Making Food Blog

I lived in Japan for a few years over a decade ago, and this is my third visit to Japan in the past few years. In short, I have had an unexpected connection to Japan for much of my adult life. While my connection is by way of circumstance rather than pure curiosity, there are many elements of Japanese life that do fascinate me.

At the top of the list is the food. I am curious about it for both its expected, nearly stereotypical, forms and its unexpected delights. In the past, I have usually eaten at my favorite spots including sushi-go-rounds, ramen restaurants, hot pots, Japanese/Mexican fusion, and one incredible Indian restaurant. On this visit, since it coincides with my launching of this blog, I want to delve a little deeper and try to eat more intentionally and exploratorily.

Yesterday, though, I was not very adventurous. After traveling for 23 hours to get here, I stuck to my familiar foods for dinner. Sushi-go-round with the kids included tuna and salmon nigiris, and I enjoyed a few sushi rolls. My one adventure was the horse makerel.

I’m currently trying to follow a Paleo guided diet, but traveling always makes dietary restriction harder to follow. So soy sauce and rice are not typically included in a paleo diet, but exceptions were made based on my exhaustion and hunger last night.

I tried some horse makerel with ginger and salt to be a little adventurous right from the beginning, and found that the makerel had a good texture but the ginger was way overpowering to really taste the fish. I assume it is a fatty fishy tasting fish, but honestly I don’t feel like I know yet.

Overall, this post is mostly to introduce that I will be eating and blogging about my food experiences here in Japan for the next few weeks. I’ll try to venture out a bit and find new things, but mostly I’m going to be seeing how paleo fits with the Japanese offerings. Being so close to the ocean, I do plan to spend my time here enjoying fresh seafood as much as possible.

Stay tuned for more exploration of the place where Japan and Paleo intersect.