Japan Autumn Diaries (#2):🍂 Food to Love in Japan

When I think of “Japan,” aside from its people the word ‘food’ is what I automatically associated with it. I am very picky when it comes to food ever since. But surprisingly when I began to experience food in Japan, I have come to love almost every food in the country (even those which I least preferred prior to my visit). They are simply exquisite, indispensable, indescribable, and incomparable. I have tried some and I love them.

1. Gyoza. 
   It is made from the finest quality ingredients for mouth wateringly delicious dumplings filled with ground meat and vegetables and wrapped in thin dough. It is incredibly easy to prepare in any kitchen that has a frying pan. The popular gyoza is yaki gyoza which has typical filling consists of ground pork, nira chives, green onion, cabbage, ginger, garlic, soy sauce and sesame oil, but some creative gyoza shops have also come up with a range of other fillings.
2. Oden.
   It is a Japanese winter dish which consists of several ingredients such as boiled eggs, daikon, konjac, tofu, and processed fishcakes stewed in a light, soy-flavoured dashi broth. I had an authentic oden meal at Hiro’s (my friend) home cooked by her dear granny. Oishi! 🙂
3. Mochi.
   One of my favourite snack is Mochi. It is a traditional Japanese round rice cake made from glutinous rice, fresh from the oven and frozen immediately. I could find various mochi products in almost every store. It can be served grilled, deep fried, in soup, or in desserts.

   

4. Rice Burger.
   Instead of bread, I am happy to eat a bun made of rice mixed with barley and millet. It is called MOS Rice burger!! I tasted it in Japan for the first time and I love it. ~You got me~ feeling.
5. Yakiniku.
   It comes from a Japanese word for “grilled meat” and originally referred to BBQ in western term.The beef or pork are cut into bites, grilled in open fire, and served with sauce and some side dishes. The Korean version is Sampgyeopsal or grilled pork. Yakiniku has lesser side dishes than sampgyeopsal.
   
   

   
6. Hoto.
   It is a hearty hot pot dish (nabemono) local toYamanashi prefecture. The dish consists of thick wheat noodles in a miso based soup and is often served in an iron pot. The soup is traditionally a miso based broth with pumpkin and other seasonal vegetables added.

Soft Ice Cream.

No matter what the season would be, ice cream never losses popularity in Japan. It comes with exponential flavors. I personally like the Green tea or Matcha flavor. But there are also other flavorful ice cream you can choose from. Here are some Ice cream in Japan that will surely shock you. ^_^

Dare to try some of these: Jellyfish ice cream, ice cream with oysters, egg noodles ice cream, shark’s fin ice cream, horse meat flavor, salted fish ice cream, spicy indian curry ice cream, chicken wings ice cream, cactus flavor, squid ice cream, fish ice cream, sweet potato, shrimp ice cream, coal flavoured ice cream 😀
Would you like to try some?

10. Sushi.
    No doubt, the most popular dish inside and outside Japan. It has a lot of kinds.
    

Some popular ones are:

	Nigiri Small rice balls with fish, shellfish, etc. on top. There are countless varieties of nigirizushi, some of the most common ones being tuna, shrimp, eel, squid, octopus and fried egg.
	Gunkan Small cups made of sushi rice and dried seaweed filled with seafood, etc. There are countless varieties of gunkanzushi, some of the most common ones being sea urchin and various kinds of fish eggs.
	Norimaki Sushi rice and seafood, etc. rolled in dried seaweed sheets. There are countless varieties of sushi rolls differing in ingredients and thickness. Sushi rolls prepared “inside out” are very popular outside of Japan, but rarely found in Japan.
	Temaki Temakizushi (literally: hand rolls) are cones made of nori seaweed and filled with sushi rice, seafood and vegetables.
	Oshizushi Oshizushi is pressed sushi, in which the fish is pressed onto the sushi rice in a wooden box. The picture shows trout oshizushi in form of a popular ekiben (train station lunch box).
	Inari Sushi Inarizushi is a simple and inexpensive type of sushi, in which sushi rice is filled into aburaage (deep fried tofu) bags.
	Chirashi Chirashizushi is a dish in which seafood, mushroom and vegetables are spread over sushi rice. It can resemble domburi with the difference being that chirashizushi uses sushi rice while domburi uses regular, unseasoned rice.

More information at: http://www.japan-guide.com

There are many other food to taste and see in each prefecture. But it requires a big stomach, time, and money to be able to eat them all. ^_^ Japanese constantly innovate.. so I am pretty sure there is always something to look forward to each time we visit.

The Official Traveler/HistoryMaker