Hey guys, Boi 1 (Andrea) here to give you one last update on Japan's delicious cuisine. Unfortunately, I'm no longer actually in Japan--I had to come back to Calgary because I felt guilty asking my manager at work for more time off. I left with part of the group on June 8th, and have been missing Japan like no other since then. From the punctual (yet confusing, from time to time) transit system, to the yummy food and snacks that I was able to eat every day, memories made in Japan seem like a distant dream now. I wish I had been able to spend more time in the country and travel more--it would have been a great chance to discover more of the local delicacies that I had researched on previously. However, given that I am no longer in Tokyo, I guess I will have to make do.
Given that our topic is food, I think I will focus on that for this last blog entry. There are many things I could say about Japan, but alas, I will have to leave such praises for another time.
First of all, I'd like to comment on how ridiculously cheap food is in Japan. Immediately after coming back to Canada, that was the first thing I noticed. If you know where to look, you can get a whole meal for no more than $7 (CAD), and for this reason, I ate as much as I could while I was in Tokyo. For this reason, Senshu University's cafeteria became the love of my life (and while I am not able to go to it now, it will forever live in my heart). A plate of katsu curry rice was as little as 400 yen! Ramen, udon, and meal sets ranged from as low as 280 yen (I recommend the tanuki udon--the noodles are soft and the broth flavorful), and I never saw a single meal go over 600 yen. As a struggling university student, I was instantly hooked. Meals were cheap, but never tasted bad. This was a pattern that I noticed throughout my stay in Japan--very seldomly I found meals to be poorly made.
This brings me onto food quality--even the cheapest meals were almost always made with the utmost care and skill. Japanese cuisine seems to focus heavily on presentation, as I found to be the case when visiting anything from ramen shops to cafes. The food is always arranged nicely and in an appealing manner--it's almost a shame to ruin the chef's hard work! Taste was always flavorful and different. In Japan, I tried many meals that I am not normally able to find in Calgary, in terms of both taste (Japanese people like to play around with flavor more, it seems) and actual food type (e.g., in Calgary I have yet to find a cafe that is able to compete with Japanese parfaits).
Sadly, I do not think I will be able to indulge in food this good for a bit now. Currently, I have no plans to go back, but I know that I will jump at the first chance that presents itself. Given that the spring course was only a month long, it makes sense that it would be packed with classes and activities, so the next time I go, I am determined to explore different areas. But for now, this is all I have, so with that, I bid you adieu!
This has been Boi 1, signing off for the last time. May we meet once more!
No comments:
Post a Comment