A Trip to the Grocery Store

Either my husband or I visits the grocery store in Japan almost every day. There are only two grocery stores in town: A-COOP and Ralse Mart. In a town of 20,000 people, inevitably, we run into someone we know at the grocery store every time we are there.

When I first arrived in Japan I remember feeling absolutely overwhelmed by the grocery shopping experience. My supervisor took me to the grocery store my first day in town; I was still jet-lagged, exhausted from Tokyo Orientation, and just wanted to unwind and unpack at home. Instead, we arrived at the supermarket, everything in Japanese and everyone speaking Japanese, the aisles organized unlike American grocery store, and, like everywhere I went in Japan, abundant rules and etiquette that were totally lost on me. 

Having just met my supervisor, of course I wanted to impress her with my healthy food choices, and at the same time just wanted to grab some noodle bowls and get the heck out of there. I remember buying some vegetables, milk, cereal, and Hello Kitty pasta with spaghetti sauce. Here is a photo of my local grocery store upon entering:

In Japan, the refrigerators are quite small and people usually buy food for one or two days at most: fresh vegetables and meat. Most households do not have a gigantic stove top with four burners and an oven the size of a car trunk; rather, there are two gas burners maximum and the microwave or toaster oven doubles as a low-heat oven. Being in Japan has helped me see the enormity of American stuff. My husband always says that everything in Japan is at least 1.5x smaller than in the U.S.: the people, cars, roads, buildings, portions, and refrigerators. And at yesterday's town English Circle, a woman who visited Utah and Idaho commented on how "the loaves of bread and peanut butter were huge!" In Japan, there are at most 6 slices of bread in a package. 

Japan has some unique produce. This year, I tasted my first persimmon, which tastes something like an apple-mango hybrid. Also, here is a picture of daikon from my grocery store. As noted in a previous post, if left in a hot cabinet for a few days in summer, they will leak a stinky fluid and be really gross. 

Grocery stores, especially in Hokkaido, have reasonably priced chicken, the freshest fish, and abundant fresh vegetables. 

I was so excited to cook with new food in Japan, tofu and miso and noodles and curry and all the things that make Japanese food unique and delicious. However, I am usually so busy during the week that my rotating menu is stagnating. Here is what I usually have:

Breakfast: yogurt, banana, granola, toast, eggs on rice, hard boiled egg, bacon

Lunch: mysterious school food (see below), egg salad sandwich, noodle bowl, fish and rice and miso, salad, leftovers from dinner, chicken and broccoli

Dinner: curry rice, sushi rolls, sloppy joes, tonkatsu (cutlets), tacos or pizza on lucky days, lamb+kimchi in the rice cooker, more fish and rice and miso or chicken and broccoli.

Dessert: anko, pudding, kit kat, mochi ice cream

My co-workers always ask me, "Can you eat Japanese food?" or "Can you cook Japanese food?" The typical Japanese meal consists of a bowl of rice (gohan), a bowl of miso soup (miso shiru), pickled vegetables (tsukemono), and fish or meat. Although rice is the norm, noodles (udon, soba, and ramen) are cheap and popular. This seems to be the traditional breakfast, and has become my staple meal.

However, I long for my American days of flavor! One of my last meals in the US was a cornucopia of chicken wings in all varieties of sauces and rubs. I dream about flavor. When grocery shopping, my basket is usually a mix of these Japanese ingredients (fish, tofu, vegetables, chicken) and as many Western-type foods as I can fit in without becoming a total stereotype. My last trip to the grocery store I was overjoyed to find corn dogs (which in Japan are called "American dogs") and onion rings. I found some hash brown-like things too. But a tiny bottle of maple syrup is like ¥600 and the peanut butter is not creamy...it's basically artificially-colored sugar water.

So, I will continue to try new Japanese foods and familiarize myself with my local supermarket. Even with some of my Japanese cooking books, I am still struggling to develop a repertoire of tasty and healthy Japanese dishes. So I ask you, my readers, what is your one staple meal, in Japan or otherwise? How do you continue to be creative in the kitchen and avoid culinary stagnancy?