“Raw What?” Japanese Foods You Are Too Scared To Eat

A majority of people have gotten over the idea of raw fish these days, but some Japanese foods remain as ones that some people would never order.

Due to strange or unappealing translations into English (and some of it is admittedly due to appearance); nevertheless, these raw foods are my favorites but also the most misunderstood.

Natto is often described as “fermented soybeans” on translated menus. Let’s be honest, getting a customer to order a fermented food is not easy in the first place. Natto is slimy and stinky to some, but happens to be one of my favorite toppings for a bowl of rice, wrapped up in a roll, or best of all, paired with mountain potatoes. Its complex flavor is a strong and polarizing one, no doubt, and it’s for a lover of savory foods. Some people draw comparisons to cheese in its type of flavor (and, oddly, in its smell), but it is one of those things that you need to try in order to really understand. There are traces of a nutty flavor, salty from the soy sauce that you mix in with it, and most of all, deliciousness.

Inari is simply a ball of rice wrapped in sweet fried tofu. It’s one of the simplest and most delicious snacks out there, but its appearance as a brown, wrinkly looking mound can be off-putting. The fried tofu is juicy and sweet, resulting in a mouth-watering culinary experience.

Pocari Sweat is just has a strange name. Obviously no one wants to think about the image of drinking sweat, but it is a mild, citrus soda that is pretty universally pleasing. Even for the non-adventurers, trying this won’t be a life-altering event.

okonomiyake — Image by pen_ash from Pixabay

Okonomiyaki: Japanese people describe this in English as a type of Japanese pancake, but it isn’t a sweet, fluffy carbohydrate that you eat for breakfast. In fact, this is one of the heaviest but most self-indulgent meals. It’s a savory conglomeration of anything you pick to be in it, including the base of egg and batter, cabbage, green onions, octopus, shrimp, vegetables, and more. In this way it is similar to an omelette, but grilled to perfection, topped often with Bull Dog or Okonomiyaki sauce (a dark, thick, sweet sauce). It’s an awesome meal to eat with friends, especially since often Okonomiyaki restaurants have chefs at the table or nearby, whipping their spatulas and the different foods in front of you.

japanese food — Photo by Should Wang on Unsplash

Ikura is salmon roe, or more simply, raw fish eggs. They are the luminescent orange bulbs that sit atop a throne of rice and seaweed in sushi. The salty flavor as well as the smooth texture combined with the small bursting of the eggs results in a sometimes messy and always delicious experience.

This has always been one of my favorites from a very young age, which perhaps says something about how growth can sometimes mean taking a little too seriously what other people say as “gross.” I have eaten and enjoyed all of the above, not to mention the monkfish liver, sting-ray fin, and even insects that I have tasted on food adventures with my dad, who is Japanese. I have to say that despite living all of my life in America and only been to Japan twice that I will always have a craving for Japanese food and its tasty quirks in my heart.

Article written by AJ Kiyoizumi.