I’ve eaten things I never, in my wildest imagination, would have considered eating back home.
Tofu
Mushrooms
Soybean covered bread
Bread stuffed with unimaginable things
Vegetable jelly
Salad drenched in Kyupie mayo and oil
Fish
… Pig Intestine
Yes, I’ve ate pig intestine… Not by choice. Maybe its just the people local to my area, but there’s this game they like to play with people called the ‘食べみて’ or ‘Try it (eating it)’ game. They usually won’t tell you what it actually is until you’ve had it then, based on reaction, they’ll tell you what it actually was. 90% of the ‘shit I would never eat in my life’ that I’ve actually ate was played upon me via the above mentioned game.
The thing about living in America was that there’s a plethora of food options. Primarily beacuse America is just one huge ass melting pot of cultures and you have the option of eating Italian one night, Chinese the next night, sloppy American the night after, and pig out at a Tex-mex restaurant for the remainder of the week. There’s no limitations when it comes to what you can eat in America and avoiding foods is very easy.
This is probably why I’ve became a very cautious and picky eater.
Living in Japan has made me tolerate foods that I otherwise would have never eaten. I drink teas that I would, otherwise, never have drank back in America. I most definitely do not enjoy a lot of Japanese dishes and rather tolerate them when I do have to eat it. Even food I would otherwise find in America has some sort of a Japanese twist that makes it, more or lease, not as appetizing. Case in point, pizza. The pizza in my area is laughable at best. Thin crust, not so mozzarella cheese, and barely any sauce. It’s loaded to hell and back with awkward toppings like corn and mayo and significantly over priced.
What the Japanese do to foreign food here is like going to an Asian fusion restaurant in America. That bizarre not authentic, twist on traditional food to appease the local interests.
The one thing that’s interesting about Japanese food is that the presentation is never shit. Even going to McDonalds, your burger – in more times rather than one – will look close to what the picture has presented it as. Presentation is #1 in this country when it comes to food and if it doesn’t look apetizing, people just won’t eat it. It’s not about putting something sloppy together, which is a big part of American backyard cooking (the sloppier, the bigger, the bigger the flavor, the better), but creating a product that is as pretty as it is appetizing. Quality is never sacrificed.
I still won’t eat it though.