This past winter break, I had the privilege to travel with my family to Japan, a place that none of us had ever gone to explore. Japan certainly is an interesting place: it has many traditional aspects to it, but you can see how globalization has introduced many North American aspects to their culture. We could still get Starbucks or McDonald's if we really wanted to. But when in Japan, eat what the locals do! Being so used to the "Japanese" food that we have in Vancouver, I was interested (and admittedly, a little apprehensive) of seeing and trying the actual Japanese conception of sushi or ramen. People that had gone to Japan before us had told me that the sushi is really traditional, so that would be interesting to compare to our sensationalized sushi! So here's the lowdown on the different delicacies that we had in Japan and some cool places to visit in Tokyo: 1. Sashimi Don These are basically pieces of sashimi (raw fish) atop a bowl of don (rice). There really isn't very much leeway to how you can alter this, so I would say that the Vancouver Japanese restaurants got it pretty close to the traditional Sashimi Don bowls. We visited the Tsukiji Itadori Fish Market on our first full day - think Pike's Place Public Market in Seattle, but way more packed. There are restaurant stalls selling different foods to patrons, and there are blocks and blocks of these stalls. For lunch we ducked into one of the stalls and had their Sashimi Don bowls. Probably the freshest sashimi I have ever had! 2. Ramen One of my new found loves. I am a latecomer to the ramen scene in Vancouver, so I really have nothing to compare it to. But trying ramen in Japan (and different versions of it too!) was something really cool. Ramen is one of Japan's comfort foods, and you can literally find it anywhere. Whether you are ordering it off a menu or from a vending machine, Japanese ramen is super delicious. 3. Sushi!!! This is where I was the most apprehensive. I am so used to the crazy rolls we have here in Vancouver, with crunchy topping, seared fish, sriracha mayo, cheese slices and ice cream! I was picturing lots of pickled vegetables and maybe some fish. But while both of those things were found inside the (gigantic) rolls, like with the sashimi don bowls the sashimi was super fresh. There were also some pieces of sushi that I was quite unfamiliar with, so I stayed away from those. But for the most part, it looks like the Western influence is starting to show in authentic Japanese sushi! 4. Matcha. Matcha everywhere! All I really wanted was matcha soft serve, and my wish was granted when we went to the Ueno street market. Japan is matcha heaven, so if you're into matcha, I highly recommend going! 5. Japanese style Italian food Italian food is one of my favourite cuisines, but it seems like Japan likes it too. In fact, there is a restaurant in Vancouver's downtown core called Spaghetei, which serves Japanese style spaghetti. We went to two different Japanese style Italian restaurants that served some pretty authentic pasta and even risotto! There are also some Japanese twists to the dishes, like adding nori (seaweed) on top. 5. Sweet treats Aside from matcha everything, Japanese people also excel at making killer desserts! We're talking every kind of cake imaginable, crepes, dessert pancakes, and Japanese treats like fish-shape cakes filled with Nutella or red bean. Delish!! 6. Kit Kat Let's just say that we bought a lot of Kit Kat. And not just your typical milk chocolate Kit Kat, we're talking orange flavour, matcha flavour, wasabi flavour, hojicha flavour, rum and raisin.... For more cool snippets of our trip (and more than just food.. ahaha), check out this awesome video that my sister made!
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