The OLDER Photographers' thread...

One of the reasons why Japan is not on my travel list. I'm very picky about fish. Love tuna, but if anything has bones in it, I'm gagging and puking. And don't eat raw fish in front of me or you'll be seeing what I was just eating.

Jill-of-all-Trades wrote in post #11282373
One of the reasons why Japan is not on my travel list. I'm very picky about fish. Love tuna, but if anything has bones in it, I'm gagging and puking. And don't eat raw fish in front of me or you'll be seeing what I was just eating.

Don't puke now .... but when we've taken my boat offshore and catch tuna we often sample the sushi. Just cut raw strips off a succulent tuna and chow down. We get a weeks worth of omega-3 in one afternoon

Tuna may be different, I don't know. I like it cold out of the can...
I just look around and see all these pastures and barns full of steaks and bacon and realize that I don't need to eat raw fish. And I live right next to Lake Huron, there is plenty of fishing around here. But I also like all my meat fully cooked. Not dried out or charcoal, but fully cooked.

advaitin wrote in post #11281620
Pickled pig's feet in big jars used to be available all over the south. Haven't noticed them much, lately.

I've never been a fan of strong-flavored and/or bone-filled fish. Living in Japan was a bit of a challenge for me. There were fish I liked and tuna is great raw, but Japanese tastes include just about anything that swims, creeps, crawls, or affixes itself to a rock. You haven't tasted gross until you've tried the slime from a giant snail boiled for hours in saltwater with a lot of other shelled critters.

When we were at Misawa Air Base there was a pizza place just outside the main gate owned by an Ex-GI American who married a local girl and stayed. His wife made the best fried chicken strips ever and had her own little bar where that was the specialty. There was a local young man working at the pizza place as a bartender and waiter who was very friendly. Since the place offered beers from around the world, I often stopped in to sample a beer from here or there.

Sometimes, when it was slack, the kid would sit down and have a beer along with us or eat his lunch, which was always either pizza or some other western-style food. He spoke excellent English and we talked about many things including my adventures eating out with the boss at the printing plant (it produced the base English newspaper and I, as a dependent husband, was employed to check the proofs for errors) who introduced me to things like the sludge of an aged snail.

That took us around to what type of fish I liked or didn't like. The Japanese kid lowered his voice and said, "I tell you the truth, I can't stand fish. Everywhere I go with family, friends--it always fish. Fish this-fish that. Raw, cooked. I don't like any of it. But I cannot say this to them. They think I am bad Japanese if I do not eat fish."

Kinda like an American who doesn't like hot dogs and burgers.

My wife's daughter is a vegetarian. I say that "vegetarian" is an ancient Indian word that means "bad hunter"!

I`m the same way with bones in fish, they just cut my appetite immediately...fortunat​ely I can buy fish thats prepared for sashimi and so far, no bones. I can get huge pieces of tuna at a local outdoor market for $20.00.
Couple of weeks ago I ate my first grasshopper over here...only took me 18 years to do it. My wife bought a container for her brother`s girls...they cook em in soy sauce...what else...along with other ingredients and they come out very sweet...like candy.
They`ve tried to get me to eat cod fish sperm sacks, squid guts, grilled sparrow and lot`s of other odd stuff. Don`t like natto...sea pineapple... sea cucumber...Japanese pizza...among many other things. We did have fabulous sukiyaki Saturday night though, home made. I have met a few natives who don`t like fish here, very few but they`re around, met some who don`t like sushi either.

Asian is probably the home of weird food.. It's unbelievable what people out in their mouths.. Most I'll turn my nose up at but I like roast crickets.. About an inch long, half a dozen skewered on a sliver of bamboo, then BBQed over hot coals.. Great with a cold beer..

The Japanese and Koreans love seaweed.. The Lao have a derivative using a kind of freshwater river weed.. It's compacted into very thin sheets, dried, then quickly deep fried and sprinkled with sesame seeds.. Better than any chips or nuts with a beer..

I love taking any noobs to Laos through the fresh produce markets, especially the meat section.. It's great to see them squirm..

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A tourist could travel throughout Japan and not eat fish if they didn`t want to, I had no idea how big noodles were here until I arrived. In large big cities one can get dishes from just about any culture we can in big Canadian cities... no guarantee it`s gonna be exactly the same though... North Americans could do their meat and potato thing here just as easily as back home only...it`ll cost more and they proportion the meal with vegetables better...but steak houses are around.

its me wrote in post #11284832
=it`s me;11284832]A tourist could travel throughout Japan and not eat fish if they didn`t want to, I had no idea how big noodles were here until I arrived. In large big cities one can get dishes from just about any culture we can in big Canadian cities... no guarantee it`s gonna be exactly the same though... North Americans could do their meat and potato thing here just as easily as back home only...it`ll cost more and they proportion the meal with vegetables better...but steak houses are around.

I quite agree. It is possible. But if you want a sample of Japanese culture and stay at an isolated or rustic Ryokan, you'll eat what they serve or go without. That's how I discovered that I could eat raw tuna and sliced eel.

Even when I was last there, you could get western style breakfasts at many places, but the first time I was there in 1962 and stayed at a seaside Ryokan, asking for bacon eggs and toast got me an interesting combination.

They had bread and they had some sliced ham and they had eggs. After much pointing at an English to Japanese phrase book and repetitions I finally heard "eggu, hamu, toasto" and agreed that was what I wanted. When breakfast came (and I was mighty hungry by then) It was served on a hot brick layered bread, thin slice of ham and topped by a barely congealed egg, in that order.

Of course I ate it and smiled.

I was always one to see as much as possible and when we lived there from 1983 to 1986 whenever I had reason to travel to the Tokyo area from Misawa and didn't have to hurry, I drove on back roads as much as I could. I remember stopping at a small seaside town (I liked taking photos of the coast) and found a small restaurant that specialized in a regional noodle, made of buckwheat, I think. I ordered a lunch and watched the cook making noodles from scratch. He was on display, basically, as you entered the place he was directly across from the door. The eat-in seating was to the left and take-out and fresh items in a chiller and souvenirs and sea resort knick-knacks and the cash register were to the right.

The noodle chef was fascinating to watch so I shot some photos (buried somewhere in boxes in the attic, now, I suppose). My lunch was a bowl of, what else, noodle soup and a plate of breaded pork with a bit of curry and rice, Tonkatsu, if I recall correctly. I took my time and enjoyed it all, had many cups of green tea. No one in the place spoke English to me, but I'm certain they may have understood it, just shy about speaking.

Any way, when I got up to pay, I remember it was about 1100 yen, at the register the chef, the waitress and the hostess all bid me goodbye and insisted I take a gift, which they had already wrapped in a little box. I finally accepted and went to the car, opening the package when I next took a break from driving. It was three souvenirs from the stock of items they had for sale and the retail value was about 1400 yen (which I knew because I had browsed the little shop when I first came in). Now I imagine the wholesale was less, but still I was amazed at being gifted more than the value of my meal.

This happened several times to me and my family while we were in Japan. My kids were all blue-eyed and the boy was very blond. People selling outrageously priced fruit would give the kids fruit and wouldn't take money. This most often happened in places where few if any westerners go, but my son was given a whole watermelon while we strolling along in Nagasaki, a place certainly used to gaijin.

I will never forget the many kindnesses and the beauty that can be found away from the big cities. I tell my family that If I found myself old and alone in the world, I would find my way to Japan and spent whatever was left of my life going from onsen to onsen in Tohoku sampling the local sakes until the Kami take me in.

Heh! We Americans are so much more sane, food-wise...Rocky Mountain oysters, tripe, cow tongue and brains...we rule!

its me wrote in post #11284832
=it`s me;11284832]A tourist could travel throughout Japan and not eat fish if they didn`t want to, I had no idea how big noodles were here until I arrived. In large big cities one can get dishes from just about any culture we can in big Canadian cities... no guarantee it`s gonna be exactly the same though... North Americans could do their meat and potato thing here just as easily as back home only...it`ll cost more and they proportion the meal with vegetables better...but steak houses are around.

Of course it won't be the same.. Asian food in Western countries is prepared for the Western palate,,it's totally different..

We have heaps of Asian restaurants in Australia.. For example, Thai food in Australia isn't like Thai food in Thailand..

This what I love about travelling, the food.. To understand a culture is through its food..

Oh, and I remember some years ago going to an "authentic" restaurant when I was living in Seattle -- I don't remember whether it was Japanese or Chinese, but it was in a locale when these restaurants would get busted because people would find cat hides in the dumpsters (hearing that made me tend to keep my distance)...

Anyway, when they brought by the appetizer trays the only thing I recognized was chicken feet -- after seeing them I didn't bother with a closer examination...

tonylong wrote in post #11285441
Oh, and I remember some years ago going to an "authentic" restaurant when I was living in Seattle -- I don't remember whether it was Japanese or Chinese, but it was in a locale when these restaurants would get busted because people would find cat hides in the dumpsters (hearing that made me tend to keep my distance)...

Anyway, when they brought by the appetizer trays the only thing I recognized was chicken feet -- after seeing them I didn't bother with a closer examination...

Yeah Tony,, chicken feet (claws) are very popular in many Asian countries, so are dogs and cats.. I remember seeing dog carcasses in the markets in Vietnam.. Around Vietnamese New Year here in Laos the word gets around to lock up your dogs...

BTW,, the Lao won't eat cats or dogs but they eat other things which can turn even the hardiest stomach.. Frogs, snakes, squirrels, civets (which are endangered) etc can be found on menus.. Also many other endangered species..

A hungry person makes for a very poor environmentalist..

I've had chicken feet before. Nothing to write home about.

I've also had frog and pigeon.

Stealthy Ninja wrote in post #11285490
I've had chicken feet before. Nothing to write home about.

I agree,, not much on them..

You all are making me get bit by the travel bug again! My travels outside of Canada and the US have all been to Ukraine, with stops in Russia. I love their food for the most part. Have never been too fond of cooked cabbage, and there was a lot of it to be had. Have eaten many different versions of Borscht, drank lots of warm pear juice, and had chocolate Blinni (sp?) for breakfast.
Now I'm hungry...