The Food.

I was invited to give a special presentation about American food in Japan and Japanese food in America to some third year classes and let me tell you, I was excited. The only thing more exciting than talking to my students about food is actually eating the food. Most students don't really have a good idea of what food chains in Japan are actually American chains and I figured they'd find what Japanese foods Americans think are Japanese... but aren't really.

I printed out some menus and some photos and I was set.

First students had to guess a few chain stores that were American by were in Japan. We gave some descriptions...

"This is expensive ice cream that you can buy at the grocery store, 7-11, or at an actual ice cream store." Answer: Haagen Dazs

"This is a good place to go when you are in the mood for a hamburger, fries, and a coke. We sometimes call this place "The Golden Arches." Answer: McDonalds

there were a few more, but I'll spare you.

Other companies were Baskin Robbins, Pizza Hut, Subway (which just came to Niigata this year so no one has been yet), KFC (which they call "Kenta" or sometimes "Kentakki" for short), 7-11, and so on.

Then I explained about American pizza. I showed them a picture of New York style pizza. "See, it's thin and delicious looking." then I showed them Chicago "See, it's THICK and delicious looking." The giggled at the New York style photo but their jaws dropped about the Chicago style one. "IT'S TOO BIG TO BE CALLED A PIZZA!" "WHY IS ALL THE SAUCE IS ON TOP!?!?!" "DO PEOPLE BECOME SICK FROM TOO MUCH CHEESE???" Though, they all agreed it looked good.

Then they had to guess typical foods that we eat in America. I explained to them the difference between Japanese sandwiches and American sandwiches. Japanese sandwiches are often these little crustless danty white bread finger sandwiches with a bunch of lettuce, a layer of mayo, then one slice of meat. I showed them a picture of sub sandwiches from America, including a cross section of a sandwich from Potbelly's and they all, again, gasped. "SO MUCH MEAT!" "THERE'S TOO MUCH BREAD!" "IT'S TOO BIG TO FIT IN MY MOUTH!!!" They laughed and laughed and laughed.

Then we discssed how even though hamburgers are popular, they're not really a staple food (as many Japanese people seem to believe) and that a typical healthy person doesn't often eat a lot of hamburgers. I showed them tacos, burritos, and salsa. I talked about various pies (apple, pumpkin, peach, cherry, and so on...), of course the wonderful world of bagels, grilled meats, gyros, American Chinese food (which is pretty different than Japan's take), and Italian food (also pretty different from Japanese take).

Then I went on to explain Japanese food in America. "So, we have Sushi everywhere. Anytime you go to a Japanese restaurant in America, they have sushi...but also have OTHER foods like chicken teriyaki and other Japanese foods." This was a surprising concept for Japanese people because when it comes to Japanese restaurants in Japan, most of the time they specialize in ONE food. You got a sushi restaurant and can pretty much only get sushi, tempura shops sell tempura, ramen shops sell ramen, and soba shops sell soba. There's sometimes a few extra items hidden on menus, but you don't get menus that say like "FROM THE GRILL!" followed by a "SALADS AND SOUPS!" section with a "HOMEMADE PASTAS!" secion and then a "FIESTA MEXICANA!" section.

Then I went into my American style sushi lecture. In the world of Sushi there are two main kinds of styles, the "pressed" or "Nigiri" sushi and the "rolled" or "Maki" sushi. America's nigiri is pretty much the same as Japan's in terms of style and variety, but when it comes to Maki, we're worlds apart. You see, in Japan there is no "Spider Roll" or "Dragon Roll" or "Beauty and the Beast Roll" (which was on a menu I printed out for the class.) Japan has simple rolls, for the most part. Some fish or vegetables wrapped in rice and seaweed. Sometimes you come across "Futomaki" which means "Fat roll" which usually has egg, cucumber, pickled vegetables, and sometimes a kind of fish or crab in it. They usually look like this...

(Tuna roll)


(Futomaki)



So I showed them the American maki menu along with some photos like this...



...And then their heads literally exploded. They thought it was beautiful and also said it looked delicious, which surprised me. They'd never seen rice on the outside of the seaweed before either.

Don't get me wrong, Japan definitely has some creative sushi and even sushi art, but they aren't really common. Just for fun, here is some Japanese sushi art...