Cognitive Cuisine

Itadakimasu!

This may be the word/phrase other than ohayo gozaimasu (good morning) and wakarimasen (I don't understand) that I say the most in Japan. The Japanese (and yours truly) say it before eating. I don't think it has a direct translation into English, but it basically means "I eat" and/or "Thanks for the food." Itadakimasu! This simple word brings memories of home to my frontal lobe. You see, I am a preacher's kid and we, of course, prayed before every meal. What started with "Come, Lord Jesus" soon evolved to multi-verse "Johnny Appleseed" and movie-themed prayers involving Superman and The Addam's Family. I digress, much like an eleven year old version of me mentally-straying from the sermon as I sat in the front pew of my father's church. Clarification: My dad is the best pastor I have ever been in the presence of....it's just that when you are 11 years old the last thing you want to be doing is getting preached to....I was getting enough of that at home, especially after shooting my sister with a BB gun.






This post is to give you a taste of what life in Japan is like. Because I live in a teacher's dormitory, I have breakfasts and dinners cooked for me Monday through Friday. Yep, there is a little old Japanese lady who cooks for all us teachers. Talk about getting a taste of Japan. I get what the Japanese get. I eat what the Japanese eat. And I learn what food to thoroughly avoid while the Japanese swallow it whole. So without further adieu, Bon Appetit!

Ask any Japanese person what ethnicity of food is their favorite and they will say Japanese food. They are more proud of their food than a slaving mother cooking on Thanksgiving Day for her extended family. Many of my students say their favorite food is rice (actually because of the difficulty in distinguishing between the 'r' and 'l' sounds, sometimes it sounds like they are saying lice). Yeah, plain rice. Talk about delectable. Anyway, rice is a staple here, much like bread or whatever we have back stateside. Another staple is miso. Miso is basically salted soybean paste. It is used to make the infamous miso soup (which is sadly not present in any of the pictures shown here). Miso soup is coffee to me. It rejuvenates me and warms my soul to the core, especially on frigid winter days. Another staple in the Japanese diet is sea food. I have never eaten so much fish, octopus, squid, clam, oyster, sea weed, eel, and shrimp. Red Lobster wouldn't survive the competition over here, although I wish they would try.


Some other typical dishes include such things as giant white radishes, tofu, noodles, and salt. Daikon, the giant white radish, is like the potato for us. If there had been a daikon famine here back in the mid 19th century instead of the Irish potato famine, I don't think St. Patrick's Day would be as widely celebrated in America, and I think Pearl Harbor could have been avoided altogether. Anyway, I am not a fan of the daikon unless it is in a nice hot, steaming bowl of miso. Often the teachers snack on pickled daikon that has the crunchability of a jaw-breaker and tortilla chips all rolled up into one. It has been reported that you can hear a person chewing on daikon two kilometers away. Next, tofu. Tofu is the dark-horse for me. My previous exposure to tofu left me questioning the dietary motives of this food. I thought it tasted like mush combined with a taste of nothing. So, basically mush. But here, tofu evolved and made friends with some of my taste buds. Noodles. Japan ranks behind only Italy in noodle consumption (note: I have no idea...it just sounded good). There are many kinds of noodles here. Soba. Udon. Spaghetti. Ramen. And a handful of others. The thing about eating noodles is this: in Japan it is polite to slurp them. Yep. My mom would go nuts! For about 3 months, I was very insecure with my noodle slurping. I just couldn't do it. I felt like I was breaking this forbidden rule and that someone would come up to me and ask if I was born in a barn. However, I grew accustomed to it. My comfort to slurping noodles is evident by taking a look at my stain-spotted shirts from that dangling noodle dancing its way into my mouth. Salt. Simple...Japanese people love salt more than the Dead Sea does. In fact, to "help the medicine go down" the Japanese have been known to take a spoonful of salt.