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November 19, 2011

Breakfast (, , )

by fluffy at 11:21 AM

Very few things demonstrate the gap between any two given cultures so well as how one prepares the breakfast of another. Tastes can vary so much that in some cases it seems that aliens from outer space who had never even heard of "break fast" are likely to do a more accurate job.

The Japanese take on an American breakfast is a prime example. What do Americans eat? Sausage, eggs, fruit, potatoes, that sort of thing. What kind of sausage? Well, the most popularly-eaten sausage in America is hot dogs. Oh, and those are often served on a bun with chili and onions. Fruit? How about some nice berries... like tomatoes and bell peppers? Potatoes are easy to cook; here's a nice recipe for roasted potatoes, served with carrots and green beans. And how better to scramble eggs than by making an emulsion?

This isn't to say that any of this is BAD, of course, but if you happen to be in Japan and happen to be homesick for America, ordering a nice American breakfast probably isn't the best way to alleviate this.

Of course, it's hard to fault them for trying. Ask any given American to prepare a Japanese style breakfast and you'll probably end up with wasabi corn flakes.

Comments

#14493 11/19/2011 02:45 pm
A chili dog for breakfast would actually work very well for me, as I'm not a great fan of the idea that you have to eat different foods for breakfast than you would for the rest of the day.

What goes in the traditional Japanese breakfast?
#14494 11/19/2011 05:02 pm
Japanese breakfasts are just as varied as American breakfasts (if not moreso) but have way different things in them. A pretty popular breakfast item is natto on rice, but they also tend not to have as much distinction between breakfast and lunch items. Fish-stuffed onigiri are pretty common, for example, as are selections of dried salted fish and (extremely salty) egg custard and so on. Marinated seaweed and vegetables also appear pretty common, which is probably why their "Western" breakfasts often have french fries, carros, and green beans instead of more traditional hash browns.
#14505 11/20/2011 10:32 pm
It occurred to me that On Food and Cooking refers to hot dogs as emulsified sausages. The other dishes are definitely not homogeneous, but they're also not animal products, so maybe there's still a theme.
#14506 11/20/2011 10:34 pm
The Japanese are much kinder to Italian food, and while the sausages they use are still Very Wrong, they're at least not made of refined purée of miscellaneous protein.