A Nation of Food Otaku

 

I come from a country where culinary sophistication amounts to adding chives to your potatoes and where a jam sandwich is considered a perfectly acceptable lunch. And I don’t mean a jam sandwich like Fukuoka’s elementary school students have after their main meal: I mean a jam sandwich on its own with maybe a packet of crisps afterwards if you are still hungry or feeling particularly plush.

The longer I spend in Japan though the more I realize the importance of, nay, obsession with food in this country. What is it with the Japanese and food? In the UK foodies are a minority group, like train spotters or football hooligans, while in Japan it seems everyone borders on food fanaticism.

Last month I sent home a magazine for my sister: I wanted to provide her vicariously with a flavor of Fukuoka (she’ll not make it to Japan what with a British pound being worth about as much as a dozen pachinko balls at present), so plumped for a locally published title. The publication in question had 12 pages, yes 12 pages, of photos of people sitting down to eat their dinner alone. No recipes, nothing useful (to my mind), just them and their food. For 12 pages. In these “home cooking files”, as they were called, the attention to detail was striking. Most people had four beautifully presented dishes neatly laid out on a place mat in front of them and one fella, bless him, obviously couldn’t wait for the photographer to line up the perfect shot and had already started wolfing down his rice. And this was supposed to inform, or maybe to entertain us. A man eating his dinner… That’s it.

As a teacher (and I use the word in the loosest possible way) I like to try and broaden the vistas of my students and find out where they would like to visit and what they’d like to do if they went there. The same answers every time: I want to go to Italy to eat pizza, I want to go to New York and eat an American hamburger. Never mind taking in the view from the Empire State Building! When you ask me about NY I imagine museums, world class galleries, neighborhoods filled with character, Central Park, but these students of mine seemed to picture nothing but one Big Apple! And what do they do with the rest of the day, in between mealtimes? I picture them sat slouched, glumly glancing at their watches every few seconds and impatiently awaiting their next opportunity to eat.

Conversely, if I ask any Japanese for advice about traveling within their country the recommendations are always food centric. Osaka? You should eat takoyaki. Sapporo? You have to eat the crab? But what if I don’t want to? You have to eat the crab! If you take a look at these same people’s holiday snaps I’ll wager at least a third will show them grinning with expectation behind their lunch/dinner, or they’ll be almost pornographic close-ups of the local cuisine. I once asked my Japanese tutor where in Japan had the least oishii food. She looked at me with a combination of scorn and pity that made it instantly clear that I was being ridiculous: you idiot, don’t you know that the food is delicious everywhere in Japan? So her eyes seemed to say.

Recently I had some stickers with food pictures to give as prizes to students. A fellow teacher noticed them on my desk and squealed oisshii with such delight that soon half a dozen other teachers were swarming around my desk, all just to get a glimpse of a bowel of ramen! Admittedly it was well-photographed ramen but it was still a picture nonetheless. I genuinely thought for an uncomfortable moment that the science teacher, middle aged, disheveled and looking like he lives off cup noodles was going to peel off a sticker and put it in his mouth. Uma-so they cooed as I sat bewildered.

And yet for all the rich heritage, traditions and variety in Japanese cuisine it is woefully under-served in terms of language to describe it. Only two words, umai and oishii, run the gamut from Asahi to wasabi. For a nation with such a pathological desire for food this seems like a strange dichotomy. Is this abnormal interest healthy? Surely there’s much more to life than this obsession with what you are going to eat. I can’t understand how people can get so excited about something that will happen again in just a few hours’ time! Why waste the energy getting so worked up about it?

I wonder if that magazine would consider featuring me, a broad grin on my face and a large white plate in front of me, upon which lies a beautifully presented raspberry jam sandwich.

 

 

 

 

 

ジャガイモにチャイブを加えれば洗練された食事とされ、ジャムサンドウィッチが完璧な昼食として受け入れられている、ボクはそんな国から、ここ日本にやってきた。もちろん福岡の小学生たちが食事の後におやつとして食べる感覚ではなくって、ジャムサンドがメインだよ。食後にまだ何か物足りない、と感じた時にチップスとジャムサンドがあればご馳走気分が味わえる、そんなお国柄さ。
日本で長く過ごしてみて気がついたんだけど、この国は食をとても重要視しているよね。もっとストレートに言うと、異常なまでの執念をもってるようだよ。英国で食に興味をもっている人は、電車マニアとかフーリガンみたいに稀な存在だけど、日本人は全員が食マニアなんじゃないか？とすら感じるよ。
先月、英国にいる姉に日本の雑誌を送ったんだ。今は円高で日本に来られないから、福岡について教えるためにローカル誌を送ったよ。しかし、その雑誌ではなんと12ページに渡って、人々の食事姿が掲載されていたんだ。レシピなど役立つ情報は一切無し！美しくセッティングされてはいるものの、カメラマンの撮影タイミングを待てないのか、ガツガツと食事をしている男性が写っているだけ。日本人はこの情報誌をどうやって楽しんでいるんだい？
ボクは教師として、生徒たちが視野を広げ、様々な場所を訪れて、そこで何をしたいのかを見つけてほしいと思っている。なのに彼らときたら、イタリアでピザを食べたい、ニューヨークに行ってハンバーガーを食べたいとか…！エンパイアステートビルからの景色なんてそっちのけなんだ。ボクがニューヨークについて尋ねられたら、博物館やアートギャラリー、そしてセントラルパークなんかを想像するんだけど、生徒たちは大きなリンゴを想像しているんじゃないかな？彼らときたら、昼食と夕食の間は数秒単位で腕時計を何度も見ながら不機嫌そうに座り、次の食事までイライラしているかのようだよ。
逆にボクが日本国内を旅行する際に日本人にお薦めを尋ねると、いつも答えは決まって食べ物についてばかり。「大阪へ行くの？たこ焼きは絶対食べなきゃ！」「札幌？カニがお薦めよ！」もしカニを食べたくなかったら？「それでもカニは食べたほうがいいよ。」とくる始末。日本人に旅先での写真を見せてもらえば、少なくとも３分の１はご飯を前にニコリと笑っている写真か、郷土料理のアップ写真だと思うよ。以前にボクの日本語の先生に美味しくない日本食は何かと尋ねると、彼女は嘲笑うかのように、そして哀れむような目でボクを見ていたよ。まるで「日本の食べ物は全部美味しい決まってるでしょ。」と言わんばかりに。
最近、食べ物が載ったシールを生徒へのご褒美の為に用意したんだ。すると先生の一人がそれに気付いて「おいしそう！」と近づいてきた。事務所にいた他の先生たちもそのラーメンのシールを一目見ようと集まって来たよ。確かにそのシールは良く出来ていたけど、あくまでもシールなんだけどな。
しかし、こんなに豊かな伝統と文化をもつ日本料理というものが存在しながら、「うまい」と「美味しい」だけの未熟な言語表現しかないのかが不思議だ。ビールからワサビまで同じ表現なんだ。しかも、どうせ数時間後にはまた次の食事にありつけるっていうのに、病的なほどに食べ物について探求し続けられることがさっぱり理解できないよ。人生にはもっと考えるべきことは多いはずだよ。
こんな日本だから、例の雑誌がボクに特集を組ませてくれないかなぁ。大きな白いお皿にラズベリージャムサンドを盛りつけ、ボクの破顔一笑。これってドォデショ（笑）？

 

 

 

 

 

I come from a country where culinary sophistication amounts to adding chives to your potatoes and where a jam sandwich is considered a perfectly acceptable lunch. And I don’t mean a jam sandwich like Fukuoka’s elementary school students have after their main meal: I mean a jam sandwich on its own with maybe a packet of crisps afterwards if you are still hungry or feeling particularly plush.

The longer I spend in Japan though the more I realize the importance of, nay, obsession with food in this country. What is it with the Japanese and food? In the UK foodies are a minority group, like train spotters or football hooligans, while in Japan it seems everyone borders on food fanaticism.

Last month I sent home a magazine for my sister: I wanted to provide her vicariously with a flavor of Fukuoka (she’ll not make it to Japan what with a British pound being worth about as much as a dozen pachinko balls at present), so plumped for a locally published title. The publication in question had 12 pages, yes 12 pages, of photos of people sitting down to eat their dinner alone. No recipes, nothing useful (to my mind), just them and their food. For 12 pages. In these “home cooking files”, as they were called, the attention to detail was striking. Most people had four beautifully presented dishes neatly laid out on a place mat in front of them and one fella, bless him, obviously couldn’t wait for the photographer to line up the perfect shot and had already started wolfing down his rice. And this was supposed to inform, or maybe to entertain us. A man eating his dinner… That’s it.

As a teacher (and I use the word in the loosest possible way) I like to try and broaden the vistas of my students and find out where they would like to visit and what they’d like to do if they went there. The same answers every time: I want to go to Italy to eat pizza, I want to go to New York and eat an American hamburger. Never mind taking in the view from the Empire State Building! When you ask me about NY I imagine museums, world class galleries, neighborhoods filled with character, Central Park, but these students of mine seemed to picture nothing but one Big Apple! And what do they do with the rest of the day, in between mealtimes? I picture them sat slouched, glumly glancing at their watches every few seconds and impatiently awaiting their next opportunity to eat.

Conversely, if I ask any Japanese for advice about traveling within their country the recommendations are always food centric. Osaka? You should eat takoyaki. Sapporo? You have to eat the crab? But what if I don’t want to? You have to eat the crab! If you take a look at these same people’s holiday snaps I’ll wager at least a third will show them grinning with expectation behind their lunch/dinner, or they’ll be almost pornographic close-ups of the local cuisine. I once asked my Japanese tutor where in Japan had the least oishii food. She looked at me with a combination of scorn and pity that made it instantly clear that I was being ridiculous: you idiot, don’t you know that the food is delicious everywhere in Japan? So her eyes seemed to say.

Recently I had some stickers with food pictures to give as prizes to students. A fellow teacher noticed them on my desk and squealed oisshii with such delight that soon half a dozen other teachers were swarming around my desk, all just to get a glimpse of a bowel of ramen! Admittedly it was well-photographed ramen but it was still a picture nonetheless. I genuinely thought for an uncomfortable moment that the science teacher, middle aged, disheveled and looking like he lives off cup noodles was going to peel off a sticker and put it in his mouth. Uma-so they cooed as I sat bewildered.

And yet for all the rich heritage, traditions and variety in Japanese cuisine it is woefully under-served in terms of language to describe it. Only two words, umai and oishii, run the gamut from Asahi to wasabi. For a nation with such a pathological desire for food this seems like a strange dichotomy. Is this abnormal interest healthy? Surely there’s much more to life than this obsession with what you are going to eat. I can’t understand how people can get so excited about something that will happen again in just a few hours’ time! Why waste the energy getting so worked up about it?

I wonder if that magazine would consider featuring me, a broad grin on my face and a large white plate in front of me, upon which lies a beautifully presented raspberry jam sandwich.

 

 

 

 

 

I come from a country where culinary sophistication amounts to adding chives to your potatoes and where a jam sandwich is considered a perfectly acceptable lunch. And I don’t mean a jam sandwich like Fukuoka’s elementary school students have after their main meal: I mean a jam sandwich on its own with maybe a packet of crisps afterwards if you are still hungry or feeling particularly plush.

The longer I spend in Japan though the more I realize the importance of, nay, obsession with food in this country. What is it with the Japanese and food? In the UK foodies are a minority group, like train spotters or football hooligans, while in Japan it seems everyone borders on food fanaticism.

Last month I sent home a magazine for my sister: I wanted to provide her vicariously with a flavor of Fukuoka (she’ll not make it to Japan what with a British pound being worth about as much as a dozen pachinko balls at present), so plumped for a locally published title. The publication in question had 12 pages, yes 12 pages, of photos of people sitting down to eat their dinner alone. No recipes, nothing useful (to my mind), just them and their food. For 12 pages. In these “home cooking files”, as they were called, the attention to detail was striking. Most people had four beautifully presented dishes neatly laid out on a place mat in front of them and one fella, bless him, obviously couldn’t wait for the photographer to line up the perfect shot and had already started wolfing down his rice. And this was supposed to inform, or maybe to entertain us. A man eating his dinner… That’s it.

As a teacher (and I use the word in the loosest possible way) I like to try and broaden the vistas of my students and find out where they would like to visit and what they’d like to do if they went there. The same answers every time: I want to go to Italy to eat pizza, I want to go to New York and eat an American hamburger. Never mind taking in the view from the Empire State Building! When you ask me about NY I imagine museums, world class galleries, neighborhoods filled with character, Central Park, but these students of mine seemed to picture nothing but one Big Apple! And what do they do with the rest of the day, in between mealtimes? I picture them sat slouched, glumly glancing at their watches every few seconds and impatiently awaiting their next opportunity to eat.

Conversely, if I ask any Japanese for advice about traveling within their country the recommendations are always food centric. Osaka? You should eat takoyaki. Sapporo? You have to eat the crab? But what if I don’t want to? You have to eat the crab! If you take a look at these same people’s holiday snaps I’ll wager at least a third will show them grinning with expectation behind their lunch/dinner, or they’ll be almost pornographic close-ups of the local cuisine. I once asked my Japanese tutor where in Japan had the least oishii food. She looked at me with a combination of scorn and pity that made it instantly clear that I was being ridiculous: you idiot, don’t you know that the food is delicious everywhere in Japan? So her eyes seemed to say.

Recently I had some stickers with food pictures to give as prizes to students. A fellow teacher noticed them on my desk and squealed oisshii with such delight that soon half a dozen other teachers were swarming around my desk, all just to get a glimpse of a bowel of ramen! Admittedly it was well-photographed ramen but it was still a picture nonetheless. I genuinely thought for an uncomfortable moment that the science teacher, middle aged, disheveled and looking like he lives off cup noodles was going to peel off a sticker and put it in his mouth. Uma-so they cooed as I sat bewildered.

And yet for all the rich heritage, traditions and variety in Japanese cuisine it is woefully under-served in terms of language to describe it. Only two words, umai and oishii, run the gamut from Asahi to wasabi. For a nation with such a pathological desire for food this seems like a strange dichotomy. Is this abnormal interest healthy? Surely there’s much more to life than this obsession with what you are going to eat. I can’t understand how people can get so excited about something that will happen again in just a few hours’ time! Why waste the energy getting so worked up about it?

I wonder if that magazine would consider featuring me, a broad grin on my face and a large white plate in front of me, upon which lies a beautifully presented raspberry jam sandwich.

 

 

 

 

I come from a country where culinary sophistication amounts to adding chives to your potatoes and where a jam sandwich is considered a perfectly acceptable lunch. And I don’t mean a jam sandwich like Fukuoka’s elementary school students have after their main meal: I mean a jam sandwich on its own with maybe a packet of crisps afterwards if you are still hungry or feeling particularly plush.

The longer I spend in Japan though the more I realize the importance of, nay, obsession with food in this country. What is it with the Japanese and food? In the UK foodies are a minority group, like train spotters or football hooligans, while in Japan it seems everyone borders on food fanaticism.

Last month I sent home a magazine for my sister: I wanted to provide her vicariously with a flavor of Fukuoka (she’ll not make it to Japan what with a British pound being worth about as much as a dozen pachinko balls at present), so plumped for a locally published title. The publication in question had 12 pages, yes 12 pages, of photos of people sitting down to eat their dinner alone. No recipes, nothing useful (to my mind), just them and their food. For 12 pages. In these “home cooking files”, as they were called, the attention to detail was striking. Most people had four beautifully presented dishes neatly laid out on a place mat in front of them and one fella, bless him, obviously couldn’t wait for the photographer to line up the perfect shot and had already started wolfing down his rice. And this was supposed to inform, or maybe to entertain us. A man eating his dinner… That’s it.

As a teacher (and I use the word in the loosest possible way) I like to try and broaden the vistas of my students and find out where they would like to visit and what they’d like to do if they went there. The same answers every time: I want to go to Italy to eat pizza, I want to go to New York and eat an American hamburger. Never mind taking in the view from the Empire State Building! When you ask me about NY I imagine museums, world class galleries, neighborhoods filled with character, Central Park, but these students of mine seemed to picture nothing but one Big Apple! And what do they do with the rest of the day, in between mealtimes? I picture them sat slouched, glumly glancing at their watches every few seconds and impatiently awaiting their next opportunity to eat.

Conversely, if I ask any Japanese for advice about traveling within their country the recommendations are always food centric. Osaka? You should eat takoyaki. Sapporo? You have to eat the crab? But what if I don’t want to? You have to eat the crab! If you take a look at these same people’s holiday snaps I’ll wager at least a third will show them grinning with expectation behind their lunch/dinner, or they’ll be almost pornographic close-ups of the local cuisine. I once asked my Japanese tutor where in Japan had the least oishii food. She looked at me with a combination of scorn and pity that made it instantly clear that I was being ridiculous: you idiot, don’t you know that the food is delicious everywhere in Japan? So her eyes seemed to say.

Recently I had some stickers with food pictures to give as prizes to students. A fellow teacher noticed them on my desk and squealed oisshii with such delight that soon half a dozen other teachers were swarming around my desk, all just to get a glimpse of a bowel of ramen! Admittedly it was well-photographed ramen but it was still a picture nonetheless. I genuinely thought for an uncomfortable moment that the science teacher, middle aged, disheveled and looking like he lives off cup noodles was going to peel off a sticker and put it in his mouth. Uma-so they cooed as I sat bewildered.

And yet for all the rich heritage, traditions and variety in Japanese cuisine it is woefully under-served in terms of language to describe it. Only two words, umai and oishii, run the gamut from Asahi to wasabi. For a nation with such a pathological desire for food this seems like a strange dichotomy. Is this abnormal interest healthy? Surely there’s much more to life than this obsession with what you are going to eat. I can’t understand how people can get so excited about something that will happen again in just a few hours’ time! Why waste the energy getting so worked up about it?

I wonder if that magazine would consider featuring me, a broad grin on my face and a large white plate in front of me, upon which lies a beautifully presented raspberry jam sandwich.

 

 

 

 

 

ジャガイモにチャイブを加えれば洗練された食事とされ、ジャムサンドウィッチが完璧な昼食として受け入れられている、ボクはそんな国から、ここ日本にやってきた。もちろん福岡の小学生たちが食事の後におやつとして食べる感覚ではなくって、ジャムサンドがメインだよ。食後にまだ何か物足りない、と感じた時にチップスとジャムサンドがあればご馳走気分が味わえる、そんなお国柄さ。
日本で長く過ごしてみて気がついたんだけど、この国は食をとても重要視しているよね。もっとストレートに言うと、異常なまでの執念をもってるようだよ。英国で食に興味をもっている人は、電車マニアとかフーリガンみたいに稀な存在だけど、日本人は全員が食マニアなんじゃないか？とすら感じるよ。
先月、英国にいる姉に日本の雑誌を送ったんだ。今は円高で日本に来られないから、福岡について教えるためにローカル誌を送ったよ。しかし、その雑誌ではなんと12ページに渡って、人々の食事姿が掲載されていたんだ。レシピなど役立つ情報は一切無し！美しくセッティングされてはいるものの、カメラマンの撮影タイミングを待てないのか、ガツガツと食事をしている男性が写っているだけ。日本人はこの情報誌をどうやって楽しんでいるんだい？
ボクは教師として、生徒たちが視野を広げ、様々な場所を訪れて、そこで何をしたいのかを見つけてほしいと思っている。なのに彼らときたら、イタリアでピザを食べたい、ニューヨークに行ってハンバーガーを食べたいとか…！エンパイアステートビルからの景色なんてそっちのけなんだ。ボクがニューヨークについて尋ねられたら、博物館やアートギャラリー、そしてセントラルパークなんかを想像するんだけど、生徒たちは大きなリンゴを想像しているんじゃないかな？彼らときたら、昼食と夕食の間は数秒単位で腕時計を何度も見ながら不機嫌そうに座り、次の食事までイライラしているかのようだよ。
逆にボクが日本国内を旅行する際に日本人にお薦めを尋ねると、いつも答えは決まって食べ物についてばかり。「大阪へ行くの？たこ焼きは絶対食べなきゃ！」「札幌？カニがお薦めよ！」もしカニを食べたくなかったら？「それでもカニは食べたほうがいいよ。」とくる始末。日本人に旅先での写真を見せてもらえば、少なくとも３分の１はご飯を前にニコリと笑っている写真か、郷土料理のアップ写真だと思うよ。以前にボクの日本語の先生に美味しくない日本食は何かと尋ねると、彼女は嘲笑うかのように、そして哀れむような目でボクを見ていたよ。まるで「日本の食べ物は全部美味しい決まってるでしょ。」と言わんばかりに。
最近、食べ物が載ったシールを生徒へのご褒美の為に用意したんだ。すると先生の一人がそれに気付いて「おいしそう！」と近づいてきた。事務所にいた他の先生たちもそのラーメンのシールを一目見ようと集まって来たよ。確かにそのシールは良く出来ていたけど、あくまでもシールなんだけどな。
しかし、こんなに豊かな伝統と文化をもつ日本料理というものが存在しながら、「うまい」と「美味しい」だけの未熟な言語表現しかないのかが不思議だ。ビールからワサビまで同じ表現なんだ。しかも、どうせ数時間後にはまた次の食事にありつけるっていうのに、病的なほどに食べ物について探求し続けられることがさっぱり理解できないよ。人生にはもっと考えるべきことは多いはずだよ。
こんな日本だから、例の雑誌がボクに特集を組ませてくれないかなぁ。大きな白いお皿にラズベリージャムサンドを盛りつけ、ボクの破顔一笑。これってドォデショ（笑）？

 

 

 

 

 

I come from a country where culinary sophistication amounts to adding chives to your potatoes and where a jam sandwich is considered a perfectly acceptable lunch. And I don’t mean a jam sandwich like Fukuoka’s elementary school students have after their main meal: I mean a jam sandwich on its own with maybe a packet of crisps afterwards if you are still hungry or feeling particularly plush.

The longer I spend in Japan though the more I realize the importance of, nay, obsession with food in this country. What is it with the Japanese and food? In the UK foodies are a minority group, like train spotters or football hooligans, while in Japan it seems everyone borders on food fanaticism.

Last month I sent home a magazine for my sister: I wanted to provide her vicariously with a flavor of Fukuoka (she’ll not make it to Japan what with a British pound being worth about as much as a dozen pachinko balls at present), so plumped for a locally published title. The publication in question had 12 pages, yes 12 pages, of photos of people sitting down to eat their dinner alone. No recipes, nothing useful (to my mind), just them and their food. For 12 pages. In these “home cooking files”, as they were called, the attention to detail was striking. Most people had four beautifully presented dishes neatly laid out on a place mat in front of them and one fella, bless him, obviously couldn’t wait for the photographer to line up the perfect shot and had already started wolfing down his rice. And this was supposed to inform, or maybe to entertain us. A man eating his dinner… That’s it.

As a teacher (and I use the word in the loosest possible way) I like to try and broaden the vistas of my students and find out where they would like to visit and what they’d like to do if they went there. The same answers every time: I want to go to Italy to eat pizza, I want to go to New York and eat an American hamburger. Never mind taking in the view from the Empire State Building! When you ask me about NY I imagine museums, world class galleries, neighborhoods filled with character, Central Park, but these students of mine seemed to picture nothing but one Big Apple! And what do they do with the rest of the day, in between mealtimes? I picture them sat slouched, glumly glancing at their watches every few seconds and impatiently awaiting their next opportunity to eat.

Conversely, if I ask any Japanese for advice about traveling within their country the recommendations are always food centric. Osaka? You should eat takoyaki. Sapporo? You have to eat the crab? But what if I don’t want to? You have to eat the crab! If you take a look at these same people’s holiday snaps I’ll wager at least a third will show them grinning with expectation behind their lunch/dinner, or they’ll be almost pornographic close-ups of the local cuisine. I once asked my Japanese tutor where in Japan had the least oishii food. She looked at me with a combination of scorn and pity that made it instantly clear that I was being ridiculous: you idiot, don’t you know that the food is delicious everywhere in Japan? So her eyes seemed to say.

Recently I had some stickers with food pictures to give as prizes to students. A fellow teacher noticed them on my desk and squealed oisshii with such delight that soon half a dozen other teachers were swarming around my desk, all just to get a glimpse of a bowel of ramen! Admittedly it was well-photographed ramen but it was still a picture nonetheless. I genuinely thought for an uncomfortable moment that the science teacher, middle aged, disheveled and looking like he lives off cup noodles was going to peel off a sticker and put it in his mouth. Uma-so they cooed as I sat bewildered.

And yet for all the rich heritage, traditions and variety in Japanese cuisine it is woefully under-served in terms of language to describe it. Only two words, umai and oishii, run the gamut from Asahi to wasabi. For a nation with such a pathological desire for food this seems like a strange dichotomy. Is this abnormal interest healthy? Surely there’s much more to life than this obsession with what you are going to eat. I can’t understand how people can get so excited about something that will happen again in just a few hours’ time! Why waste the energy getting so worked up about it?

I wonder if that magazine would consider featuring me, a broad grin on my face and a large white plate in front of me, upon which lies a beautifully presented raspberry jam sandwich.

 

 

 

 

 

I come from a country where culinary sophistication amounts to adding chives to your potatoes and where a jam sandwich is considered a perfectly acceptable lunch. And I don’t mean a jam sandwich like Fukuoka’s elementary school students have after their main meal: I mean a jam sandwich on its own with maybe a packet of crisps afterwards if you are still hungry or feeling particularly plush.

The longer I spend in Japan though the more I realize the importance of, nay, obsession with food in this country. What is it with the Japanese and food? In the UK foodies are a minority group, like train spotters or football hooligans, while in Japan it seems everyone borders on food fanaticism.

Last month I sent home a magazine for my sister: I wanted to provide her vicariously with a flavor of Fukuoka (she’ll not make it to Japan what with a British pound being worth about as much as a dozen pachinko balls at present), so plumped for a locally published title. The publication in question had 12 pages, yes 12 pages, of photos of people sitting down to eat their dinner alone. No recipes, nothing useful (to my mind), just them and their food. For 12 pages. In these “home cooking files”, as they were called, the attention to detail was striking. Most people had four beautifully presented dishes neatly laid out on a place mat in front of them and one fella, bless him, obviously couldn’t wait for the photographer to line up the perfect shot and had already started wolfing down his rice. And this was supposed to inform, or maybe to entertain us. A man eating his dinner… That’s it.

As a teacher (and I use the word in the loosest possible way) I like to try and broaden the vistas of my students and find out where they would like to visit and what they’d like to do if they went there. The same answers every time: I want to go to Italy to eat pizza, I want to go to New York and eat an American hamburger. Never mind taking in the view from the Empire State Building! When you ask me about NY I imagine museums, world class galleries, neighborhoods filled with character, Central Park, but these students of mine seemed to picture nothing but one Big Apple! And what do they do with the rest of the day, in between mealtimes? I picture them sat slouched, glumly glancing at their watches every few seconds and impatiently awaiting their next opportunity to eat.

Conversely, if I ask any Japanese for advice about traveling within their country the recommendations are always food centric. Osaka? You should eat takoyaki. Sapporo? You have to eat the crab? But what if I don’t want to? You have to eat the crab! If you take a look at these same people’s holiday snaps I’ll wager at least a third will show them grinning with expectation behind their lunch/dinner, or they’ll be almost pornographic close-ups of the local cuisine. I once asked my Japanese tutor where in Japan had the least oishii food. She looked at me with a combination of scorn and pity that made it instantly clear that I was being ridiculous: you idiot, don’t you know that the food is delicious everywhere in Japan? So her eyes seemed to say.

Recently I had some stickers with food pictures to give as prizes to students. A fellow teacher noticed them on my desk and squealed oisshii with such delight that soon half a dozen other teachers were swarming around my desk, all just to get a glimpse of a bowel of ramen! Admittedly it was well-photographed ramen but it was still a picture nonetheless. I genuinely thought for an uncomfortable moment that the science teacher, middle aged, disheveled and looking like he lives off cup noodles was going to peel off a sticker and put it in his mouth. Uma-so they cooed as I sat bewildered.

And yet for all the rich heritage, traditions and variety in Japanese cuisine it is woefully under-served in terms of language to describe it. Only two words, umai and oishii, run the gamut from Asahi to wasabi. For a nation with such a pathological desire for food this seems like a strange dichotomy. Is this abnormal interest healthy? Surely there’s much more to life than this obsession with what you are going to eat. I can’t understand how people can get so excited about something that will happen again in just a few hours’ time! Why waste the energy getting so worked up about it?

I wonder if that magazine would consider featuring me, a broad grin on my face and a large white plate in front of me, upon which lies a beautifully presented raspberry jam sandwich.