Thursday, November 23, 2006
Strange Sushi
I read an interesting story today about sushi nationalism. The Japanese agricultural minister is planning a certification program for restaurants that serve "pure" Japanese foods. While I love Japanese food, and I respect the great skill the Japanese chefs have, it seems strange to me too, because there are so many "Japan-ized" versions for national foods in this country (for example, there is no "mentaiko spaghetti" in Italy).
What do you think of this issue?
It reminded me of the time I went to Montana to visit my family. We visited a sushi bar there and had, among other peculiarities, cheese sushi, asparagus sushi and fried chicken sushi (they actually tasted very good).
The distortions of sushi even goes outside the world of food, and includes things like the sushi pillow and sumo sushi soccer.
A little class blog news:
Dagurodo and Metamon had some great entries last week on tobidashi (see November 21st and 22nd entries). D. writes about a "secret" gift for a friend (of which he posts a photograph), and M. writes about how a manga he is reading and how it got him interested in boxing. He also claims to like ham sandwiches.
# posted by John @ 10:46 AM 
Comments:
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Thanks for all your comments on my students' blogs, and I believe some of your students posted comments, as well!
Hello, my name is Shashi and I just noticed that you listed my blog in your links. Thank you! This is a nice site you have here:)
Hello, John!
I enjoyed reading not only your post but also the article that you have linked. Also, I was surprised at the story of the sushi bar you visited, and at the same time it made me realize that we Japanese actually do the same thing like the example you've mentioned. So I guess it's natural for the foods like "Pure" Japanese foods to get localized because we are likely to feel the familiarity with foods that already exist, so people enjoy foods in their own way regardless of where foods actually come from. The way the foods get localized made me think about how McDonald's adjust its menu to people who have different preferences from the US. So it's important for us not only to try to preserve the original but also to be flexible a new one.
Anyway, the pictures of the sushi pillows made me laugh! The fact that there was a lot of people who purchased them suprised me very much!! Hahaha..
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I enjoyed reading not only your post but also the article that you have linked. Also, I was surprised at the story of the sushi bar you visited, and at the same time it made me realize that we Japanese actually do the same thing like the example you've mentioned. So I guess it's natural for the foods like "Pure" Japanese foods to get localized because we are likely to feel the familiarity with foods that already exist, so people enjoy foods in their own way regardless of where foods actually come from. The way the foods get localized made me think about how McDonald's adjust its menu to people who have different preferences from the US. So it's important for us not only to try to preserve the original but also to be flexible a new one.
Anyway, the pictures of the sushi pillows made me laugh! The fact that there was a lot of people who purchased them suprised me very much!! Hahaha..
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