Food Fun

I consider myself an adventurous person. I mean, my first time out of America and I’m parent-less in a country that doesn’t speak English. You have to have some sense of adventure to do that.

Eating Japanese food, I have discovered, is an adventure.

Don’t get me wrong — it’s flippin’ delicious. I arrived expecting bland, boring food and, boy, was I wrong! Sure, it lacks the spice of the Tex-Mex I’m used to (I’ve only seen wasabi once), but it compensates in flavor. But, even though the food is delicious, you can’t have a closed mind and eat in Japan.

For one, it is considereed INCREDIBLY impolite to leave food on your plate (how they all stay so skinny is a mystery). So, on occassion, you’re forced to choke down a large plate of icky food. That hasn’t happened to me yet, but many of my friends here have learned to bite the bullet and shovel down their less-than-appetizing food.

The meal that takes the most getting-used-to is, surprisingly, breakfast. There is no cereal, no poptarts, no bagels, no waffles, no coffee. A typical breakfast here is miso soup, rice or a roll (or both), some salad, meat (the fried squid rings are the best), fruit or a delicious type of gelatin, and a drink (water, peach juice, blueberry juice, grapefruit juice, orange juice, milk, or tea). Some may call it weird, but I call it the best meal known to mankind.

For lunch we’re on our own. On busy days I go to the kombini (convenience store) for onigiri, ramen, or anything else new and exciting (orange-flavored M&Ms, anyone?) The juice there is always exotic (aloe and grape, apple gelatin, mystery flavor because I can’t read the label…) and the desserts are entertaining. On less busy days I venture to the nearby shopping area for soba, udon, curry, ice-cream-crepes, and more! Ordering is a bit of an ordeal (especially in larger groups), but everyone here is so friendly and willing to help.

For the days I don’t want to feel like a Japanese failure, I go to the ubiquitous vending machines. They. Are. EVERYWHERE. I’m not exaggerating. There’s one on every street corner, seeling goods ranging from Cokes and water bottles, to chilled cocoa (yum), french fries (ew), and all sorts of Japawnese brand drinks.

Dinners are my favorite meal, though, and the best time for those close-minded people on this trip, There are five options every night, and they change daily.

The cafeteria workers kindly serve Western food every night (which I avoid like the plague — it’s too safe for my adventure) so those picky eaters don’t starve. But for fun-lovers like me and most of the kids on this trip there’s curry, eel, sashimi, tempura, tofu, sardines, fish, shrimp, stir-fry, more curry (it is served almost every night), raw things, cooked things, fried things, sauce-drowned things, and, always (ALWAYS), rice. Rice, rice, rice, rice, rice. A warning right now: if you don’t like rice, never go to Japan.

So the meals here are totally different than the food in America. But different is good. Very good.

So, sure, it takes a sense of adventure to get past the fact that the food on your plate is foreign/raw/covered in tentacles, but once you close your eyes and take a bite, you honestly wont regret it.

Grocery-store sushi has nothing on this stuff.