Eating in Japan...

[alwaysmine]

If you're looking for FLAN it's Spanish, so any Mexican restaurant should have it. If you're looking for FRAN i'd agree with Uwajimaya. You can get Ramune there too, the melon flavor is my favorite.

[keatonatron]

AJBryant wrote:
Oh, yeah! The Pokki rip-off!

Same high price, but less than half the quantity. It's because they use the gourmet dippin' sauce.

[I-samu]

There's lots of vegetables to eat.
At my family's house, it's rude not to eat everything, so if you're staying with a host family, get used to em'

[Shibakoen]

Oh god no. I think more of my students were just amazed if a gaijin would eat it. The stuff smells like death. Come on, fermented beans? Even Mexican food isn't that harsh!:D

[Harisenbon]

Natto is actually really good if you get used to it.
My wife loves the stuff and so made it her mission to get me to be able to eat it. I started out with natto-omletts, and after eating that a couple of times, I can now eat natto pretty much straight out of the package. Just mix in mustard and eat. =)

[zengargoyle]

Shibakoen wrote:
Come on, fermented beans? Even Mexican food isn't that harsh!:D

i'm not so sure about that! Steve, Don't Eat It. scroll down the page, #6 is natto, # 7 is cuitlacoche...

Cuitlacoche is a black fungus that infects corn fields, making the kernels bulbous and swollen as they fill with spores.

...

I've read that U.S. farmers consider it a disease and destroy it. Farmers in Mexico put it in cans and sell it as a delicacy.

natto is on my to-do list...

[AJBryant]

Natto is actually really good if you get used to it.

Tony

[Shibakoen]

Fungus is eaten everywhere so that doesn't surprise me much. European truffles come to mind. But after one whiff of natto and you'll agree. I just don't get how people can argue that something tastes good when even they admit it smells bad since smell is such a large portion of "taste". It's impossible. If it smells bad, then for as long as humans breathe through their noses, it tastes bad, too.

[Harisenbon]

That's the most amazing smiley ever. It completley caught me off guard.
"Oh look, a cute little blue smiley... What does tony mean by... OH MY GOD, THE VOMIT!!!!!"

Although Natto isn't on my list of things I'll go out of my way to eat, I don't bat an eye at eating it any more.

[AJBryant]

There are two "Japanese foods" I can't (won't, don't, wouldn't, ain't about to) eat:

Natto, and uni.

Both trigger automatic gag reflexes.


Tony

[Shibakoen]

I am in total agreement on both points. I still remember the first and only time I had uni. It like oozed out over my fingers and the texture in my mouth was just bizzarre. Never, never again... I wonder why that smiley isn't one of the forum's standard choices? What got me was the "run-off" on the side of the mouth after the projectile purge.

[Infidel]

AJBryant wrote:
There are two "Japanese foods" I can't (won't, don't, wouldn't, ain't about to) eat:

Natto, and uni.

Both trigger automatic gag reflexes.


Tony

uni? Uni? Unagi? hrmmm Unagi? hrm. I LOVE unagi. MMMMmmmmMMM.

I've heard uni somewhere.... Ah, at the sushi bar, next to the unagi. Nope, never had it.

Btw, I can't stand fish eggs. I got the salmon roe once because it is so pretty, the sensation of the eggs popping in my mouth was exquisite, but then the taste. It is like walking onto fishing boat and licking the deck.

[AJBryant]

Uni is sea urchin insides.

Oh, yeah. I agree with you about the salmon roe. But did you know most sushi places don't use real salmon roe? The stuff's expensive, so they use these little "gell-cap" salmon roe with fish oil and extract filling.

Tastes pretty much the same (think margarine vs. butter) but the difference is enough that some people are picky (think people who will only cook with butter and never margarine. )

Tony

[Gan]

中Mcdonalds日本、you see the sacuce on this? what is it? Its looks really nasty. Is it like the Japanese version of mayo? And if you know what it is, is it rude, to order it like. "I would like a #1 with only ketchup pelase?" or "I would like a #1 w/o (insert the name of that sauce here). anyway what is it? and what does it taste like? and one more thing? is 560￥ roughly equal to $4.99? and is that expensive for Japan? Plus a side not in the little circle price thingy why is the en symbol on the left? I thought it went on the right, Maybe Japan is becoming even more americanized..

[hyperconjugated]

theshadowtaker wrote:
中Mcdonalds日本、you see the sacuce on this? what is it? Its looks really nasty. Is it like the Japanese version of mayo? And if you know what it is, is it rude, to order it like. "I would like a #1 with only ketchup pelase?" or "I would like a #1 w/o (insert the name of that sauce here). anyway what is it? and what does it taste like? and one more thing? is 560￥ roughly equal to $4.99? and is that expensive for Japan? Plus a side not in the little circle price thingy why is the en symbol on the left? I thought it went on the right, Maybe Japan is becoming even more americanized..

It looks like mayonaise. In many European countries burgers
include mayo and fries are often dipped in it. And it is very
delicious. Paprika mayo, curry mayo etc. It's really heavy on
calories though.
Maybe in Japan also?

here's a little quote to put the mayo in context:

VINCENT: I dunno, I didn't go into a Burger King. But you know what they put on french fries in Holland instead of ketchup?

JULES: What?

VINCENT: Mayonnaise.

JULES: Goddamn!

VINCENT: I seen 'em do it. And I don't mean a little bit on the side of the plate, they ******* drown 'em in it.