Sweet and Savory Japanese Food

Have you ever taste Japanese food? Of course all of us have ever taste it. Japanese food is already famous in several countries, especially in ASEAN countries. Comparing to other countries, the sensation and taste of Japanese food is really distinct. The reason is the Japanese food, generally, has soft texture and authentic feature.

During my visit in Japan through Japanese Industry Visit Tour 2017 program, I tasted some Japanese food which is impressed me a lot. It is different from Japanese food in my country, Indonesia. In my country, I just found some common Japanese food which people already know it without visiting Japan. For instance: ramen, yakiniku, sushi, sashimi, onigiri, dorayaki, takoyaki, and udon. I am glad that I joined the trip program so I could taste the original one in Japan.

During the trip, I realized that Japan has many various food. It has sweet, savory, salty, and bitter food. Through this article, I would like to share about Japanese food that I tasted during the trip. I would divide into two groups of food, sweet and savory food.

Sweet Japanese Food 

Ohagi. It can be called as botamochi. It is sweet rice balls which is usually made with glutinous rice. It is commonly eaten during Equinox season when Japanese people greet and welcome the mountain gods who bring the spring harvest as well as to how their appreciation for the autumn harvest. Ohagi that I tasted in the trip is coated with anko (red bean paste) and kinako (soybeans flour). The anko one taste so sweet, sticking into surface of palate in my oral cavity. On the other hand, the kinako one taste soft because of the flour and it taste a peanut-like flavor also.

Dango. Dango is sweet dumpling ball which is made from rice flour. It is skewered with a stick and is served with some of various sauce. Dango that I tasted was using sweet sauce which made from sugar, soysauce, mirin (Japanese condiments), and corn flour as thickener. The dango has sticky and soft texture. With thick sauce, it was like melting around my oral cavity. So sweet!

Savory Japanese Food

Yakitori. Yakitori in Japanese meaning is fowl grilled. It means some kind of bird is grilled as a dish. It is Japanese dish which contains a pieces of chicken and it is stabbed into skewer. Then, the skewered chicken is grilled on the charcoal grill. Usually, yakitori is served with different kind of chicken meat such as sasami (breast), maru hatsu (heart), seseri (neck), sunagimo (bile), tsukune (minced chicken), soriresu (thighs), kokoro-nokori (liver residual), negima (meat with leek), kawa (skin), rebaa (liver), furisode (shoulders), bonjiri (bottom), and otafuku (esophagus). Another thing, this food is served either with salt or tare sauce (sweet spicy). In the trip, I just tasted sasami, negima, and soriresu.

Yakitori is commonly eaten as a snack with drinks, or as a whole meal, and is very popular in Japan given the rich and diverse flavor of the meat, and the casual dining style. For me, it taste so juicy on the meat with roasted taste also. The enticing smell of it made me more appetite to eat it. Overall, it was so delicious.

Okonomiyaki. Some western people call this food as Japanese savory pancake. Okonomiyaki is Japanese food which is made from mixing of flour, water and eggs. It contains some vegetables, beef, fish, onions, and so on. Then, it is grilled on flat pan and is coated with variety of sauce, mayonaise, katsuobushi (dried tuna), and nori (seaweed).

When I tasted okonomiyaki, I felt its savory, little bit sweet, and little bit hot with its onions or ginger. Its texture also crunchy and creamy, hitting all of my inner mouth spot. I think Okonomiyaki is my most favourite Japanese food.