savoury gifts (also more practical things like soap) that Japanese people amass and then give to people when they go into their houses for a visit. Not only is it polite, it also ensures that there is always a sweet or savoury snack to hand when you want one. Unless you don’t have any friends. Much better than the crap we Westerners buy whenever we go sightseeing somewhere…
Now where did I put that giant Futuroscope pencil?
yuribou
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10 Responses to “Day 11 – Food glorious food. Hot…erm. coffee and ochazuke”
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March 13th, 2008 @ 10:20 am
Not ochitsuke, ochazuke (ãŠèŒ¶æ¼¬ã‘）i.e. rice with tea poured in ^_^;
March 13th, 2008 @ 6:53 pm
*goes off to make fish-finger kare udon, wiggling with hungry anglo-japanese junk food fusion anticipation*
March 14th, 2008 @ 2:39 am
O[KI]nomiyaki? Shabushabu?! Yakiniku?!! Noooo! I want to know what those are! Onegai! TANOMU! I must just be too lazy to search for them with google…
March 14th, 2008 @ 2:47 am
O boy! sounds cool. I remember how all the Japanese culture shows I have watched it shows McDonald’s and Burger King. The King has invaded Japan. The Japanese are having their way ^_^. Hey Yuribou do they really have vending machines that sell high school girl panties I have always wondered I have seen it many many times in anime and was just curious and I know you would definitely know ^_^. So Starbucks is taking over Japan also no GOD!!!!! *_* I would lol if The King, Ronald & Starbucks took over Japan.
Later
YuribouFan Out.
March 14th, 2008 @ 4:07 am
Interesting. As I have no friends, I shall never have fun foods like these. If I ever travel to Japan, I will be stuck with McDonalds and random pizza shops forever. :(
March 14th, 2008 @ 10:46 am
Thanks Anonymous – always a great help. My memory is like some kind of liquid from solid separation instrument
Patrick – I’m sure you will be able to find someone in the hostels you stay in to take you out to an izakaya – Last time we found a really nice hostel guy in Yakushima who took us to an izakaya – spoke no English at all though ^_^
For the unwise – Okinomiyaki is a kind of omelette pizza thing you cook for yourself (or have cooked for you) at your table. Shabu shabu is an autumn thing where you get a pot of stock and each person puts the stuff they want to eat into it to cook it for themselves. Yakiniku is Japanese barbecue with thin meats cooked on a hot plate.
March 14th, 2008 @ 11:28 am
Very informative Yuribou. Unfortunately I will forget it all in a matter of hours.
I love your Japan posts, keep it up ^_^.
March 14th, 2008 @ 11:39 am
Here’s a question, when you are out and about, is it more common to find signs printed in æ¼¢å—, 平仮å, or a mixture of the two? By the way ãŠå¥½ã¿ç„¼ã is ãŠã‚³ã®ã¿, not ãŠã‚ã®ã¿.
March 14th, 2008 @ 6:55 pm
Strawberry-filled nikuman. Thanks yuribou, I’ve always wanted to know what that delicious bun I ate for breakfast every day for 2 weeks was :D
I love the food they mix together – it’s always much more tasty than the original. But drinks on the other hands… it’s always a gamble when I wanted a drink from a vending machine.
March 17th, 2008 @ 1:06 pm
Akakori – actually never found anything I’ve dislikedin a vending machine drinks-wise ^_^
Pillowcase – virtually all in æ¼¢å—。With the parts usually in hiragana in hiragana. If you’re lucky sometimes theres some katakana, and trainstation signs are written in kanji, hiragana and romanji.