What to eat?!

       
       
       

      The density of vending machines in Japan is incredibly high.  Most of the vending machines sell beverages. For only 110 Yen one can buy soft drinks, juices, tea, coffee, cooled or hot. Of course, a little bit more expensive are alcoholic beverages which are also available at certain machines.   There are other vending machines selling all kind of goods: food, cigarettes, erotic movies, clothes, etc.   Interesting is the fact that there are practically no demolished machines.

       
       
       
       Tea is the most common beverage in Japan. There are several kinds of tea:
      Ocha (Ryokucha): The common Japanese green tea.
      Macha: Macha is used at the Tea Ceremony and has a bitter taste.
      Kocha: English tea.
      Chinese Tea: Oolong tea, Jasmine tea, etc.
      Green Tea is drunken everywhere and always. Unlike English tea, Green Tea is served in cups without a handle and is never drunken with sugar or creme.
      The correct way of drinking green tea is, to take the cup with one hand and
      support it from below with the other hand.
      Many kinds of tea are sold, hot or cold, at vending machines that you can
      find everywhere throughout the country.  

      Many kinds of tea are sold, hot or cold, at vending machines that you can find everywhere throughout the country.
       

        
       

      The Japanese cuisine offers a great variety of dishes. Most dishes, however,
      contain rice and/or seafood, the two basic kinds of food of the Japanese

      RICE - the basic food of the Japanese over 2000 years.  It can be breakfast
      (morning rice), lunch (noon rice) and supper (evening rice) and exist in
      countless different forms.

      Sushi is the most popular food among the Japanese
      "Sushi" was the word used for pickled fish that was put into vinegar to
      conserve it. Today, Sushi is a dish that is made with rice, which was
      prepared with Sushi vinegar. There are many different kinds of Sushi. Some
      popular ones are:
      Nigiri Sushi: The classical Sushi: small rice balls with seafood or egg on it and wasabi (green hot horseradish cream) between. 
      Temaki Sushi: Sushi rolls rolled by hand at the table.
      Norimaki (Sushi): Sushi Rolls. Rice and other stuff rolled in nori (seaweed).
      Futomaki (Sushi): Especially big norimaki.
      Gunkan: Rice and nori formed like a cup with fish eggs (e.g. Ikura, Tobiko) or other seafood filled in it.
      Chirashi Sushi: Seafood spread over sushi rice.
       Inari Sushi: Aburaage (deep fried tofu) bags filled with sushi rice.
      Sashimi - raw seafood. Japanese eat raw seafood in many different ways. The fish has to be as fresh as possible. Sashimi can be eaten just as sashimi or
      as nigiri sushi, where it is put on top of a ball of sushi rice.  Before
      eating, you put the sashimi into soya sauce and wasabi. Wasabi is a hot
      green horse radish cream that should be mixed with soya sauce.
      Some of the most popular kinds of sashimi are:

      • Maguro: Tuna
      • Sake: Salmon
      • Ika: Squid
      • Tako: Octopus
      •  Ebi: Prawn
      Ramen are noodles that originally came from China. During the last decades,
      ramen became a typical and very popular food in Japan. The noodles are about
      as thin as spaghetti and are served in a soup with other ingredients, that
      are put onto the noodles. There are countless different ramen dishes. The
      most popular are:
      Different soups:
      •  Shoyu Ramen: Brown, clear soya sauce soup.
      •  Miso Ramen: Miso taste soup. Not clear.
      •  Shio Ramen: White "salt" soup.
      Different toppings:
      Nowadays ramen shops can be found everywhere, also as fast food stands on
      the streets and at train stations. The success of instant ramen and cup
      noodles has become worldwide.
      • TEMPURA
      Seafood and vegetables deep fried in tempura batter
      Tempura was brought to Japan by the Portuguese. Today tempura is a very
      popular Japanese food, and as well one of the best known outside of Japan.
      • YAKITORI
      Grilled chicken - Yakitori is grilled chicken speared on sticks. All
      different parts of the chicken, thighs, skin, liver, etc. are used for
      different kinds of yakitori. The following recipe shows one of the most
      popular kind which is prepared with chicken thighs and leek. 
       
       
       
       
      • Okonomiyaki
      Japanese pancake pizza - Okonomiyaki is a mixture between pancake and pizza.
      "Okonomi" means "as you like". This refers to the ingredients
      .
       
       
      • Soya Sauce (Shoyu):
      Soya sauce is the most important condiment and is used for the preparation
      of many Japanese dishes.  It is a black liquid made of soya beans.
      Today, soya sauce is also very popular in America and Europe.

       
       

       
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