Traditional mochi treatment puts a spin on the Pon de Ring, but is it an unrecoverable tailspin?
seaweed
Mr. Sato tries the ultimate in luxurious noriben and equates it to a microcosm of the universe.
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An ultra-easy bit of home cooking makes our reporter nostalgic for something he’s never eaten before.
What’s the harm in pinching a tiny bit of seaweed? Quite a lot, as our Japanese-language reporter learned.
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This combination of traditional Japanese snack and French pastry has got to be one of the oddest we have seen.
It’s a tale of two kombuchas as Mr. Sato tries a canned kombucha imported from the U.S. that startles his taste buds and blows his mind.
SoraNews24’s Mr. Sato continues to live the high life (sort of) as he pairs the most expensive nori he could find with the cheapest rice available.
If green tea, Japan’s favorite traditional drink, can make desserts better, why not its most important seasoning, too…right? Right?!?
Whip up a homemade face pack with this Korean recipe that only requires two common ingredients you’ll find in many Asian kitchens: seaweed and milk.
Lunch-making parents in Japan have long been infusing their midday meals with fun characters designed to please the eye along with the taste buds. A common ingredient used for detail and decoration is the humble dried seaweed sheet called nori. The dark color makes it perfect for creating lines and patterns, and since it comes in a flat sheet you can cut out some fairly detailed shapes with a knife. If you quickly browse through some amazing character bento we’ve shared with you before, you’ll see the important role that seaweed plays in their design.
However, it’s not only good in a supporting role; world-renowned seaweed shop Kozen wants to elevate it to a star in the art world! Forget all the other ingredients you might find in a bento, “Nori Art” is all you need to turn your next meal into an unforgettable feast.
Vegetarians traveling to Japan may find it difficult to find food that fits their dietary lifestyle. Fish seems to be in everything including the soup stock used to make miso soup. To make matters worse, many foods in convenience stores, bakeries or even Starbucks have misleading labels, and that “vegetable sandwich,” or “vegetable pizza” may actually have meat in it too! You can order foods like okonomiyaki or monjayaki with no meat, but you still can’t be sure it won’t come with shredded fish flakes on top that there isn’t fish lurking in the dashi-based sauces.
I always recommend to my vegetarian friends that rather than asking Japanese restaurants to make something special for them, it’s better to just order food that doesn’t have fish or meat (or dairy) in it from the beginning. Fish has always been a staple in the Japanese diet, but the eating of wild and domestic game was banned for over 1,200 years in Japan, and Buddhist tradition gave rise to a special vegetarian cuisine called shojin ryori. Even now, the traditional Buddhist meal called ozen (rice, miso soup, pickles, boiled/simmered vegetables and beans), is still served at funerals in Japan.
So traditionally, there is a lot of vegetarian food in the Japanese diet. You just have to discover it. And RocketNews24 is here to help! In this article we’ll introduce you to common Japanese dishes that can be ordered at almost any Japanese restaurant that have no meat, fish or animal products in them, so, let’s jump into Japanese vegetarianism 101.
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