Japanese Cuisine

I have made a pact with myself- and my anthropology of food professor- that I will "try everything and decide whether it is delicious before finding out what it is." Sometimes I regret that, but so far I am pretty excited about being adventurous and trying new things!

Alisa and her mother were very kind and took my family out to a traditional Japanese restaurant. Let me just preface this by saying Japanese food in America is NOT Japanese food in Japan. I figured when I sat down for the meal I would be presented with white rice, maybe some seaweed and sushi. But instead the meal was about 7 courses long (all small portions however) and each thing on the plate was an entirely different food. We started with some sort of squishy brown tofu, brussel sprouts with mustard, and a white hot drink thy smelled like miso soup, but tasted like ginger milk with little white floating bits. Surprising the drink was quite delicious, though Alisa and her mother were not fond of it. Next was miso soup with an unidetifiable floating multicolored piece of tofu and then they brought out the raw fish. No rice, nothing to wash it down. Just raw fish on a pretty green leaf. The presentation was beautiful, as us all Japanese food preparation, but I wasn't sure if I could get down the raw fish... But I had to. I popped a slice in and it was surprising delicious. I tried piece after piece, not knowing what kind of fish I was devouring, until I got to the squid. I didn't know it was squid until I realized it tasted like a rubberband with little tiny pimples all over it. Good thing the next part of the meal was beef (cooked) in teriyaki sauce. It was my favorite. Followed by Japanese radishes and crab in soup and ending the meal with a bowl of rice with nuts, I thought the meal was over. The Japanese frequently end a meal with rice. But no, we still had to have dessert- fresh fruit and long slimy noodles dipped in a very sweet syrup. So far, my basic understanding of japanese food- gelantinous, salty, fishy. I live jello, but this kind is a little too much or my palet. I'm glad I tried everything though!

Green tea is served at the end of each meal. It is frothy, very green and made from powder. It was too bitter for me, but it is apparently loved by the Japanese and very special in the Japanese tea ceremony. All in all the Japanese cuisine is interesting, and fun to try but I think I like the American friendly version a little better.