The Jealous Crumpet

A sweet little blog

Eating My Way Across Japan

5 Comments

udonI have been a bad blogger and not posted in over a month. I know, I know I’m breaking the first rule of blogging, post consistently, but I swear I have a good excuse! My husband and I spent the last three weeks in Japan and we have been far too busy site seeing, eating new foods, getting lost, struggling to communicate, and changing our world views to bother with blogging.22

The trip was an amazing adventure, especially ordering food with a VERY limited understanding of Japanese and only pictures or plastic displays of fake food to guide us. Despite our limitations, we loved (almost) everything we ate. Of course I was a total tourist and took photos of most of my dishes.

Bento Boxes

Most of the time we had no idea what we were eating. This was the ‘light’ vegetarian lunch on our excursion to Mt. Fuji. They brought us a tray covered with tiny bites of food we did not recognize. Our lunch conversation went something like this:

Olivier: What do you think this is?

Me: … eggplant … maybe.

Olivier: Do you think it is a mushroom or something?

Me: Well just try it and see.

Olivier: You try it.

Me: You try it first.

Olivier puts the unidentified object in his mouth and slowly chews.

Me: Well?

Olivier: I still have no idea.

Me: What do you think this sauce goes with?

Olivier: Maybe the pepper?

Me: Which thing is the pepper!?

It was fun though!

noodles

When in doubt go with noodles! I really tried to make a point to eat lots of different foods while in Japan, but the noodles were so delicious that I kept on ordering them!

There were numerous varieties and each time I ordered a noodle dish it was a different experience. I even got pretty proficient eating them with chopsticks.

gozaThe gyoza or pan fried dumplings were heavenly. They were much lighter and tastier than American version, pot-stickers. I’ve been craving them since I’ve been back. Guess I’ll have to learn how to make them.   sushiSushi from a sushi-go-round!! The sushi was delicious, but I especially love the process of looking at all the little plates of fish float by you on a conveyor belt and deciding what you want. There was the added element of suspense when you saw something you wanted on the opposite end of the restaurant and you had to wonder if you would get it or another patron would snatch it up before it made it to you.

The color of the plate determines the price of the sushi. So smart!

1

As you can see we tried lots of different things! This was for 4 people though, not just me.

eggs2

We did eat a ‘western breakfast’ several times, which were delicious. But we never really got the hang of eating eggs with chopsticks.

vending

If you get really desperate for a hot meal on the go there are vending machines that dispense fried food. We never got this desperate.

eggs

Every dish we ate was well prepared and presented. Even the little mom and pop shops, fast food restaurants and the 7/11 the food was pretty good food.

Author: Sarah Bélanger

I am a freelance photographer and writer, working for various magazines, cookbooks and blogs. I love what I do, but I have a lot of restrictions depending on which brand and publication I'm working for. This blog gives me the opportunity to have fun. I'm also a pretty terrible cook, so this blog is forcing me to learn some kitchen skills, which is both thrilling and infuriating. I hope you enjoy reading the blog, half as much as I enjoy making it.

5 thoughts on “Eating My Way Across Japan

  1. how fab is Japan?! We went last yr and were smitten. Kids loved the food! Tempura anything is the bee’s knees 🙂

    • Oh my god SO fab! We absolutely loved it. And the food was spectacular. Before we left I was concerned that the food would be too outside of my comfort zone, but I fell in love with it! And yes, anything the Tempura was perfection. Sigh, I miss it already.

  2. I could happily lose myself in the alleyways of Tokyo. So many interesting little restaurants specialising in just one or two dishes. We’re hoping to make a return visit early next year – fingers crossed. Your post has brought back many fond memories.

    • I hope you make it back next year! We absolutely loved it and were planning our trip back before we even left. We really liked the okonomiyaki as well. I need to learn several of the dishes just for when I get a hankering for it.

  3. Pingback: Full Japanese Breakfast! | The Jealous Crumpet

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