Food is so important in all cultures, and if anyone knows my background at all, I have a pretty long relationship with food and cooking. So it only makes sense that my observations in cultural differences and adventures would largely incorporate food.
It's only fair to mention that Hokkaido is renown in japan for it's high quality produce, fish, and general food stuffs.
Observe the following image below.
Why yes, those melons are being sold at 1100 to 1800 yen a PIECE. All different types of melon, each categorized by sweetness, size, flesh color, and priced accordingly.
It's gradually come to my attention that food in Japan has a dominant focus on local production and high quality. These melons are expensive because they're grown nearby, without high infrastructure shipping methods or big corporation cost reduction strategies.
In other words, they're local, and I'd bet my foot and arm some of the best melon you will ever taste.
Similarly, I present "Nama Caramel", or quite literally, "Raw Caramel"
Why yes this is amazing stuffA Hokkaido specialty, nama caramel is a caramel candy which is slowly cooked at low heat at hours at a time.
The result is a candy which must be kept in the refrigerator, or else, quilt literally, the candy will melt. It is a caramel with the texture and mouth feel of butter, smoothly coating the palate as is gently warms and melts over the tongue. Simple and yet extremely deep flavor, rich, completely and utterly delicious. It honestly made me speechless.
And it costs 850 yen for that tiny container of 12.
Which might seem outlandish. Who would spend $8.50 on caramel?
But that store is packed, every day throngs of customers gaze at the treats. Why?
Because here in Japan, quality, the assurance of something special, be it a simple melon that was grown with detail to perfect flavor and appeal, or instead a perfectly smooth luscious slice of tuna, or a simple candy that is created so flawlessly and deliciously, has become a very modern trend. The foodies here are satisfied by the simple, yet perfect.
By comparison, American cookery, with it's overly detailed 30 ingredient dishes, absurd "molecular gastronomy" techniques, and redundant recipes, is a joke.
A caramel, a melon, a slice of fish. Respect for the ingredients themselves. This is missing from the American food world.
But it exists here, and it is delicious.
The result is a candy which must be kept in the refrigerator, or else, quilt literally, the candy will melt. It is a caramel with the texture and mouth feel of butter, smoothly coating the palate as is gently warms and melts over the tongue. Simple and yet extremely deep flavor, rich, completely and utterly delicious. It honestly made me speechless.
And it costs 850 yen for that tiny container of 12.
Which might seem outlandish. Who would spend $8.50 on caramel?
But that store is packed, every day throngs of customers gaze at the treats. Why?
Because here in Japan, quality, the assurance of something special, be it a simple melon that was grown with detail to perfect flavor and appeal, or instead a perfectly smooth luscious slice of tuna, or a simple candy that is created so flawlessly and deliciously, has become a very modern trend. The foodies here are satisfied by the simple, yet perfect.
By comparison, American cookery, with it's overly detailed 30 ingredient dishes, absurd "molecular gastronomy" techniques, and redundant recipes, is a joke.
A caramel, a melon, a slice of fish. Respect for the ingredients themselves. This is missing from the American food world.
But it exists here, and it is delicious.
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