Food issues in Japan

When I travel I always love the adventure of trying new foods, and in Japan this happened on a daily basis. Cool, right? I would say that 90% of the time we were amazed and delighted.

 We were after all, in JAPAN, and it was time to appreciate something other than US cuisine.

I didn't notice the "Hair make Master Work" sign until after taking this picture. But ya know, that is SO true.

 Although I distinctly remember craving pizza.

This is a vanilla and green tea ice cream cone. It was great! I imagined getting antioxidants along with my ice cream; this should be served up everywhere.

Grilled eel is a widely-enjoyed food in Japan. I wanted to try it, but I just couldn't. This video, shot at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo is why. Eeeeuw. But everybody said it's fantastic, sooo...no, could not do it.

Before we left for Japan, the sponsors of our trip sent us this photograph and asked if we would be interested in eating "mountain yam," the mucilaginous substance depicted in the picture. They were doubtful that many of us foreigners would want to eat it, even though it is considered a very healthful food. John and I were all, like, "Hell, yeah, bring it on!"

Turned out, all 12 of us said the same thing. Look how beautiful it was, this dish called "Tororo." The stack of 3 canisters on the upper right contain grated mountain yam, to be mixed with rice in the empty bowl on the bottom left, and then you stir in the condiments all around. Because this felt like an art project to me, I was ecstatic.

Mountain yam, however, is very much an acquired taste, and there was actually no possible way to make it pretty. This mucous-like mixture, so proudly served, was difficult to choke down. Later when we both said that we had eaten 2/3 of it, our Japanese hosts were thrilled. "That's good!!" they congratulated us. Later I looked it up and found out that it's an important ingredient in Chinese medicine: it tonifies your Qi and is helpful to the spleen. Sounds like a plus to me. But to quote Wikipedia:

 Interestingly, perhaps, this was widely used in the Edo period as a personal lubricant for sexual activities,^{[dubious – discuss]} and it was thus considered improper for it to be eaten by a woman. This aversion also derives from the loud slurping sound one makes when eating it, which is considered to be un-ladylike.^[1]


So, in the future I'll just have the burger. Thanks.

S