Monday, January 19, 2009
Hunka Hunka Burning Tongue
No, I'm afraid I didn't go out and see the new James Bond movie yesterday. The weather was lousy, Mako wasn't feeling well and we had a couple of DVDs to watch before they were due back at the store, so we spent the day indoors watching TV. Other than Mako's intestinal distress, it was a relaxing time. She's feeling much better today though, thanks for asking.
I've been thinking a lot about food lately and it's not just because I'm an obese monster with an undying hunger. The issue that's been on my mind is food temperature which is handled very differently here in Japan than it is in the States. How much of this has to do with the famously non-confrontational Japanese attitude and actual tastes, I couldn't say, but I find the issue of interest and it's all I've got to write about today. Well, that or I could tell you how I felt about those three year old Prison Break episodes we watched yesterday.
Last week, I burned my mouth pretty fiercely while having lunch. We went out shopping in Osaka and I ordered a curious combination of spaghetti topped with a raw egg and "crab cream croquettes." I took one look at the plastic model outside the restaurant and I knew that was what I wanted. It looked too outrageous to pass up and everything about it seemed delicious. It certainly was good, except when I bit into the croquette and my mouth was filled with the liquid hot creamy mix that was inside. From that point forward, I didn't so much "taste" my food as I did "feel" it in my mouth. Unfortunately, the sensory damage lasted a full day and even a week later, my tongue doesn't quite feel right.
Japanese cuisine has a lot of really, really hot stuff to offer and I continue to be amazed at just how quickly people here can eat it. Oden, ramen, sukiyaki, takoyaki, even green tea is served piping hot and most Japanese folks will scarf it down with barely any hesitation. In fact, the reason Japanese people are so famously noisy when they eat noodles is because of the heat - they like to eat it right away and by "slurping" they can blow on the food while they suck it into their mouths.
I, on the other hand, take things very slowly and let things sit because I find that the serving temperature for all of these delicious dishes is far beyond my tolerance for pain. It just so happens that the Japanese have an expression for someone like me, "cat's tongue" (nekojita). Apparently cats don't like hot food so whenever a person can't eat molten 200-degree soup broth, they say he or she has a "cat's tongue." It seems Garfield has been lying to me for thirty years about his fondness for fresh lasagna.
A recent TV special shed some light on the nekojita phenomenon. They demonstrated that the difference between people who have a "cat's tongue" and everyone else is how they eat their food. Those who complain about the heat of their food are sticking their tongue out as they eat, plunging the heat-sensitive tip of their tongue into the food and then recoiling in anguish. Other people hide the tip of their tongue so the food touches further back where it doesn't hurt so much. They made this even clearer when they took a "cat's tongue" guy and experimented with drops of very hot soup placed onto different parts of his tongue. Drops that landed on the tip of his tongue caused him great pain, while the same liquid on the middle or rear of his tongue were pain-free and tasty.
In case you haven't figured it out, I saw this special just one day before shoving the crab cream croquette into my mouth and scorching myself. I thought by consciously concealing the tip of my tongue and trying to eat like the "normal" guy on the show, I too could eat meals with my wife without having to sit around and blow on everything like it's my birthday and my entire meal is topped with trick candles. As a result, I learned that my "cat's tongue" is, in fact, a powerful defense mechanism that prevents me from putting things into my mouth that don't belong there because they are too fucking hot.
There is a flip side to all this: there are a surprising number of occasions where Japanese people happily enjoy food that has gone cold hours, sometimes days earlier. One of them just recently passed: New Year's Day. Here in Japan, they celebrate the start of a calendar year by going home and spending a few days with their family, watching TV, and eating traditional dishes. One of these is known as osechi and I had some for the first time at the start of 2008. It all looked good but when I put it in my mouth it was ice-cold, so cold I really couldn't discern any tastes other than the extremely chilling effect it had on my mouth. That's because the meal is prepared before New Year's Day and put aside to be eaten later. As I've mentioned before, Japanese houses are extremely cold in winter so the osechi ends up tasting like ice cubes flavored with fish. I was the only person who found this arrangement odd.
There's also the matter of bento, carefully arranged and prepared meals that are nicely laid out in a small box so that they can be taken on the go. These are especially popular in major trains stations and airports where passengers can buy a bento (often featuring a local delicacy) and then eat it during their trip. While I am a big fan of these tasty and very nice-looking meals, I don't understand why they are never served hot nor do they offer to reheat them. They are served as-is and they are expected to be eaten as such.
My favorite example goes back to my experience as a film extra during my study abroad term. On each of the days I was on set, all of the cast and crew received a bento and a can of tea. I'm sure Bruno Ganz got a proper meal, but that's not important now. I could never understand why our food was served so cold while the cans of tea were kept hot - so hot I couldn't hold it in my bare hands. Both items were brought to the set in separate boxes, and one was hot and the other was not. Why not do to the food whatever you did to the cans? Or simpler yet, just pack the can in with the food? Trust me, those cans would have easily reheated the entire meal.
As I write this, I am at work and not-quite looking forward to lunchtime. At this school, and this is the only one where there is a problem, my lunch is always cold. Part of this is my obligation to eat lunch with the students so I must walk to their classroom with my lunch in hand and wait for them to prepare before we all eat together. But the crux of the problem is that the lunch in the staff room is prepared and served at least fifteen minutes before anyone has a chance to eat it, so everyone who eats in there has a cool if not totally cold lunch. Out of all those people, I am the only one who has asked what alternatives there are to eating soup that is the same temperature as my milk. Oh well, at least in summer my lunch doesn't make me sweat, right?
Night Note: I came home and we had a boiling pot of broth, veggies and gyoza for dinner. Me and my cat's tongue made it through the meal unscathed.
I've been thinking a lot about food lately and it's not just because I'm an obese monster with an undying hunger. The issue that's been on my mind is food temperature which is handled very differently here in Japan than it is in the States. How much of this has to do with the famously non-confrontational Japanese attitude and actual tastes, I couldn't say, but I find the issue of interest and it's all I've got to write about today. Well, that or I could tell you how I felt about those three year old Prison Break episodes we watched yesterday.
Last week, I burned my mouth pretty fiercely while having lunch. We went out shopping in Osaka and I ordered a curious combination of spaghetti topped with a raw egg and "crab cream croquettes." I took one look at the plastic model outside the restaurant and I knew that was what I wanted. It looked too outrageous to pass up and everything about it seemed delicious. It certainly was good, except when I bit into the croquette and my mouth was filled with the liquid hot creamy mix that was inside. From that point forward, I didn't so much "taste" my food as I did "feel" it in my mouth. Unfortunately, the sensory damage lasted a full day and even a week later, my tongue doesn't quite feel right.
Japanese cuisine has a lot of really, really hot stuff to offer and I continue to be amazed at just how quickly people here can eat it. Oden, ramen, sukiyaki, takoyaki, even green tea is served piping hot and most Japanese folks will scarf it down with barely any hesitation. In fact, the reason Japanese people are so famously noisy when they eat noodles is because of the heat - they like to eat it right away and by "slurping" they can blow on the food while they suck it into their mouths.
I, on the other hand, take things very slowly and let things sit because I find that the serving temperature for all of these delicious dishes is far beyond my tolerance for pain. It just so happens that the Japanese have an expression for someone like me, "cat's tongue" (nekojita). Apparently cats don't like hot food so whenever a person can't eat molten 200-degree soup broth, they say he or she has a "cat's tongue." It seems Garfield has been lying to me for thirty years about his fondness for fresh lasagna.
A recent TV special shed some light on the nekojita phenomenon. They demonstrated that the difference between people who have a "cat's tongue" and everyone else is how they eat their food. Those who complain about the heat of their food are sticking their tongue out as they eat, plunging the heat-sensitive tip of their tongue into the food and then recoiling in anguish. Other people hide the tip of their tongue so the food touches further back where it doesn't hurt so much. They made this even clearer when they took a "cat's tongue" guy and experimented with drops of very hot soup placed onto different parts of his tongue. Drops that landed on the tip of his tongue caused him great pain, while the same liquid on the middle or rear of his tongue were pain-free and tasty.
In case you haven't figured it out, I saw this special just one day before shoving the crab cream croquette into my mouth and scorching myself. I thought by consciously concealing the tip of my tongue and trying to eat like the "normal" guy on the show, I too could eat meals with my wife without having to sit around and blow on everything like it's my birthday and my entire meal is topped with trick candles. As a result, I learned that my "cat's tongue" is, in fact, a powerful defense mechanism that prevents me from putting things into my mouth that don't belong there because they are too fucking hot.
There is a flip side to all this: there are a surprising number of occasions where Japanese people happily enjoy food that has gone cold hours, sometimes days earlier. One of them just recently passed: New Year's Day. Here in Japan, they celebrate the start of a calendar year by going home and spending a few days with their family, watching TV, and eating traditional dishes. One of these is known as osechi and I had some for the first time at the start of 2008. It all looked good but when I put it in my mouth it was ice-cold, so cold I really couldn't discern any tastes other than the extremely chilling effect it had on my mouth. That's because the meal is prepared before New Year's Day and put aside to be eaten later. As I've mentioned before, Japanese houses are extremely cold in winter so the osechi ends up tasting like ice cubes flavored with fish. I was the only person who found this arrangement odd.
There's also the matter of bento, carefully arranged and prepared meals that are nicely laid out in a small box so that they can be taken on the go. These are especially popular in major trains stations and airports where passengers can buy a bento (often featuring a local delicacy) and then eat it during their trip. While I am a big fan of these tasty and very nice-looking meals, I don't understand why they are never served hot nor do they offer to reheat them. They are served as-is and they are expected to be eaten as such.
My favorite example goes back to my experience as a film extra during my study abroad term. On each of the days I was on set, all of the cast and crew received a bento and a can of tea. I'm sure Bruno Ganz got a proper meal, but that's not important now. I could never understand why our food was served so cold while the cans of tea were kept hot - so hot I couldn't hold it in my bare hands. Both items were brought to the set in separate boxes, and one was hot and the other was not. Why not do to the food whatever you did to the cans? Or simpler yet, just pack the can in with the food? Trust me, those cans would have easily reheated the entire meal.
As I write this, I am at work and not-quite looking forward to lunchtime. At this school, and this is the only one where there is a problem, my lunch is always cold. Part of this is my obligation to eat lunch with the students so I must walk to their classroom with my lunch in hand and wait for them to prepare before we all eat together. But the crux of the problem is that the lunch in the staff room is prepared and served at least fifteen minutes before anyone has a chance to eat it, so everyone who eats in there has a cool if not totally cold lunch. Out of all those people, I am the only one who has asked what alternatives there are to eating soup that is the same temperature as my milk. Oh well, at least in summer my lunch doesn't make me sweat, right?
Night Note: I came home and we had a boiling pot of broth, veggies and gyoza for dinner. Me and my cat's tongue made it through the meal unscathed.
Labels: extra extra, food, Japan, JET, movies
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You are NOT an obese monster! And I was remarking just last night to Dad how fricking hot bowls of udon always are. And they stay hot. I try my best to slurp those noodles up but it's just too much.
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