Its what's for dinner

I was talking to my mother and grandmother today and my grandmother asked me what I had for dinner. It reminded me of a question Phil had asked us, something along the lines of "Are you guys cooking Japanese food now?"

The honest answer is, "no." I don't think any Japanese person would claim the food we make as part of their culture. Even so, our cooking has changed significantly since coming to Japan.

Change #1: Some things you just can't get.
Cheese for example. One of Russell's favorite meals/snacks in the US was a burrito with whole wheat tortilla, whatever leftovers we had in the fridge and cheese on top. With no tortillas (much less whole wheat ones), no cheese (plastic-y camembert doesn't count as cheese), and no microwave, this tradition bit the dust. As a side effect, with the lack of regular cheese and milk, Russell's body remembered that it was lactose intolerant, so dairy is pretty much out in all forms. Even pizza. I don't get pizza any more, even though I found a pizza place I like. Bummer. We also can't get decent peanut butter. Yes, there is Skippy at most supermarkets, but it costs $8 for a tiny little jar and, well, its Skippy. There is a rumor that a store in Osaka has fresh ground peanut butter, but we've been too lazy to seek it out, so unless a kind traveler brings us some (thanks Dad and Phil!), we are pretty much peanut butter free.

Change #2: Different ingredients at different prices
Of course, there is a wide variety of seafood to be experimented with. Its kind of fun and terrifying to grab a couple filets of some kind of fish you have never seen before and hope its tasty. It usually is. The vegetables are also awesome. You can get some of the same things - spinach, carrots, potatoes, green onions, green peppers, etc. But there are a lot of other vegetables that are either less favored in America or downright unavailable. There are several varieties of mushrooms that I had never seen in the States (but LOVE) and a different style of eggplant that has become a staple at our house. Then there's goya (bitter melon, which I mentioned in a previous post) and different varieties of sweet potato. In spring, there is a lot of bamboo shoot, too. Oh, and burdock root (gobo), okra and lotus root are also easy to come by. All of these are delicious and we cook with them often. We never use tomatoes. Aside from the fact that I don't like them anyway, they are crazy expensive all year round. Fruit is also expensive. We just have to bite it on that one, though. Neither of us are willing to live fruit free. We try to eat whatever is cheapest, though. Usually bananas and oranges. Right now, there are a variety of fruits in season so we have been feasting. Strawberries are under $4 a container, I got a half pineapple for $2 and a big bunch of tasty grapes was under $3. When we first arrived in Japan, these prices seemed expensive, but now that I know what fruit will cost in winter, I'm happy to pay the price I can get.

Change #3: Different seasonings
This is the biggest difference in our cooking. In the US we used a lot of olive oil, cayenne, basil, oregano and pepper. Here we tend to use soy sauce, mirin, sake, dashi, miso and oyster sauce to flavor our cooking. Oh, and I found shichimi (seven flavor seasoning) to replace cayenne. I pretty much use it in everything I cook to add some kick. Its great.

So what did we have for dinner last night?

The ingredients were Japanese, but the preparation was definitely of our own making. We got some mystery fish from the store and some sliced lotus root, shredded carrot and burdock root. We cooked the fish with a little oil, soy sauce, mirin and sake, got it slightly brown on each side and then pushed it to the side and cooked the vegetables in the remaining sauce. All of this was dumped unceremoniously on brown rice. It was delicious and very Japanese inspired, but I think my Japanese friends would probably be a little bit horrified at our version of their cuisine. Oh well.

Interestingly, while rice is a major, major staple in Japan (like, in movies, people who have been abroad cry when they taste real, Japanese white rice again) brown rice is difficult to find and rarely eaten. Most grocery stores stock a small bag of brown rice, but not the big bags like they do for white rice. I have one student who grew up eating brown rice, but the rest are aghast when I tell them that's what I choose to eat.

So how would a Japanese person prepare a dinner like the one I mentioned above? Good question. Having not had the benefit of a culinary-oriented home stay, I can't really say how all of the little side dishes are made. I do know that you usually have a small bowl of white rice with other small bowls - one with the fish, one with vegetables, one with something else, etc. I don't know how all of them are seasoned or how to make them myself. It also seems terribly time consuming (though I guess I wouldn't know). Maybe someday I will become good friends with someone who will show me how to do this all right. :)