For sure one of the most talked about topics on the planet has got to be food. Especially Asian cuisine has gained a lot more popularity over the last few years and even though I doubt I can bring anything new to the table (pun intended), I still want to use this opportunity to share my own unique experience as a pretty picky eater living in Japan. I also hope I can be able to introduce some new information or fun facts about foods you might already be familiar with.
Part One: The ones you probably already know about
There are definitely some foods that I loved from the beginning and others that I can't stand even up to this day. Of course I'm going to mention the classics for you, starting with: ラーメン Ramen, which consists of a rich broth with noodles. There is a ton of variety all over the country when it comes to Ramen and even though Ramen is considered a Japanese food overseas, to Japanese people it's actually "chinese food", even up to the old Japanese name which is sometimes still used today: 中華そば Chûkasoba ("Chinese Soba"). It's like California Roll - something that's considered Sushi in America and other countries outside of Japan, even though it is a made-up dish by foreigners. Don't expect to be able to order California Roll in most places of Japan, especially not in real Sushi restaurants.
Ramen is a dish that came over from China or rather was made up by Chinese immigrants living in Chinatown of Yokohama. Wikipedia says it came over in the early 20th century and it also goes into detail about the different types of Ramen, in case you want to read up on that. Fun fact about Ramen is that they are the classic fast food to enjoy at the end of a night out. Whereas in Germany, or rather Berlin (can't speak for the other big cities), you usually end up drunkenly buying a Döner Kebab on the way home and only being able to finish it halfway, in Japan, that's Ramen. There are Ramen shops that basically focus on exactly this type of customer base by only opening up shop during the night. In Japanese, there is even a word for this exact end-of-the-night-type of Ramen: 閉めラーメン Shimerâmen, literally made up of the words "to close" (in this sense: to come to an end) and Ramen.
Different varieties of Ramen (from first to last): (1) Spicy Miso Ramen, the base here is miso paste. (2)&(3) are Shoyu Ramen, the base is soy sauce. (3)&(4) are examples of Fukuokas Tonkotsu Ramen, where the broth is very fatty because its base is pork. (3) is called Kurume Ramen und (4) Hakata Ramen, the latter being the more famous one, both named after the places they originated in. (5) is a different type of Ramen, called つけ麵 Tsukemen, where you dip the usually cold noodles in a thick and goopy broth before you slurp them up.
Going over to the other famous noodle dishes, うどん Udon and そば Soba, one are thick wheat flour noodles and the other are dark-ish coloured buckwheat noodles. In summer there is also a noodle dish called そうめん Sômen, which is kinda like if Udon and Soba had a baby. Very thin wheat noodles that are usually served cold in the heat of the humid summer of Japan. Fun fact: maybe you have already realized by now that many of those noodles have the syllable "men" in them. That's because this Kanji character - 麺, read as "men" - means noodles in Japanese.
The first picture shows an Udon soup with a warming kimchi broth (sorry the noodles aren't visible). The second picture shows a set lunch menu with Sômen served instead of rice.
The aforementioned noodle dishes are obviously eaten regularly, however, Sushi on the other hand, probably the most famous Japanese dish overseas, is rather something to enjoy on a special occasion. High quality Sushi calls for high quality fish which is obviously going to be expensive. If Sushi however is your most favourite Japanese food and you don't want to spend a fortune on it, chain stores like Sushiro or Genki Sushi got you covered. Not only is their Sushi dirt-cheap, they're also gearing towards children, which means they have weird varieties like broiled salmon with mayonnaise or even beef Sushi. No California Roll however, sorry to disappoint you.
I forgot to take a picture of the Sushi I got as takeout so here is some Sashimi, which is just Sushi without rice, instead. This was some really high quality stuff I got to enjoy at the coast.
Part Two: The ones you might or might not know
Now let's get to the real deal. I'm not saying noodle dishes aren't popular, they for sure are, but most times many Japanese people (and those wo have lived here for a while) will crave something more substential. Introducing: 定食 Teishoku. As an important information to know, Japan is a country where people who don't have time to make their own bentos or don't have a partner that prepares them one tend to eat lunch at restaurants. Whereas eating out in a non-fast food manner is basically unimagineable overseas unless you want to spend a fortune, Japan really has got you and all it's inhabitants covered. Even restaurants that are opened lunch and dinner time will usually have a scaled down version of their dinner menu as an affordable lunch menu option.
Back to Teishoku, which is made up of the characters for "fixed" and "food", usually a menu that consists of the following parts: rice, some kind of soup, Japanese pickles, a small side dish (called kobachi) and a main dish. Many restaurants add their own extras on top of it, some may serve salad and a little egg dish called 茶碗蒸し Chawanmushi, others opt for a little dessert like a tiny pudding or some fruit. There are a lot of restaurants which offer similar main dish items, like grilled fish or fried chicken, but many owners decide to focus on one dish to make their speciality. As an example, I have two Teishoku places in my neighborhood that both have grilled fish and fried chicken cutlet on their menu, but after becoming a regular at both places I learned that one used to be a cutlet-only restaurant while the other was known for their high quality fish. This is why if I want to eat fish, I'll go to the one restaurant and order some of their fish-based Teishoku, but on days where I feel like cutlet Teishoku, I'll head to the other one.
From first to last: The first picture was taken at a pretty cheap lunch place. They serve Nattô (see further down) and a fried egg with every meal, which is very unusual, but healthy and filling. The second picture shows an average price point Sashimi Teishoku, where the main dish is the Sashimi. Here, they serve two varieties of Kobachi, as well as a Chawanmushi (the pudding-like egg dish in the upper middle part) and a salad. The third Teishoku was at a more expensive restaurant. Here, the Chawanmushi comes in a more traditional dish which you can see on the down right (the one with the white lid and the red spoon). It also comes with a more traditional Japanese dessert in the middle. The main item is grilled fish. As you can see in all three of them, they all come with a serving of rice, soup and pickles.
Since rice - and especially Japanese rice - is such an important staple in Japanese cuisine, there is also a variety of dishes called 丼ぶり Donburi. The "buri" in Donburi doesn't really have a meaning, "don" however stands for bowl, particularly a bowl that is deep enough to put not only rice but toppings in it. It's basically Teishoku without all the extra stuff, just a big bowl of rice with a main dish topping of your choice. Many restaurants that offer Donburi usually serve it with a soup and some pickles.
This one's technically not a Japanese dish, because it is inspired by the Korean dish Bibinbap. Still, this will also come with a miso soup and a Kobachi, as well as a little bit of sweet jelly as a dessert. Yes, I spilled the miso soup. I usually don't eat Donburi so this is the best pic you're gonna get. On top of that, this was only 500 Yen, which especially in this economy is a real life-saving price for a fulfilling lunch meal. I really like Bibinbap and even though this Bibinbap-don has nothing to do with the original, it was still really good!
Part Three: Foods you probably know but are just a bit basic imo
Some of you may have probably already heard about お好み焼き Okonomiyaki and the ongoing dispute between Hiroshima-style and Ôsaka-style Okonomiyaki. The truth is however that Okonomiyaki literally means "to fry to your liking", which is something that took me way longer to realize than I'd like to admit. If you really think (too) deep about it, basically any food that's fried or pan-fried could be called Okonomiyaki, because you literally (pan-)fry ingredients you like the way you like it. I know I'm overthinking this.
I've refrained from mentioning おにぎり Onigiri as well as convinience store food for no particular reason. The thing with living in Japan for a while is that during the first period of your stay, you will probably fall in love with convinience stores and especially their, well... convinience. If you've lived here for a quite while however, you'll realize that convinience store food is pretty expensive compared to similar food options available at your local grocery store. Especially the Onigiri are also usually stuffed very sparingly nowadays. It's probably due to food shortages, but since they are so expensive and not really stuffed, it's kind of a waste of money. They are a wonderful option to grab on the go or if you have a lazy day. My partner and I refer to it as "conbini-meshi" which is a made up version of the Japanese abbreviation conbini (short for convinience store) paired with the colloquial term for "food". Whenever we don't feel like making anything, the only restaurants that are still open are ones we don't really want to eat at or all the shops we'd like to go to are so crowded that we'd have to wait 40 minutes or more just to get seated, we'd end up resorting to "conbinimeshi" on that day.
天ぷら Tenpura is a fried food that is pretty popular in many places in Japan and arguably also with foreigners. I don't really like it very much, because I'm not the biggest fan of battered fried foods in general. It's often served as a side with soba which I honestly find to be such a hefty meal. Not only do you have the buckwheat noodles to finish, but also a big batch of various battered fried foods. I know many people love it, I'm just personally not a fan. What I will eat sometimes, if there's nothing else on the menu I want to eat, is Tenpura-Donburi. Remember Donburi? In that case, Tenpura will be on top of rice in a bowl and I personally find that to be a better combination than with soba noodles.
Now these are some real Onigiri, handmade by a real inaka-mom! After you've had delicious Onigiri like that it's pretty hard to go back to the not-so-good conbini version.
Part Four: The foreign-inspired and/or foreign-led cuisines
There are obviously many foreign cuisine restaurants in Japan and especially Tokyo. The ones that are very prominent all over the country are Indian and/or Nepalese restaurants. These are also often owned by people from those respective countries, which is definitely a rarity. I know of some Chinese, Taiwanese and Korean restaurants that are led by people from said countries, but often times you will find that the owner is just a Japanese national as well as a big fan of said country and that's likely why they opened the restaurant.
With "Italian" food in Japan it's the latter. Italian restaurants are a dime a dozen in Japan and apparently, Japan is even known for it's good quality Italian food. However, I've never seen an Italian restaurant in Japan led by an Italian owner, it's usually Japanese people running the place. Now we're talking about a way higher price range than before, japanese-italian food is pretty expensive. On top of that, even though I love the dining experience that most japanese-italian restaurants have to offer, I got to let you know that most of these restaurants don't serve authentic Italian cuisine. I know the example is kind of getting old, but just take California Rolls again. It might be "Sushi" to you, but it's not Sushi to me and most people who live in Japan. Japanese-italian cuisine is not Italian food, but it's still really good. There are also chain restaurants for japanese-italian food in Japan, but I personally think their food is nasty. Just my opinion though.
This picture is from my most favourite pizza place in all of Japan. They make an authentic Napoli-style pizza that really helps me when I feel homesick of foods I grew up with. Most places in Japan that serve pizza don't really serve... well, actual pizza. Also, Japanese households don't come with ovens, so I can't really make pizza at home, and this place has an actual original Italian style stone oven. My partner and I are regulars here, and even though my scale isn't happy about that, the staff and my tummy always are.
Part Five: Now this is where the blog entry actually starts (sorry about that)
By now you can probably guess that I'm a foodie. Like, not the blogger or vlogger kind of foodie, because even if I sometimes take pictures of food, I hate having to wait to eat something delicious that's right in front of me just because me or someone else has to take a video or picture. I'm also not the type to decide on what restaurant to go to by instagramability, but only by reviews. Of course, a dish shouldn't be served looking like it came from a trash can, but honestly if it was delicious, I would probably still eat it. Same goes for the other way around - no matter how beautifully arranged something is, if it tastes like shit, I can't force myself to eat it, even though I hate wasting food. Looks are less important to me compared to taste.
I would describe Japanese food as rather mild compared to other Asian cuisines. The reason for that is that traditional Japanese cuisine only has a very limited set of flavour sources. Saltiness from soy sauce and dashi (fish) broth, umami and saltiness again from miso paste, getting help from cooking sake and sweetness from mirin, which is a somewhat goopy liquid consisting of rice-based alcohol mixed with sugar. If you have those, you can already make a Japanese dish. For me personally, it took quite a long time to get used to not using salt when cooking Japanese food. The saltiness comes from the soy sauce and miso paste, if I also add in salt on top of it it's just going to be too salty. As someone who was born and grew up in Germany however, salt is like not even considered seasoning, it's just going into every dish. It's a staple. Give a German some salt and maybe some black pepper and they're going to be happy.
Miso soup is a great example for the use of Japanese seasonings. You start by mixing dashi into hot water and then add a dollop of miso paste. Boom, now you have your miso soup. Nothing else needs to be added, and there is no such thing as a "right" way to make it ingredient-wise. The most commonly known are probably wakame, which is a type of seaweed that adds a rich fishy flavour, and tôfu, yeah you know what tôfu is. If you now finish it up with some scallions and sesame seeds, you get an overall enjoyable flavour experience, even though technically, seasonings were rarely used. The truth is though, once you come and live in Japan for a while, you realize there are tons of different ways to spruce up your miso soup. Some might add seasonal vegetables instead of wakame and tôfu, others prefer agedôfu which is a type of tôfu that has been fried instead of tôfu. There is really no right way to make a miso soup, if you have a dashi base and add miso, then you have miso soup.
The main reason for that is that in traditional Japanese kitchen, people wanted to focus on the "original flavour" of the main ingredient. Compliment it's original flavour without taking it away or trying to mask it. That's why Japanese food is usually not overly complicated, meaning, for side dishes you most likely'll have something as simple as steamed brokkoli, blanched spinach seasoned with soy sauce or pan-fried eggplant. As a picky eater, I have come to really enjoy and like a lot of dishes because they're not overly seasoned.
Due to this simplicity however, many Japanese people tend to find certain flavour profiles too adventurous. An example would be the general hate for cilantro in this country, which I have been a part of even before I came to Japan. Please don't click away now, I'm not trying to yuck your yum, it's just that even just the smell of cilantro triggers my gag reflex. I know that it's a very important herb in many cuisines around the world, and unfortunately, these worlds will always be closed off to me, unless the people who make the food accept and realize that some people just can't eat it. Think about the food item you despise the most, the one that gives you a bellyache just thinking about it - that's cilantro for me.
While we're on the topic of foods that I can't stand, let's add the foods that I'm still too picky to eat, even after years of living here.
Even though we eat liver in Germany, which means I was used to eating it from a young age, we nowadays usually don't consume other internal organs of animals. Introducing: 焼肉 Yakiniku. Literally meaning "grilling/pan-frying meat", it usually entails a barbeque-like experience that offers a variety of different cuts of meat for you to fry at your table on an either built-in grill or one that's put on top of the table. Either way, there is a certain type of Yakiniku, called ホルモン hormon. This is an unusual way of the word, since hormon isn't interchangably used in English with intestines, but it apparently comes from the belief that eating the intestines of animals will up your (probably male) hormon levels and give you stamina. Many Yakiniku places offer hormon on their menu, but sometimes there even are certain Yakiniku restaurants that specialize only on hormon. Even though Yakiniku in general is something I go to rather sparingly, since I don't believe eating that much meat in one go should be a regular occurence but rather something to be savoured from time to time, I wouldn't set a foot in hormon-only Yakiniku restaurants. Like, I'm glad they are not wasting any meat by throwing away the intestines, but I just could never. I'm the type to try everything at least once, but everything I've tried so far just had such weird texture and flavour that I'd prefer not having to eat ever again.
Yakiniku
I'm also quite picky when it comes to fish intestines. Like, I love fish eggs, but there is a Japanese delicacy known as 白子 Shirako which literally translates to "white child" (I know...). I'm sorry to tell you that it is the sperm sacs of various kinds of fish. You would usually get served Shirako in high-end restaurants, so don't worry too much during your first Japan trip. Even in all my years of living in Japan, I was only served it twice. I tried it both times, but it's just so disgusting to me. Why do I like the eggs of female fish but can't stand the sperm sacs of male fish? You tell me.
My partner, as many other Japanese people, also likes to eat the eyes of grilled fish. Whereas in Germany, if you are ever served fish, it would rarely come with the head still attached to it, in Japan there are many restaurants that not only serve the head with the rest, some bar-type restaurants called Izakaya might even only grill the head for you to have something to snack on while drinking your beer. When, on one of my first dates with my now spouse, we went to a place that a friend of mine owned, they asked me if I wanted the eyes or if they can have them, I couldn't believe they really asked me that. Up to this day, I have to look away when they indulge in what they say is a delicious treat, because even just the thought of someone eating fish eyes makes me want to barf.
I'm sorry if anyone felt attacked by those parts, but believe me when I'm telling you, I don't have a problem with you or anyone else loving certain foods that I might hate. I just can't stand them - but onto a more positive note, let me tell you about a particular food that I didn't like in the beginning, but have come to love nowadays. 納豆 Nattô is probably one of the first "unusual" foods you'll come across as a foreigner. I like to describe Nattô as what Kimchi is to the Korean people - might not come with every meal, but it is a very healthy, fermented food, that most people in Japan include in their daily diet.
Nattô, for those of you who don't know, is a certain type of fermented soy bean. The added bacteria will make it appear as something that probably shouldn't be eaten, especially for the untrained eye it can appear like snot. If you're not used to seeing foods that are pulling strings, it might be rather hard to get rid of the image in your head that this came out of someone's nose. However, in Japan, alongside Nattô there are other foods that will have similar consistency and there is even a word for it: ねばねば Nebaneba. Okra for example is a type of nebaneba food.
But back to Nattô. On my very first trip to Japan in 2013, I didn't know any Japanese yet. The translation systems weren't as advanced as they are nowadays, and unlike today, Onigiris and other foods didn't have any English labels on them, so my friend and I would always do what we called Russian Roulette with Onigiri flavours. It was always hit or miss for us, and even though I hit most of the times, I missed the time I got the Nattô flavour. Not only was it late at night, so the Onigiri probably wasn't the freshest anymore, but not knowing what was about to hit me when I bit into the Onigiri made the experience ten times worse. You see, Nattô isn't just stringy snotty fermented soy beans, they also have a very distinct smell to them. I would describe it as something along the lines of the inside of a worn shoe. Once your brain makes the connection that this skunky smell will entail a very delicious food, you'll most likely end up saying "this smells good!" when you smell Nattô. Everyone knows Nattô doesn't "smell good", but people who like Nattô know that the flavour profile makes up for the smell.
My very first Nattô experiences ended in me spitting it out and throwing it away. I didn't try Nattô again for a very long time, until a friend of mine in Aomori told me to try out a variety from Hokkaido which used larger beans. That's how I came to love the smelly, slimey, healthy fermented bean. It is definitely a staple in our fridge nowadays and it just goes very well together with eggs and/or kimchi. But also on its own it's just delicious!
This is what I'd call a Japanese farmers breakfast! There is Nattô on top of rice, to which I added the Kimchi that was on the plate next to it after I took the photo. Add some Kobachi and leftovers as well as a soup and you have a very hearty breakfast that will keep you fit and full to do hard labour. This picture was taken when I was working at the Ryokan Matsuya in Hijiori-Onsen. They served me three full meals a day, and even though in the beginning I had trouble finishing the breakfast due to its amount, after a few days I'd come to really love it and look forward to it. I like Nattô, but this was the first time ever that I ate it everyday for 2 weeks. I still really like it, but I'm just not the type of person that can eat the same dish every day, I just get tired of it. But if it's served to me like this, I am simply gonna thankfully enjoy some food that someone else took the time and effort to prepare for me!
In general I'd love to conclude by stating the fact that almost any food you get in Japan is somewhat good. There are obviously exceptions and the bigger the city, the more the flood of restaurants so it can definitely be a miss more than hit situation. In my total of 5+ years of living here however, I've only had really bad food like twice. Really bad in the sense of feeling sick while eating and afterwards. Foreigners jokingly often say that even bad Japanese food is still good and honestly, they're definitely not wrong about that. Especially when I'm thinking about for example gas station food in Germany, I can't remember it ever being good or even fresh. On Japanese highways, the food is not only fresh, but delicious and usually also nutritious. Convinience store food is fresh and delicious and depending on what you get, it can be nutritious - and I can even say that with certainty after having been a convinience store clerk for about half a year. All in all, in Japan it's a lot easier to eat a healthy and balanced diet, even if you are very busy/lazy in your everyday life.
That's it from me - I know this was a long one, but I hope you still enjoyed reading it!
Cheers,
EFA
This blog entry got waaaay too long, but in order to include a wide variety of foods, I had to keep it that way! I know there are still a lot of dishes I didn't mention - so please let me know in the comments what your most favourite Japanese food is!
For anyone who got this far, I have this fun, extra pic for you:
Btw, when I ordered takeout I saw something resembling a California Roll for the first time. It's a very new Sushi store that just opened up shop this year. They mark it as "B.C Roll", whatever the B.C. stands for, I wonder? Anyways, I found it hilarious that just in time for me to wrap up this blogpost where I continue to shit on California Rolls, I see a Sushi store actually offering something like California Rolls.
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