When I was in my country, my husband and I had our dinner at a Japanese restaurant for the first time. The foods served were delectable except the ‘wasabi’ which was too hot and ‘miso shiru’ or miso soup. When I drunk it, I felt I would throw up because of the strange taste. Since I was used to drinking sweet fruit juice after meals, I didn’t like the bitter ‘ocha’ or green tea which is usually served after meals by Japanese. However, now that I live in Japan I don’t have any choice but to accept the taste of it.

As the months passed by, I got used to the taste of miso shiru and ocha, and most especially I learned the technique to eat the hot ‘wasabi’ without tears in my eyes. The technique is when you put the food with wasabi in your mouth, position ... Read More

Last night for dinner I attempted my hand at making a local specialty from Okinawa for our side dish ? the purple sweet potato introduced to Japan from China in the early 1600s. Some of you may have seen these potatoes in local grocery stores. In the rare form their exterior resembles a sweet potato from North America, but the inside ranges from a purple to a deep purplish-blue.

While I had previously read that this vegetable is known for being quite nutritious (contains the antioxidant polyphenol along with vitamin C) while also sweet, I was still not certain of the best method cook or season this native potato.

Therefore I did what any other person may have done ? I checked out various recipes online and began my own endeavor to make it ... Read More

In my time in Japan I have sampled some bad versions of western food in restaurants and these include a kebab with cabbage and Thousand Island dressing, pizza with corn, broccoli and fish on it and a blood red so called well-done steak. I cook for a my in-laws three meals a day every day and my wife is used to it from living with me in Australia previously but the rest of the in-laws are dumbfounded. My Father in-law says it is like living if a five star hotel since I arrived, as he is happy with huge meals three times a day.

From my understanding women do the cooking at home in Japan and them men just sit down and eat whatever is presented. It is just the cross-cultural divide, as in Australia you don’t let the girls near the BBQ that is the men’s d... Read More

I’ve heard that food is the most difficult aspect of culture to assimilate. We can learn the language, we can adapt to new holidays and festivals, we can make accept and respond to unfamiliar behavior, but we often crave the familiar foods of home. At first, the Japanese diet may seem to consist of white rice and grilled fish. Such a limited menu would be at least boring, possibly unpalatable to many Westerners. It is important to look beyond the basic carte du jour to see that Japan has a lot of variety and many dishes that will appeal to even the most discriminating palate.

Much of the variety that is found in the Japanese diet comes as a result of the changing seasons. Different foods are eaten according to when they are harvested. Takenoko gohan (Bambo... Read More