gurgle 0 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 My wife eats seafood, but not meat. We learned many years ago after numerous promises about meat free meals that you need to say "No chicken, no beef, no pork and no bacon". Good luck with the seafood..."no fish, no ika, no kani....." you will be there all day. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Do they not conduct lessons at primary school where the children group items into catagories? I clearly remember having to do a food pyramid with all Mum's old magazines a pair of scissor a bottle of clag glue and a massive bit of coloured cardboard. We had to divide the protein section into MEAT, SEAFOOD, NUTS&LEGUMES - and we had to find pictures of these things. Some kids found cooked steaks in recipe mags - other kids found pic's of live cows or cartoon cows. By seeing all the other kids pyramids you get a visual on what food is in what group. I thought Japanese kids got 10 times more school than Aussie kids - so how come there is this gap in knowledge? Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 how about over generalization? Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Erm, somehow I think they do actually know that a fish is seafood. As someone pointed out, seafood may have a different meaning here. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Yeah I get that..and it is not everyone - obviously. My son does not eat seafood and the family that hosted him on exchange never accidentally fed him seafood/fish. But there seems to be enough people saying they have had a problem to indicate a gap in knowledge here among the general public - and having more than one word for different types of seafood or meat might have something to do with it. I just wonder WHY. I suppose I never made it out of the terrible two's "why?" stage. I am always asking that question. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 I can imagine what the proprietors would think. Ramen chef for 40 years, fetches water from village stream each morning to cook his hand picked pork bones and unique local ingredients for 5 hours to make his unique stock. The stock he is known for and old dears travel by bus for 2 hours to sample. In comes some gaijin, "gimme your finest bowleof ramen, but no meat please, and no soup base, I'll use boiled water" Link to post Share on other sites
fukdane 2 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Cup noodle! NUTS&LEGUMES - great handle name that. Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted June 25, 2008 Share Posted June 25, 2008 Originally Posted By: thursday. I can imagine what the proprietors would think. Ramen chef for 40 years, fetches water from village stream each morning to cook his hand picked pork bones and unique local ingredients for 5 hours to make his unique stock. The stock he is known for and old dears travel by bus for 2 hours to sample. In comes some gaijin, "gimme your finest bowleof ramen, but no meat please, and no soup base, I'll use boiled water" In relation to what, exactly, in Mama's post??? That's just weird. As a gaijin, I do not understand the reference. If the customer doesn't eat pork for whatever reason (My mate has a serious reaction to pork, almost an allergy) then the request for no pork is reasonable. At the very least the chef should understand (and be prepared to explain) what the ingredients are, and the reason for the request. Link to post Share on other sites
indosnm 0 Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 Originally Posted By: thursday. Ramen chef for 40 years, fetches water from village stream each morning to cook his hand picked pork bones and unique local ingredients for 5 hours to make his unique stock. The stock he is known for and old dears travel by bus for 2 hours to sample. In comes some gaijin, "gimme your finest bowleof ramen, but no meat please, and no soup base, I'll use boiled water" Tell you to go get stuffed! In such places as Thurs mentioned and even in famous western restaurants outside of Jp, the chef will not change a thing.. You either eat it their way or don't eat it at all. Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 You what??? As I said, they should at the very least know and state what the ingredients are. Or would they rather be sued for the resulting death from the allergy? On the other hand, the very extreme idea mentioned "gimme your finest bowl of ramen, but no meat please, and no soup base, I'll use boiled water" is extremely offensive. In that situation, were I the chef, I'd likely give them a bowl of ramen - full in the face, bowl and all! Link to post Share on other sites
nzlegend 1 Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 vegetarians hard a tough group of people to be with sometimes, several times in Japan I have been at restaurants and the vegetarians in the group have made a scene, many of them my friends too which makes it 'tough'. As much as I enjoy there company it's much better to go to eat somewhere without them and you can order freely from the menu..or go to yakiniku even. going back to the original idea is this thread I too have been amazed at the ignorance to the origin of food sometimes in this country too, though saying that I used to be amazed at the % of people back home who were completely oblivious to the origin of gelatin, people thought I was lying when I explained how they made the stuff, I put one family friend off ice cream forever when I told her icecream was made with it among other things. Link to post Share on other sites
bobby12 0 Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 Its annoying being around people who are picky about their food. Even if its an allergy and they are really nice about it, its still somehow an uneasy feeling. I like people who just eat anything. A bit harsh, but true. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 bobby, I totally agree with that. I especially hate it when people who have never tasted what I intend to eat and they have a freakin opinion about it. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 going back to my example above, having perfected my unique recipe appreciated by many and admired by long queues of appreciative returning faithfuls, would the gaijin who likes boiled water as soup please vacate his seat and never return. Link to post Share on other sites
Tubby Beaver 209 Posted June 26, 2008 Author Share Posted June 26, 2008 Originally Posted By: bobby12 Its annoying being around people who are picky about their food. Even if its an allergy and they are really nice about it, its still somehow an uneasy feeling. I like people who just eat anything. A bit harsh, but true. I7d like to be able to eat seafood, it looks nice but as soon as even the smell appears I'm reaching for the spew bucket. Japan is a very challenging culinary environment for me!! Link to post Share on other sites
JA2340 16 Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 Originally Posted By: thursday. going back to my example above, having perfected my unique recipe appreciated by many and admired by long queues of appreciative returning faithfuls, would the gaijin who likes boiled water as soup please vacate his seat and never return. And that is a perfectly acceptable outlook. BUT the point remains that the gaijin (and anyone else, for that matter) has a right to ask what is in the soup, or do you not agree? I wil try most things once. If I do not like it, I will thenceforth avoid, but I need to know what it is, and what ingredients are, so I can make informed choices at later times. Link to post Share on other sites
lin 0 Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 Many ramen shop staff.chefs will hardly be able to explain the ingredients in English. Link to post Share on other sites
Oyuki kigan 0 Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 A LOT of places just gets soups and sauces that just come out of a bag anyways. In Canada, if you ask what is in something, or tell the waiter/cook that you have dietary requirements, most should be competent enough in the ingrediets that theyare able to tell what you can eat, or at the very least, have an ingredient list handy. If there is nothing there, then fine. I can't complain. But if what i ask for is simple (leave the goddamn fish flakes off my tofu) and they still can't get it right, then i have cause for complaint. Link to post Share on other sites
HelperElfMissy 42 Posted June 26, 2008 Share Posted June 26, 2008 I eat anything - no allergies... Welll...I do have a bit of a weazy asthma type reaction to products containing copha and sulphites if I eat too much - but I rarely pig out on those kind of items, and a small bit is OK. I don't LIKE everything, but I enjoy most things. And I will order stuff by pointing to an unknown collection of words on the menu and hope for the best - why not? However if people have allergies - it can be life threatening. I can understand thier need to be able to ask clearly (and if that means learning 101 different words for seafood so be it), and be told clearly whether or not that item is free from the allergen. Link to post Share on other sites
thursday 1 Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 I am totally agreeing with where Tubby is coming from. I'm just giving perspectives I see and admire. For what it's worth, I'd like to feed Tubby seafood and tell him it's chicken from the sea just to see him go purple. But if it was life threatening, I'd call an ambulance beforehand. Link to post Share on other sites
cockzilla 0 Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 I like tuna. Link to post Share on other sites
Oyuki kigan 0 Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 dude, you totally stole my porn name. Can i sue for infringement? Link to post Share on other sites
cockzilla 0 Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 I AM cockzilla! Link to post Share on other sites
Oyuki kigan 0 Posted June 27, 2008 Share Posted June 27, 2008 i know a couple of girls that would beg to differ Link to post Share on other sites
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