Comments on: Japanese food abroad: How would you react?

By: sibylleito

sibylleito — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 05:18:54 +0000

Dear Cocomino,

you are correct that many cuisines borrow from other regions to create interesting fusion cuisine. I do not mind fusion cuisine at all, contrary it can be very interesting.
Honest I was disappointed, that a Japanese master chef promoting traditional Japanese cuisine is using different flavors than in Japan.

Thanks for your constant support for this blog,

Sibylle

By: sibylleito

sibylleito — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 05:14:17 +0000

Dear Granbee,

thanks a lot for your comment. To be honest with you I felt fooled and not embarrased. Simply, because the meal was presented as created according to Japanese traditional cuisine, I expected that I can recognize the taste. The flavors felt rather strange to me, but I might be coming from a different time period and the goods were created based on a very, very old recipe Or maybe I was embarrassed that I trusted the advertisement.

All the best,

Sibylle

By: granbee

granbee — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 21:11:49 +0000

See, I cannot be the judge because I am not Japanese, have never lived in Japan, and have only tried a few traditional Japanese recipes given to me by friends studying for Ph.D.s here in the U.S. I regret your disappointment at having non-representative Japanese cuisine served by an advertised “Japanese master chef” in Indonesia. I think you are just a little embarrassed, weren’t you?

By: cocomino

cocomino — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 12:29:21 +0000

As you know, there are many kinds of restaurants in Tokyo.
They are Italian, French, Indian, Turkish, Greek, Chinese and traditional Japanese food.I like all of them because the taste was a bit changed from original taste for adapting Japanese sense of taste.
Japanese people are good at borrowing other countries culture from the ancient times. It’s not about only food.

By: goodandbadjapan

goodandbadjapan — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 11:05:34 +0000

I think it is to be expected that Japanese food abroad often differs from food in Japan. Every country adapts cuisine to some degree. I can understand the expectation for it to be more similar when the chef is touted as being a master chef, but still, I doubt I would complain based on authenticity. I wrote a similar piece here: http://goodandbadjapan.wordpress.com/2011/02/13/authentic-japanese-food/

By: sibylleito

sibylleito — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 08:03:25 +0000

Dear John,

thanks for your feedback.
You are raising a very good question. In general I would say that Italian and French restaurants tend to have a really high quality in Japan and the taste does not seem to me so different. Of course, there are several Japanese/Italian and Japanese/French places available, where the taste is Japanised. I think for me the difference this time was that I expected Japanese taste with a Japanese chef.

For sure I am curious about the outcome of this poll.

All the best,

Sibylle

By: John Mettraux

John Mettraux — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 06:29:31 +0000

Does that also mean you are avoiding Italian and French restaurants in Japan?