Japan: The Diversity Journey Begins

Before I begin, I’d like to forewarn all of you that this may be somewhat of a lengthy post, but this is something that is very special to me, so please bear with me. Thank you in advance! J

At the end of last year, Bethany spoke to each of the Simply Savvy Sisters and asked them to choose a focus for 2017. (i.e. finance, love, health, etc.) I thought as the food and nutrition “expert” of the group I should choose something like health or wellness, but, honestly, after a rough first semester in my dietetics program, I realized I needed a break from all things that are obvious in that aspect. So, instead, I decided to go with diversity.

To me, diversity is key to food. By that, I mean that diversity is culture and culture is food. You must first truly understand and appreciate the culture from which a food item comes from in order to enjoy it fully. Each culture has its own taste palate, its own reason why it is special and why it is eaten. With that being said, it was only natural for me to begin my diversity focus with Japan.

Background: Japan is a place that I’ve dreamed of for something close to 20 years. My love affair with the country began somewhere around 6th grade, when one summer my cousin told me about Sailor Moon. I would get up every morning at 5am just to watch it. I began to notice the different foods that they ate and the different customs they had and my interest in how they lived and what they did grew. I started looking for other shows and, with help to this new thing called the internet (am I dating myself yet?), found other shows that were similar to Sailor Moon (also called mahou shoujo or magical girl series). This was also around this time when Pokémon made its way to the United States, which helped me to branch out a bit, at least on the anime front. Soon, after this, I wanted to learn more about the country that was giving me these fascinating shows. I would go to Barnes and Noble (RIP 98 North B&N) and buy Japanese dictionaries with the hope of learning the language. Every birthday, I would add “A Trip to Japan” on my wish list. I did book reports on the Japanese Internment camps in the U.S. during World War II. I would scour the internet for the, at the time, limited Japanese candy shops and buy all the candy I could get my hands on. (I’m sure you get the picture and can possibly understand my obsession at this point.) And then…I stopped. At 16, I started dating a guy who thought those things were silly and I wanted nothing more than to impress him with my maturity. So, I gave all of that up. Flash forward to 29. I’d finally settled in to being a mom and my daughter was just starting to figure out what she likes and doesn’t like. To my surprise, she turned out to be a tiny version of me. She wanted to know all about Pokémon, Sailor Moon, and all things Studio Ghibli, etc. She’s helped me to get back to the things that I’d thought I’d lost and given up for the past 16 years. Now, we’re constantly looking out for the next Japanese festival to go to and will steal takoyaki right off my plate, if I’m not fast enough. What is takoyaki, you may ask? Well, let’s set this tangent aside and get on to what you’re really looking for in this post: the food!

Japanese food is WAY more than just sushi. In fact, the sushi we eat here in the U.S. is a far different from the sushi eaten in Japan. But that’s a tangent for another day. I’m actually going to focus on only a few traditional foods, so I can keep this post somewhat manageable. All of the recipes for the following dishes can be found on Japanese Cooking 101 and all of the ingredients I used were bought at Gigi’s Oriental Market.

To start, I’m going to talk about toshikoshi soba. Toshikoshi soba is a soup that is traditionally eaten on New Year’s Eve and is supposed to bring good luck for the New Year. The broth is made with a mixture of dashi (a type of fish stock), mirin, sake, and soy sauce. It is extremely easy and quick to make, tasty, and surprisingly filling. Let me tell you, I’m not huge into superstition or good luck charms, but so far this year I’ve had some pretty awesome luck and will now eat soba noodles every New Year’s Eve!

Next up is osechi ryori. Osechi ryori are traditional New Year’s Day foods. The Japanese are serious when it comes to food for New Year’s festivities. Since some of my family members aren’t as adventurous as I am when it comes to food, I decided to keep things pretty simple.

Some of the dishes I chose were kuri kinton (a combination of Japanese sweet potatoes and chestnuts), datemaki (an egg dish made with a soft fish cake called hanpen), tsukune (a chicken meatball with a teriyaki sauce), and, of course, ozoni (the most traditional dish of the Japanese New Year, which is a soup made with mochi, or rice cakes). The kuri kinton was refreshingly good. While a little on the sweet side, the combination of the earthy Japanese sweet potatoes with the nutty chestnuts (This is a poor adjective, I know. Nuts are nutty, who knew?!) made for a pleasant change of pace, especially since potatoes are my least favorite carbohydrate. I did not take a picture of this because I’m no food photographer and, well, it looked like a lump of mush. However, when you check out the recipe, you’ll see an extremely appetizing photo, which will make you want to cook this up tonight. I do recommend cutting back on the sugar because it is pretty sweet, like I said. The datemaki was fun to make and I will definitely be purchasing a tamago pan (a rectangular shaped pan used for cooking egg dishes like this. Tamago is Japanese for egg.) Unfortunately, I was unable to find hanpen for my datemaki and ended up using some hard fish cake that I found, which made it look slightly odd and gave it a perplexing texture. I did manage to find some online and will be buying hanpen as soon as it’s in stock and will be making this again.

Tsukune easily became one of my family’s favorite foods. My parents have asked me to make this several times since making osechi ryori. It has a delicate texture, but a powerful flavor. Plus, it’s incredibly easy to make! I ended up adding daikon (a mild tasting turnip) and carrots to mine because I wanted some more texture and had some leftover daikon after making the ozoni. Again, I’m no food photographer, but I at least attempted to take a picture of this one to show you just how many you can get out of this recipe. We ended up freezing some to have for dinners on other nights.

Ah, ozoni. I was super excited about making this dish. Everyone that follows me on Instagram knows of my obsession with mochi. The broth was very satisfying in both its easy to make and its flavor. The texture of the toasted mochi made be unbelievably happy. However, you have to be careful not to take huge bites of it, as it can literally kill you. There are several deaths by mochi every year due to people trying to eat it too fast.

I’d actually planned on taking Dorothy to Oshogatsu (Japanese New Year festival) at the Morikami Museum and Japanese Gardens down in Delray Beach, but due to some unseen (literally, my eye was swollen) circumstances, we were unable to attend. So, instead, I took her over to Gigi’s and we collected some fun stuff to have our own festival with. I decided to make tsukune again and tried my hand at making okonomiyaki (a savory Japanese pancake made with cabbage and basically whatever other toppings you want). Funnily enough, my family also loved the latter and I’ve been told I have to make it again soon, too. If you’re interested in trying this out, Gigi’s has an okonomiyaki kit available for purchase and there are English instructions included.

And, of course, no festival would be complete without dessert! I went a little crazy and bought three different types of ice cream, some of which are Korean, but I know that I’ve seen them at festivals such as the Orlando Japan Festival, so I felt they were ok. Plus, I mean, it’s ice cream. I won’t judge where it comes from as long as it’s tasty.

Naturally, the mochi ice cream was my favorite and Dorothy loved the vanilla and red bean Samanco.

And finally, to end this journey, I grabbed my favorite photographer (the one and only Bethany May) and headed to my favorite restaurant (Thai Oishi at Lakeside Village) for some of my favorite Japanese foods there.

Miso soup is by far my favorite soup in the entire world. I literally used to make this soup every night when I was having issues with my ulcerative colitis because it helped me feel less like death. (The Japanese have one of the lowest rates of Inflammatory Bowel Disease cases in the world, which is one of the reasons I decided to stick to a mostly Japanese diet.) While I can make this soup at home at any time, Thai Oishi has one of the best that I’ve tasted, at least in Florida. And believe me, I’ve eaten at a lot of Asian restaurants in Central Florida.

Takoyaki is something I’ve dreamed of trying since the early days of my Japanese obsession. However, I do not own a takoyaki pan nor do I have any desire to purchase a cake pop maker in order to make these for myself at home. Imagine my excitement when I discovered that Thai Oishi served it. Takoyaki is a soft and fluffy batter that surrounds a small piece of octopus. If you want to know how good it is, let me just say this: Dorothy and I eat this almost every time we go and she actually lost it when we tried to share a piece with her grandfather.

Their sushi is also something that you won’t soon forget. I used to be one of those people who ordered the most absurd rolls. However, the fish they use is so fresh and flavorful that the simpler the roll, the better. I highly recommend the salmon roll, if you’re looking to downgrade the amount of ingredients in your sushi rolls.

If you’re curious about what else Thai Oishi has to offer, I plan on doing a post on Thailand for the month of April. Or, I’m literally there at least 2 to 3 times a week, so you can just come join me for dinner and I’ll give you my recommendations in person.

Thank you all for coming along with me on my Japanese cultural journey. I look forward to traveling you next month, location to be announced soon!

-Megan

Meg With Love