Sounds like "Mick Jagger"

Tuna and konbu rice

Nikujaga (Meat and potatoes simmered in a sweet broth)

Fried scallops

Mikan (a mandarin orange, or tangerine)

Milk

(937 calories)

Notes: Konbu is a type of seaweed that is most often used behind the scenes to flavor broths in Japanese cooking, but it shows up in finished dishes as well. Today’s rice was a kind of maze-gohan (mixed rice) in which ingredients were mixed into the white rice after it was cooked (in contrast to takikomi-gohan, in which raw ingredients are thrown in with the uncooked rice before the whole cooking process begins).  The tuna used today is just canned, flaky tuna like we have back in the states, which is often (but not always) distinguished from the good slabs of sushi-grade tuna meat here by using the borrowed English word “tuna” (ツナ) as opposed to the native Japanese word “maguro” (鮪). “Sea chicken” (シーチキン) is also sometimes used to refer to the canned stuff as well.

Legend has it that when Japan was first introduced to the idea of Western beef stew, they adjusted it to suit their palate by making this version of it using a concoction of soy sauce, mirin, sake, and sugar for the broth (a combination of ingredients that shows up in almost everything, it seems).  The result was this now popular staple of Japanese home cooking called nikujaga (literally “meat [肉 – niku] and potatoes [ジャガイモ – jagaimo]”). Like beef stew, it’s a warm, hearty dish that is great in the wintertime and warms the soul as much as it does the belly. It is most often made using sliced beef, but the today’s version of it included pork slices, potatoes, onions, carrots, shirataki (konjac noodles), and green beans. But, despite being a hearty concoction of meat and potatoes, most people here still don't find the dish complete unless served with some of that good ol' Japanese sticky rice as we can see here in today's menu.

The next town over is famous for scallops (帆立 –  hotate), so they’re a very popular food in these parts. Frying them and drizzling them with Worcestershire sauce like this is one popular option, but you can of course find them prepared many different ways. They’re often eaten raw, either served as-is (sashimi) or on top of vinegar-seasoned rice (sushi), but grilling them is another popular option. Sometimes they’re put on skewers and grilled with just a light seasoning of salt and pepper, but in Hokkaido you’re more likely to find them at yakiniku (Korean barbecue) parties just plopped on the grill still on their shell, bubbling away in a combination of soy sauce and butter (because they’re positively divine when prepared this way). Also, since they’re a local specialty here, you can readily buy boxes or bags of individually wrapped scallops to pass out as souvenirs (as it’s pretty much mandatory that you buy some sort of little edible souvenirs for your family, friends, and coworkers any time you travel somewhere). They either come soft (sometimes flavored with things like soy sauce, sometimes accompanied by a lump of cheese) or dried and somewhat chewy. They’re kind of pricey and considered quite the delicacy, and they’re easy to eat if you need a quick scallop fix. Just unwrap and eat – no heating or preparation necessary.

And finally we have dessert: mikan! Mikan show up in the grocery stores once winter starts approaching, and I pick up a bag of them pretty much every time I go to the store during these months. They’re easy to peel and amazingly delicious, and they’re almost always seedless (they are so much easier to eat than a regular orange). Many people buy them by the boxful, and almost any house you enter during the winter months will have a little basket of them set out for guests.

Kyuushoku Goes Korean

White rice
Bibimbap (A dish consisting of various toppings served on rice)
Suiton-jiru (A soup with boiled flour dumplings)
Takuan-dzuke (Yellow slices of pickled daikon radish)
Milk
(889 calories)

Notes: Bibimbap (ビビンバ - “bibimba” in Japanese) is a Korean dish of meat and vegetables served on top of rice.  It is often crowned with things like sautéed meat slices (often beef), bean sprouts, spinach, julienned carrots, a spicy red Korean chili pepper paste called “gochujang,” and egg (most commonly just a raw egg or egg yolk plopped in the middle that is then mixed in before eating). Ishiyaki bibinba (石焼ビビンバ), or bibimbap that is served in a heated stone bowl, is also a popular choice at many restaurants here too, as the hot stone gives the rice a flavorful char on the bottom that really tastes great when mixed up with the runny egg and other ingredients. But our school lunches don’t get quite that fancy with it, as you can see here.  Our version just came with scrambled egg, chopped pork cooked with ginger, and bean sprouts (もやし – moyashi, perhaps the cheapest vegetable you can get in the stores here for around 20 cents a bag).

“Suiton” (水団) refers to the boiled flour dumplings that have been dropped into today’s vegetable and pork soup, and I’m told by my coworkers that this dish has kind of an old-time peasant food feel to it (as it was an easy, filling soup to make on a tight budget).

The bright yellow, slightly sweet daikon radish pickles are also a pretty popular item at school, and many kids are thrilled if they’re lucky enough to snag an extra helping from any less-enthused classmates. Usually it's the girls who shy away from them, as the pickles are also super crunchy and therefore chewing them produces a lot of noise (many of the women teachers have expressed to me their own embarrassment over eating such a noisy food).

The Seaweed Man Cometh

As I mentioned in my first post, every so often I'll deviate from my usual school lunch presentations to talk about some other aspect of the food culture here that fascinates me. I didn't expect to post one so soon, but a recent event at my junior high reminded me that there's something I'd love to talk about.

And that event was the arrival of the seaweed salesman! ("...Wait, the what?")

I know, it sounds like kind of an odd thing to get excited over, but I love it when this guy turns up at our school with his big plastic bins of seaweed (海藻 - kaisou) products and free samples.

Many of us in the states are already familiar with nori, a type of seaweed used in sushi rolls to contain all the wacky ingredients we put in our Westernized version of them (people here still get a little freaked out when I tell them that I love things like cream cheese or jalapenos or mangos and walnuts in or on my sushi rolls). But there are many, many kinds of seaweed that are regularly consumed in this country, such as konbu, wakame, mozuku, and hijiki (and don't worry - many of these will show up in the school lunches I'll blog about later). Each one has its own unique color and shape and flavor, and though I never thought I'd say it... I've really become quite a fan of all these different types of seaweed.

To get personal for a moment, before I came to Japan as a study abroad student in college I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. Basically, I was told my thyroid didn't work and I would have to take a pill every morning for the rest of my life because of it. Well, that's fun. Everyone loves being told there's something out of wack in their body. So, being the curious soul I am, I began poking around on the internet to try to learn more about what this hypo-whatever condition was and if there was anything else I should do to keep myself healthy.

One interesting thing I repeatedly ran across was the belief that soy products negatively impact the thyroid and, more specifically, can interfere with the absorption of thyroid medication. I'm personally not sure exactly how true that statement is, but I repeatedly read that people with this condition should avoid eating a lot of soy products. Like tofu. And edamame. And miso.

This discovery did not bode well for a student heading to Japan. Furthermore, I studied abroad in Nagoya, a city famous for it's extremely prevalent red miso. Delicious red miso, I should add, that I was happy to encounter in, on, or with just about everything I ate over there... so staying away from soy products was kind of out of the question for me.

"But wait a minute," I asked myself. "If soy products are this detrimental to thyroid function, how come the entire country of Japan doesn't have rampant thyroid problems like this?" (A common question to ask yourself, no?) I decided to poke around on the internet some more. And it turns out (according to the sites I stumbled upon) that a big factor in maintaining a healthy thyroid in a food culture rich in soy products is a food culture equally as rich in mineral-packed seaweed products. A good balance is everything, I guess!

So not only are these seaweeds interesting and tasty, but they're quite healthy for you too! Especially because of the iodine and selenium they contain, which I hear boosts thyroid hormone production. We've all heard that Japan traditionally has a very healthy food culture, and this part of it is just one of the many reasons why I suppose.

So, getting back on topic - what does one buy from a seaweed salesman? Well, as I mentioned before, there are many different kinds of seaweed to choose from, and they come in a variety of products. Konbu is a type of seaweed often used to make soup stocks in Japan, but there's nothing wrong with eating it as-is as well.

The seaweed man (as I like to call him) sells a jar of slimy konbu threads mixed with soy sauce, sugar, and coarse grated wasabi. This is a faculty favorite, and I've bought it twice now myself. You're supposed to put it on top of rice, but I've found that it also tastes really good on veggies too (cucumber being my favorite).

 

Yeah, it looks kind of gross, but trust me - if you can get over the "icky" factor of eating slimy foods, there are a lot of tasty things to be found in Japan. 

He often puts this stuff, called "natto konbu," with some sashimi wakame for all of us to sample. Sashimi wakame is, I believe, the main product that he sells. It's basically just wakame, a type of seaweed commonly found in miso soup, that you can also just eat as-is (hence the "sashimi" in the name, since you can eat it "raw" like the raw fish dish here known as, of course, sashimi). You can also buy dried wakame to put in soups or chadzuke (a simple dish of rice served soaked in tea with various toppings like salmon, pickled plums (umeboshi), spicy cod roe (tarako), sesame seeds, bits of seaweed, etc.).

You can also buy softened hijiki seaweed to mix into onigiri (rice balls), finely cut bits of nori to put on salads or pasta dishes (I do this ALL the time), or you can even just buy a big ol' bag of various seaweeds mixed together that you can eat straight up as a seaweed salad. There really is a surprising amount of products to choose from. As one of those Americans who knew nothing of Japanese seaweed outside of sushi nori before moving here, I've been pleasantly surprised by the variety of seaweeds I've had the pleasure of eating. It's still hard for me to believe, but... I really do love seaweed! If you ever get the chance to sample these foods, I strongly recommend you do! (And while you're at it, try Korean nori too! I down those salty little sheets of crisp seaweed like potato chips.)

A Meatloaf of Sorts

Just look at that. Fascinating, isn’t it? And I get to be a part of this lunchtime process almost every day. What did I do to be so blessed?

So are you ready to join me on this crazy culinary adventure? Yes? Then follow me!

Oh, but before we begin, I’m kind of just putting up the pages of my original kyuushoku report in the order I originally typed them in. Hence, many of these posts may have been written months (or even years) ago. So if it’s, say, December and I start talking about how delicious Hokkaido asparagus is in the summer, that’s why. Also, the names of the dishes (or rather, their awkward translations by yours truly) and amount of calories contained in them are pulled straight from the school menus distributed to all faculty and students every month, and the “notes” are just my own little description and comments.

Anyway, on to the first post. Itadakimasu!

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White rice
Matsukaze yaki (Kind of like a flat meatloaf made from ingredients like tofu, chicken, miso, panko bread crumbs, sake, soy sauce, sugar, and mirin, then topped with sesame seeds.)
Western-style kimpira (thinly sliced pork, gobou [burdock root], carrot, and green beans cooked in soy sauce, mirin, and sugar.)
Cabbage and abura age (deep-fried tofu skins) miso soup
Milk
(814 calories)
Notes: Kinpira is usually just thin slices of burdock root (gobou) and carrot sautéed in soy sauce and sugar and garnished with sesame seeds (and sometimes crushed red pepper for an added kick). If it’s made from any other ingredients it’s usually specified in the name. For example, we’ve had potatoes cooked kimpira-style at lunch before, and so it was called imo kimpira (“potato kimpira”). I guess meat and green beans made this day’s kimpira look more like youshoku (western-style food) than washoku (Japanese-style food) to them, hence the name. Also, matsukaze yaki is not a common food, but it shows up around New Year’s in some households. It’s amazing and easy to make, so after eating this I begged for the school’s recipe and now like to make this at home.

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Everyone at work is amused at just how much I’ve taken a liking to matsukaze yaki, sometimes going so far as to blurt out things like “we’re having Danielle’s favorite for lunch today!” Luckily, this dish has shown up at my junior high (and elementary school) on multiple occasions, often paired with some form of kinpira (which is also a favorite of mine). Here’s another school lunch featuring pretty much the same menu, only with egg and nira (Chinese chive) miso soup and a kinpira made with dried shiitake mushrooms instead of green beans: