What I eat

What I eat

a picture collection of the delicious japanese foods

So today’s post will be all about food. Yep, that’s right: about the nice, delicious and broad variety of the japanese *cuisine*.

But before we start I’d like to tell you the recipe of this post:

Please keep these few „cooking steps“ in mind while scrolling through my menu, so you won’t burn your impression of japanese meals. 

Even though I currently live in Japan with a japanese host family, I can only show you examples of japanese food. 

That’s also the reason why the title reads: What I eat.

I can only write about the dishes my host mother likes to cook and about the places I’ve been out to eat. This is in no way a manifest of what all japanese people eat, cook, like or dislike, or by which ingredients to identify whether something’s japanese or not. It is only my personal experience. The food of a country is especially during times of globalization influenced by so many things, that it is hard to determine what’s the countries very own kitchen and it is  also so versatile, that it would be rather harsh to say:

I’ve eaten it all! 

Without further Do: Please come in, have a seat and enjoy your (virtual) meal!!!  Say: Itadakimasu! [You should say this before you start your meal]

Let’s have Breakfast

I usually have rice and some of the leftovers of my Bento. What do I mean by leftovers? Well my host mother always prepares my lunch box [Bento] before I come down to have my breakfast. She's always cooking side dishes that go along with the rice, that I'm taking to school with me and because she's also filling the Bento of my two host sisters, there are always "leftovers", which then serve, along with rice, as my breakfast. On cold or rainy days, there will be some Miso Soup, too. Sometimes I also have some toast with a yoghurt or I sprinkle some flavors(most of the time dried algae) over my rice.

The smiley face consists of a jam-bread mouth and Nashi-eyes.

He wishes you: Ohayougozaimasu-> ‘Good morning’ in Japanese.

For those of you, who don’t know Nashi:

It’s a sweet fruit, which tastes like a mixture between an apple and a pear.

Lunch

On school days, I will eat my Bento together with my classmates at school. I go to school from Monday to Friday and I also spend my Saturdays with the art club. So I have most of my lunches at school in the form of my Bento. In my classroom I usually sit together with my friends and we talk, joke and enjoy our lunches.

This is actually my very first Bento, my host mother ever prepared for me:

It is rice with a kind of hamburger patty and the yellow food is called tamagoyaki

[this is kind of like a japanese omelet, it is cooked in a square pan and it is rolled up and stuffed.

My host mother usually fills mine with cheese, because I like it that way the most.] In my bottle I

usually take some cold tea with ice cubes during the hot summer.

On very rare occasions I also get my lunch from the Konbini[japanese for convenience store].
That day I bought my favorite Onigiri[loosely translates to rice ball, with various filling options, wrapped in Nori, a typical kind of algae. My favorite one is filled with spicy fish eggs], rice wrapped in Tofu[slightly sweet], Edamame[green beans] and fruit jelly.

How to unwrap your Onigiri:

You might ask yourself, why do I need an explanation for that kind of thing?

Well, Onigiri is wrapped in tow layers of plastic, one to protect the whole rice ball from the "outside world" XD and one plastic layer that separates the Nori(algae)  from the rice, so that the algae won't get soggy. So you are supposed to first pull at a strap on the upper corner and  then on the sides.

Here are some Sunday lunch examples,

I ate together with my host family.

Smashed potatoes, I made for my host family and
veggie Tempura[japanese for deep fried dishes].

Rice, which is typically part of almost every meal, Miso soup, salad
and my host mothers delicious burger patty with tomato sauce.

Here are some pictures, when we went to a restaurant for lunch:

My hostfamily really enjoys restaurants in which you can
self-cook part of your meal. This one is Yakiniku[fried meat].
The grill rack is in the middle of your table and will be heated from underneath.
Everyone will share the meat order and then fry themselves their
part of the meat, the way they like it best. I also had some rice with
an egg and vegetables. This dish is a lot of fun and really delicious.
The rice will be served in a steamingly hot stone bowl and the rice won't
yet be mixed with the veggies. Also the egg will still be raw. As soon
as you get your dish, you mix all the ingredients together and it will sizzle
and your egg will be cooked in your bowl. It's a lot of fun!

This time we were shopping in the local mall and went to have lunch afterwards.
This particular restaurant offered an all-you-can eat buffet of raw meats and fish,
you could then deep fry at your table. You could get rice and salad along with your
meat and different sauces to dip in. It was very tasty!

The upper picture shows a lunch set that I got. It consists of the usual basics like
Miso soup, rice and tea. This time there were some beans in my rice that gave it
a purple color. The main dish was deep fried pork and cabbage. They also served
a small assortment of pickled vegetables.
The second picture shows an Udon-Set I had. Udon are a typical kind of japanese
noodles usually served in a brown soup which can be slightly spicy.
Along with my Udon I had a Tempura bowl: different deep fried foods served on top of rice.

Dinner:

These were both special occasions' dinners:
the upper picture was from a welcome party the friends of my host sister
organized for me during my first week with my host family. It contained a stew with
vegetables and meat, tamagoyaki, bread, tofu and pickled vegetables.
The second picture was my host sisters birthday dinner:
Caprese[yes my host mother also likes foreign kitchen], fried steak, spicy shrimps
and Sashimi[which is an assortment of raw fish, very delicious and pricey].

This shows Takoyaki: Tako means Octopus and yaki means fried.
Takoyaki is cooked in a special kind of pan: The takoyaki pan has round
holes, which serve as molds for  shaping the Takoyaki balls.
You basically scoop a bit of dough, which reminds of unsweetened pancake dough,
into the pan's molds, then fill it with cut up octopus and cabbage.
You then scoop more dough over you filling and try to shape the whole thing
into a beautiful round ball by continuing to turn it around in the mold. This dish
is a lot of fun, when throwing a party with friends, because everyone has something
to do, dinner will take forever and you can eat a lot of the small sized dough balls.
Delicious!

Sweets/Cakes/Desserts:

Strawberries, from my host grandfather.

 The upper picture is "Omiyage"[loosely translates to souvenir,
and is traditionally brought back to your family and friends
from a journey/trip you took] from one of my friends, who visited the
"Universal Studios Japan" in Osaka and therefore also the
 "Wizarding World of Harry Potter".
The second picture shows flower shaped panna cotta, my host mother
bought for dessert one day.

 This is Kakigori--> shaved Ice with poured-over syrup.
It's the typical japanese summer festival dessert.

Traditional japanese "sweets" or better to be described as: 
slightly luxurious delicious things(as I like to call them)
The left picture shows a wrapped up matcha cake and a cup
of freshly brewed matcha. Matcha is a special japanese green tea
powder, which can be very pricey, if it's a high quality one.
Matcha is used in a lot of sweets here in Japan and there is even
Matcha KitKat here! 
The right picture shows Mochi, which is a kind of rice cake,
even though it doesn't have a lot in common with european "cakes".
It's made out of rice flour, water and sometimes sugar and it is very sticky.
Mochi on its own, does not have a strong taste, but a very typical
consistency. One traditional way to eat it, is with algae[please excuse the
wrong spelling in the picture] and soy sauce.

Delicious cakes from a France inspired fancy cake shop.

 Ice cream Crêpes and a local variation of shaved ice.
The shaved ice in the lower picture is called: shirokuma
(which literally translates to: white bear-->polar bear)
It is a typical dessert from Kagoshima. 

I like to call this: "The pudding fish"
It's a crispy cake[I'm guessing made out of a dough similar
to waffle dough] filled with vanilla or chocolate pudding.


Caution: 
I do not count any calories and I'm not following any specific diat. I'm not a vegan, nor a vegetarian or a sportaholic. I don't weigh myself on a regular basis nor do I want to loose weight. I like to fit into the "normal-for-your-height-and-age" collum on my doctors chart and I fit in there perfectly fine. Not too much and not too little.
I want to enjoy all the delicious food while I'm here and I also find diats in general pretty idiotic. I hate to see girls stressing out over "body image" or feeling "ugly" or "fat". I would wish for the media to start to represent us girls and no skelleton-like Barbie-dolls.
But: All this does not mean I don't care for my health! No, I'm particularly concerned to eat healthy, but I do this without any of these "eating plans" or following "the new raw trend".
I try to listen to my body. It's my self defined "healthy". I believe that I know myself best and can therefore know best what does me good and what doesn't. I want to eat "conciously". I don't eat only for the sake of it, but because I enjoy it and it is a natural way to keep yourself healthy and confident. If you only pay attention to your own needs and stop wanting to fit into a size you are not normally fitting into, you will be more confident with your body. That's my philosophy.
I'd also like to pay attention to what my grocery shopping does to the environment and therefore put some effort in researching food. In Japan there are a lot more ways(than for example in Germany, even though we're getting there) for eating conciously/eating healthy on the go[because of Knbini--> convenience store]. But don't get me wrong they do of course also have not so healthy foods and fastfood chains.
Like I said at the beginning of today's post: I'd like to emphasize that this is a very personal blog entry, because food is something very different in every household.




Gochisousama deshita! --> Thank you for the meal!
[You should say this after finishing your meal.]



I hope you've enjoyed today's post and it got you hungry for more.
 Make sure to click by any time soon!
 Take care and until our next shared meal.
 Yours Avria<3