Random Picture #219

I used to get irritated when I was in Japan and the Japanese perception of American food and culture was limited to hamburgers, steak, fries, and bread. It was as if they couldn't accept that Americans ate a broader range of foods than those available on the McDonald's menu.

Now, I get to turn my irritation toward Americans who think that Japanese food is focused on daily consumption of green tea, sushi, and, apparently, Pocky. In Japanese markets, which tend to cater mainly to Japanese folks, but also want to attract other people interested in all things Japanese as well, I've found that there is an over-abundance of certain types o things and green tea is definitely one of them. The display above was at Marukai market (last week) and shows a heavy concentration of snacks made with green tea. I realize that this is seasonal (and I showed a picture of a strawberry snacks display before), but I've also found that other flavors are rather slim pickings.

It's nice to know that stereotypical and simplified notions of other cultures are one of the things which most cultures will always share. 

Random Picture #218

It's becoming clear that cranberry is now a thing in Japan. I've been seeing more items containing cranberries including some chocolate-covered ones. I've done a bit of research and this sort of spread of cranberries isn't truly new to Japan, but it's definitely seeing a surge right now which I either didn't experience or notice during my 23 years in Japan. Since I love cranberries, and found them in short supply while I was in Tokyo, I hope I would have noticed if suddenly cookies and candies featuring them started popping up all over the place at the same time. However, I'm not so arrogant about my perceptual skills as to say it didn't fly right by me.

These "all cranberry" cookies are the latest in the long line of fruits that Tohato has dried out and sandwiched between two biscuits in their rip-off of Garibaldi biscuits. I've not been entirely impressed by the "all fruit" line in the past so I gave it a miss. I may be persuaded otherwise in the future, but I have more than enough snack review fodder lying around and don't need to toss another pack on the pile. 

Random Picture #216

For those who don't know my particular regional supermarket options, I'd like to start out by saying that Safeway is a chain of markets that is common in California. It may be available in other areas, but I know it is not on the East Coast as my sister (who lives in Pennsylvania) had never heard of it before I moved to California. It's like Giant Eagle or Kroger's in the East, or Seiyu in Japan. That's my way of saying it's a pretty boring all-purpose market at which you don't expect to find anything especially exotic.

All of that being said, it seems even boring markets in my area carry bontan ame and Pocky. At first, I was really impressed by them, but now I see these items so much that I don't even notice. That being said, a new Safeway opened recently in the Cupertino area and I was shocked to find this Japanese "purin" (pudding) container for sale there. This particular branch also carries bakery items from the Sogo bakery and I'm guessing their range is broader because the area hosts a lot more residents of Asian descent. The lesson for me is to not take for granted that a chain store is a chain store is a chain store. You never know what surprises might be lurking. 

Random Picture #214

I hear the word "Oreo" several times a day every day. I wish I could say that was because I worked in an Oreo factory or even that I was employed creating new and bizarre flavors for them to put in their limited edition offerings. Unfortunately, it's because my neighbors in the building across the way got a little black dog with a white strip down its breast and they frequently are yelling at it by name, and the name they gave it is "Oreo".

In Japan, they do not have a ton of strange Oreo cookie flavors. I'm stunned at how many Oreo cookies are in the regular rotation, let alone all of the seasonal and limited edition flavors like fruit punch, gingerbread, and rice krispies treat flavors. Instead of offering a ton of different cookies, Nabisco Japan has these cookie/candy logs that they offer in odd flavors. The one picture above next to what looks like a bowl of pizza toppings is "creme brulee". It's made with Hokkaido milk, just as I'm sure original French versions of creme brulee were made with that sort of extra special milk. 

Random Picture #213

Recently, I was talking about Asian bakeries with my sister-in-law. We were talking mainly about a chain called "Paris Baguette" which has a French-sounding name, but is actually Asian and has a focus on Japanese- and Korean-style offerings. Of course, when I talk about baking and Japan, I really mean the European-style confections that Japan has modified for its market's tastes.

One of the things which Japan modified for its tastes was flan, or, if you prefer, pudding, or, even "creme brulee" without the burnt top. I've always been confused about whether this should be called one or the other. As you can see by the side view, this is essentially flan. It has a sweet syrup on the bottom and a thick pudding in the center. Personally, the point at which flan and pudding are separated comes at how thick they are. Flan can stand on its own, though it may wobble a bit. Pudding tends to be a bit more gooey and needs a container to support it. At any rate, the plastic containers of "purin" that you see here were in a supermarket in Tokyo and they have whipped cream as well as chestnut puree (the ones on the right). The ones on the left are "fruit purin", but the curious thing about them is that they have a mini purin on top of the larger purin. It feels like one of those mirror within a mirror deals, only with food.

Random Picture #210

There was a time in the 1970s when pyramid power was a big deal. People would construct or buy little pyramid structures to sit in and meditate or masturbate or something or other to bring them more power. That sort of happiness is parodied to some extent in a Seinfeld episode in which a natural "healer" or holistic practitioner treats George for tonsillitis by having him drink some concoction while sitting under a pyramid shape (the pyramid comes in around the 3:16 mark).

Meiji obviously wants to get a piece of that pyramid power and have created a variation on the Meltykiss/Meltyblend that has a different shape. Cubes are fine, but pyramids are that much better. They also appear to be better for Meiji's bottom line as this box of chocolates cost $6. Usually, Meltykiss/Meltyblend are around $4. I'm not sure what the big boost in cost is all about, but I will have to live without the power of pyramid-shaped chocolate at that price. 

Random Picture #209

I have a love/hate relationship with Sonton and their peanut spreads. One is a bit of an abomination. The other is a dollop of heaven. The question about these "peanuts cookies" is which end of the spectrum that they represent or if they occupy a unique space between. These are the result of a pairing between Mr. Ito and Sonton. Mr. Ito is a maker of some of the less refined shelf-stable cookie products out there. His name is not encouraging. I do note that an unexpected contributor to this enterprise. It seems that Mr. Peanut's little brother has been used to come and stand in as a mascot. I'm sure that the folks at Planters are more than happy to allow their property to be "borrowed" in such a fashion.

Random Picture #208

What is pictured above is called "educational confectionary" according to its  maker, Kracie. I call it "playing with food", but I'll run with Kracie's description. On the left is a donut decorating kit and on the right is a candy bento one. This leads me to believe that Kracie is thinking Japan's children need to be educated in the ways of food service. I guess if your dream is working at Mister Donut, then the donut one would help set you up nicely.

This is one of those rare items which is actually available at Amazon. You can get the bento one here for an exhorbitant price and the donut one here for an even higher price. If you buy one, let me know if you learned anything. ;-)

Random Picture #207

As I "warned" in my Monday review, everything is coming up strawberry right now. This was the display at Marukai market, one of several Asian markets within driving distance of my home. Everything you see here is strawberry sweets. It is mainly various types of cookies (Kabaya's crispy "Panda" cookies, 3 types of Bourbon petit cookies featuring strawberry in each, Delicia strawberry fromage cookie/candy combos), but there are also pretzels (Toppo, Pocky and Pocky Midi), cakes, candy (Hi-Chew and Look) and wafers.

As someone who is not an enormous fan of starwberry, I won't be sampling all of these, but I couldn't resist a few of them. You'll be seeing reviews of at least 4 of these items and a few have already been reviewed (linked in previous paragraph). If you love strawberry, I guess now is the time to track down some Japanese snacks. 

Random Picture #206

Sometime in the last year that I was living in Tokyo (that's 2012 for those who aren't keeping track), bagna caude caught on as a food fad. The bureau for Japanese food fads must have decided that they needed a more expensive savory option in lean times in order to drum up some revenue for restaurants. This Italian "dip" usually is made up of garlic, butter, anchovies, and olive oil (among other possible ingredients including truffle oil and cream). The latter two are pretty pricey in Japan and the dish not only is hard on the hips, but can be a little rough on the wallet.

Muji, a chain of stores that specializes in simple-looking "generic" goods, has solved the issue of how hard it can be on your coin purse by offering a "bagna caude kit" for a mere 210 yen (about $2.10). You still have to provide the cream and olive oil, but they've got the rest covered. I wish to a small extent that I had bought this and tried it. However, never having had real bagna caude, I would lack the frame of reference from which to evaluate this instant stuff.

Random Picture #203

David Letterman used to do a line repeatedly in which he'd say, "does this look infected to you?" While looking at these cakes, I'm thinking they look a little infected to me, or possibly "infested". Those little black things are beans, not bugs or spots of mold. The cakes are "mushi" or steam cakes. They're actually a sponge cake that isn't especially sweet, but tend to be fairly fatty. They're usually quite fluffy and, though the texture is light, some of them are rather weighty. In fact, as I've mentioned in other posts, misunderstanding how caloric these babies can be helped add some weight to me in my early years in Japan. 

These are quite popular and I think they are one of the older sweets. My guess is they were borrowed cuisine from China. I've mentioned before that Japan got its baking culture largely from Europe. These steam cakes are not made in an oven, but usually on the stove top. That would explain their long history and the nostalgic popularity of them. If you'd like to try your hand at making your own (sans bizarre-looking beans), there's a recipe here.

Random Picture #200

My apologies for this being a random picture of something which is not Japanese, but this was a curiosity that I had to ponder and ask my readers about. The sign on this, if you can't see it, says "NS Indian Bob Snack". I don't know if this is supposed to be a Native American whose name is "Bob" (which would be a somewhat unusual name in such a case) or if "Bob" means something in Korean which I do not know about. I'm also not sure what being "Indian" (or more properly since the headdress makes it clear, Native American) has to do with this salted snack product. They are, apparently, made from corn so that may be the missing link.

The manufacturer's web site for this offers not insights other than this is a snack with somewhat politically incorrect overtones that is good for the whole family. 

Random Picture #199

I've mentioned my feelings about Gari Garikun on my other blog. I find him one of the more disturbing mascots. His enormous maw makes me want to go through the freezer case and turn all of the boxes around and it certainly dissuades me from making a purchase with his visage on the package. That being said, apparently having a mouth that big creates an enormous gravity well into which bits of food are sucked so there is some sort of benefit to such a deformity.

At any rate, this is a nashi pear (Japanese/Asian pear) flavor ice pop. It's an interesting flavor option, but it says only 2% of it is pear juice so you're mostly getting sugar and water. 

Random Picture #197

When I was still in Japan, I rarely picked up the Tirol variety packs because they sold the same old flavors with one new one in order to encourage people to buy a lot of mundane flavors with one interesting one. Times have not changed. Tirol still follows this marketing scheme and I still won't buy them. Of course, in Japan, these things cost about 1/3 what they do here.

The above variety pack was at Nijiya market for a little under $6 for 27 tiny pieces of chocolate. The old flavors are strawberry jelly, coffee nougat, biscuit, almond, "milk" (like condensed milk), and cookies and cream. The new flavor is "raisin sandwich". Those kinds of cookies are very popular in Japan and actually quite tasty. They're delicate little biscuits that are on the flaky side with a cream and raisin filling. I'd be shocked if the candy in any way resembled the cookie that I so enjoyed in Japan.

Random Picture #196

One of the problems I had before leaving Japan was that there were all sorts of nifty things which I wanted to buy and bring back with me as souvenirs, but I knew I couldn't fit them all in our bags. I also knew that, cute as some of them were, they didn't have much in the way of utility. I could justify buying a yukata, but not a plastic figure. 

It seems that I did not necessarily leave that temptation behind. The above picture is of plastic bento boxes with shelf-stable gelatin ("jelly", as it is called in Japan) desserts inside of them. The price is a bargain considering that the cheapest bento box that you can buy is $1.50 (at Daiso Japan) and is not as cute as these. You get gelatin and a keepsake. Tempted as I was to pick up one of these for posterity, I just could not think of a good use for the box so I reluctantly passed. If I could have found a pragmatic reason, one of those cat face boxes would be in my possession right now.

Random Picture #194

Merry Christmas to my readers. I hope you're all enjoying your holiday.

If you were in Japan, you could be leaving Santa a little treat. He wouldn't eat it, of course, but he'd feed it to his reindeer - at least that's what the illustration on the bag seems to be telling us. These are "choco daifuku" or chocolate-filled rice cake. These shelf-stable versions of daifuku tend to be a little disappointing, especially if they are designed for kids. The rice cake can sometimes be a bit touch or stale, so, despite the adorable holiday-themed packaging, I didn't opt to buy such a large amount for reviewing. I had other plans for my holiday nosh, as you'll see by Friday's review. ;-)

Random Picture #193

One thing which I was much slower to learn about compared to when I lived in Japan was what "year" it would be next year. I found out that it was going to be the year of the horse by seeing these tiny mounds of mochi with plastic horses on top of them at a local Japanese market. Had I still been in Japan, I'm guessing I would have seen these thing at least a month ago.

These mochi balls are shelf-stable and designed for decoration more than consumption. I bought one of these a few years before I left Japan because it had an adorable little plastic tiger on top of it. I had it for about a month and then decided to pop it open and sample the mochi. I didn't expect it to be like freshly-made mochi. What I expected was something akin to the dried stuff that you buy in bags in supermarkets. It was far "worse" than that shelf-stable mochi. It was so tough, even with heat and moisture added in, that I felt it was inedible. 

While I may have gotten a bad batch, my guess is that these are "mochi" only in name and that these are really meant only as decoration. I'm guessing Japanese people already know this and wouldn't even attempt to eat them when the holiday is over - much as we might view fruitcake. ;-)

Random Picture #192

My husband and I both thought this illustration looked a bit... peculiar. The man pictured on the canister is supposed to be enjoying a bit of roasted seaweed, but the way its in his mouth makes it look like he's trying to tear apart a particularly tough bit of beef jerky rather than savoring some seasoned seaweed paper. The look oin his eyes is one of concentration or surprise - perhaps a little of both.

While it could be that this is an original piece of art, after considering it for a bit, I wondered if this wasn't an old illustration that was edited to add in the nori and the hand. Perhaps he was originally a bit player in a tentacle porn print. I guess I'll never know.

Random Picture #191

One of the possibly dubious benefits of having lived in a particular Asian country for quite some time is that, while I can't read other Asian languages, I can tell what they are. For instance, I can tell the difference between Chinese and Japanese even though they use the same characters. Though the concept of an "office lady" was one that I was introduced to while living in Japan, this package of "cookie rolls" let me know that the idea is not confined to that country. These are Chinese (made in Taiwan) and I'm guessing they are trying to say that office ladies love these things.

In Japan, office ladies were well-known for their love of sweets and kept an ample supply in their desks or the break room for a quick nosh. This sort of thing tells me that they likely are not alone in their habits.

Random Picture #190

Some time back, I reviewed the liquid version of one of the three candies pictured above. These three flavors are super pickled plum (umeboshi), super soda (ramune - like lemon lime usually) and, rather obviously, super lemon. On the first bag, the caption is, "Ah, suppai," which means "sour". It can also  mean "acidic" but umeboshi are quite sour. 

The interesting thing about these intense candies is that the brand given here is "Nobel". The liquid version, which is clearly the same brand as the graphics are identical, was made by Japan Tobacco. I'm guessing JT licensed the flavor for a beverage because Nobel (or "J-bel" as it sometimes calls itself) has been making candy under that name since 1949. 

One interesting thing about the web page for all of Nobel's hard candies is that they have little descriptions under them and one or the other is highlighted to tell consumers what sort of product it is. The options are "basic", "healthy", "handy", and "fashion & casual". These candies are all listed as "basic". It strikes me as a way of marketing which essentially says, "this is our boring" candy, and a very strange way to promote a product. I'm guessing this is one of those cultural differences that I haven't figured out yet.