Top10 Japanese Food Anime Made Me Crave
8. Dango (団子)
What? It’s dumpling made from rice flour, served with different seasonings and sometimes green tea. Three to four of these dumplings are often served on a skewer.
How? Although now I know you can eat Dango all year, I always thought of it as Matsuri food, that is food eaten during festivals. And that’s because in anime, I usually saw girls eating Dango while dressed in pretty Yukata. In fact, it was Naruto that showed me that there were such things as Dango shops or Dangoya. And the Dangoya in Naruto is so popular that both good guys and bad guys stop by to enjoy the delicious Dango, washed down with steamy green tea. Also, there’s a character named Mitarashi Anko, who is aptly named since she loves the dumplings and her names come from two types of Dango.
Did I like it? Haven’t eaten them, but I have eaten Mochi (餅), which they tell me is similar, but prettier~ I did like Mochi, although it got stuck in my tongue and teeth a lot, so if Dango is similar I would eat it, but not all the time.
7. Pocky (ポッキ)
What? They are chocolate-coated biscuit sticks.
How? Shounen and Shoujo anime, especially those involving school-age teenagers, made me aware of many Japanese treats. I loved the colorful designs on their boxes and quirky shapes of the treats themselves. But among them all, Pocky was the king. From the top of my head I remember seeing it in Lucky Star, Yamato Nadesico Shichihenge, Midori no Hibi, Aa! Megamisama, Card Captor Sakura and Gravitation.
It’s also popular among teenagers because of the Pocky Game, which I have also seen in many anime, especially the rom-com ones. The game goes like this: one person puts one end of the Pocky stick in their mouth, the other person does the same with the other end of the stick. They bite their end until the stick gets smaller and smaller. The person who chickens out first, loses. Yeah, the idea is it could end up in kisses~
Did I like it? Yup. A lot, actually. Sadly, Pocky is a tiny bit expensive here, so I go and eat Pepero, which is similar but from South Korea. Yes, I am cheap.
You know what’s funny? I discovered Omurice when I was younger because I wanted something to eat and I was learning how to cook for myself. There was rice. And there was eggs… BAM! HaHA. I didn’t know it was an actual thing, though, until I watched Rooftop Prince… HaHa!
I’ve always wanted to try okonomiyaki. It just looks extra delicious! Also curry bread looks like the best food in the world!!! This entire list is made up of stuff I just need to ingest… POST HASTE! It’s totally expensive in the States for most of this stuff, or the very least where I live. I took my younger brother out for sushi for his birthday last year and spent almost $60 bucks… yeah. But it was worth it because it was literally one of the best meals PERIOD I’d ever had.
Yet again, it would seem I’m the first to comment on your awesomeness… HaHA.
@Camiele, Japanese food is expensive here too for the most part. So I eat it sporadically, on festivals mostly. And when I manage to drag friends/family to the Sushi bars and the Ramen restaurants~ Specially when they have discounts once in a blue moon~
What I like is that recently there’s been this sorta fast food restaurant of Asian food (https://www.facebook.com/bambufastcasual) an hour away from home. And they have Ramen and Makizushi there, as well as other food from China, Thailand and Vietnam :D
@mirella, Oh my GAWD!!! Why don’t I live some place that actually, I don’t know, has a culture?! LAME! I mean, I guess that’s semi-unfair. We do have Asian markets that sell ingredients and treats from all over Asia (India, Bangladesh, etc. included. A lot of people forget that they’re part of Asia too). Those are usually not really expensive. Now, the Korean market… those ingredients are NOT cheap (from what hermanito says), but again I don’t know how to cook Asian food (or French food, or Brasilian food… wow… I’m lame… HaHa), so going to actually get the food is ALWAYS expensive. *sigh*
Someday, we’re gonna eat as much food from any culture we want and it’ll be GLORIOUS!!!
@Camiele, Lima is a good place to eat, though the only places that I’ve actually found that are quite good are Chinese, Japanese, and lately Indian. I mean, I’m not counting Peruvian food restaurants coz then I’ll have to list all the regions of different food xD But from the foreign ones…
There’s a bunch of Italian trattorias, as well, and I suppose there’s Spanish food – though I’ve never eaten it here. For the past 3 years, there’s been a couple of Korean restaurants now. Surprisingly, there isn’t a good Mexican place down here. xD
There’s only a small Arab food place that I know, so I can’t really say it’s the best xD
And we don’t have African food, but we make up with Afro-Peruvian fusion food, which is included in Peruvian food. xD That along Chinese-Peruvian are the ones more fused with Peruvian culture. Chinese and Peruvian culture are so fused together that Peruvians don’t say “soy sauce” they call it “sillao” with the Cantonese word for soy sauce xD
And they don’t call it “ginger” they call it “kyon” xD and so on.
Oh, you can get Okonomiyaki at Irashai in Av. Aviacion.
Where did you get Takoyaki? xD
@amy, I got Takoyaki at the Natsu Matsuri last year and also at the “Feria Gastronómica” during Japan’s Week at Centro Cultural Peruano Japones!
Yay Okonomiyaki! :D
@mirella, I need a restaurant that does it. xD I almost considered buying my own Takoyaki recipient, but it’s too damn expensive xD
@amy, *sigh* I need to live some place where it doesn’t cost you your paycheck to eat from different cultures. Like, when you have to choose between having some good food or paying a bill… lame.
@Camiele, that’s true. America and Europe are mad expensive when it comes to food. I felt it was super cheap in Taiwan, though. Like, cheaper than here. Not in terms of junk food, coz that’s expensive everywhere except States side… but actual hand-made noodles for like a few dollars. Crazy. A similar thing in Seoul. It was more comparably priced to Lima, but still relatively normal.
@amy, I just find it so stupid in America (I don’t know about all of Europe, but in London at least the junk food and the real food were pretty comparably priced)! The stuff that kills you and makes you feel like shit is the least expensive while the stuff that’s handmade, healthier, and easier to digest costs you your first-born child. I really have a hard time living here and enjoying it… HaHa.
Also… DUDE. POCKY. Best invention of a snack. EVER.
There’s a fried rice omurice kind of dish at Naruto. xD
@amy, When can you go at Naruto? The only time I wanted to go it was freaking full. And my friends also went once and was also full. Cannot go there xD
@mirella, I think their night shift begins at 7pm or something, so I dropped by there pretty early… not even 7.30 – but if I’m not mistaken, they’re also open at lunch. I thought that was less busy. :) They also have those ramen soups, and they have a special Naruto menu that comes with chicken cutlets and miso kyuri salad, which was pretty good. Order on one go, so you don’t have to wait for other items later.
And Irashai’s Okonomiyaki has gone down in quality :( anddddd my mother decided to buy a Takoyaki grill xD HUZZAHHH
@amy, Can’t go at lunch, but I’ll see if I can persueade someone to go with me at 7pm then xD
@amy, Takoyaki gril!?!?? So… where are you going to invite me for lunch? xD
Has your mom already used it?
@mirella, haven’t used it yet. We’re trying to figure out what else besides Takoyaki we can make with it.
I always wanted to try meat buns that Goku would eat on King Kai’s planet.
Food in Dragon Ball has a special place in mt heart. There’s also a lot food porn any time a Saiyan and half Saiyan eats~
Totally random detail, but as a Korean, I eat omurice all the time! Weird, since it’s a Japanese meal, but I guess I can’t complain..
Oh, lucky you then! What’s your favourite Korean food then? I am finding myself interested in it since I’ve been told it’s spicy!
I wonder if I should update this list considering I have now eaten most of the things in here!
What are you missing?
Just Kare Pan!
the easiest version would be to make a papa rellena, but instead, filling it with japanese curry xD
I have finally eaten Kare Pan! Should I update this list? xD
You should!