Growing to love Japanese Food

People who say tofu doesn�ft taste like anything have never tried konjac. (And besides, good fresh tofu has a pretty strong and distinct flavor.)

Both tofu and konnyaku are excellent at taking on flavours. In terms of texture they can be odd, but I always put them in my nabemono. And the gyudon I cook is incomplete without shirataki.

I can't stand unagi. There was a time I gagged on some and nearly vomited because the texture didn't agree with me and even though I should give it another go, I just don't want to.....

A lot of Japanese kids don't like Japanese food and rather prefer McDonald's or KFC. I wasn't an exception until I started living away from my parents, missing my mom' cooking and discovered the fascination of sanma-no-shioyaki teishoku among many things.

Uco,

I experienced the same thing. Once I moved out of the house for university and started eating the horrible dorm cafeteria food, I realized how good I had it with my mom's Japanese home cooking. Every time I would be back home I would help my Mom with dinner, so that I could learn some recipes.

Tofu is just gross. I had to Google konnyaku, I don't recall eating it except in noodles; not my favourite thing but it's edible. I don't have any strong opinion about natto or red beans either.

But yeah, tofu, no way.

With tofu it can depend on what you are having. I dont like the firm cheesey tofu but the medium and soft can be really nice. The soft stuff, heated in water or dashi then put in a bowl with ponzu, shallots, and ginger with bonito flakes - just amazing! And the medium done as agedashi tofu (super easy to make) - really good too. Also it can be great with a spicy dish, like mapo dofu or kimchee stew. Nice contrast between bland and fire.

My wife and I went into a place near Kiyomizudera once, we pretty much just went to the first place we could for lunch and it ended up being a quite well known tofu place, we had about 8 courses of tofu done different ways - in water, grilled, fried etc. it was just amazing.

Basashi:raw horse meat ”nŽh

I come from a country (Germany) where horse meat isn�ft really eaten. I think if you search really hard you can find it somewhere but it�fs generally considered a companion animal rather than a meat producing one. (We do eat though rabbits which in Japan is considered a companion animal you wouldn�ft eat)

However I really like raw (cow) meat. So at some point I went with colleagues to a restaurant in Tokyo and as so often we ordered a wide array of food for everyone to share. And there was this basashi and it was really tasty. I wouldn�ft say that it was better (or worse) than raw cow meat, but just very tasty.

After that I discovered that also in a lot of yakiniku places there are horse meat options. I would venture the idea that more than one foreigner ate horse meat in Japan thinking it was cow and never be the wiser.

Now back in Europe (The Netherlands) I no longer exclude horse meat from my table and have tried Dutch horse meat sausages and Italian horse meat bressaula

What is still a no-go for me is most of the Yakitori that involves chicken innards. I tried a few times, but grrrrr.

And octopus is a total no go for me. A few years ago I could hardly look at a picture of an octopus without feeling nauseous let alone a dead one in the market. Nowadays i can look at life octopuses alright (still a little challenging but okay) but if someone at my table is eating octopus I�fll try to put some visual barrier between his dish and my eyes.

I remember the shocked reaction from some people in Morioka once when we told them we eat kangaroos in Australia. They're delicious when cooked the right way, and a very lean protein source.

I enjoy tofu as long as it's not an overload of it. The best I've had was sesame tofu and that was amazingly good.

In Magome, our kaiseki included basashi. I'd only had it aburi style before and was a little underwhelmed, but the entirely raw version dipped in soy with grated ginger was delicious. I neglected to tell our 6yr old what basashi is...... she ate it and I'll probably keep it a secret for a long time.

The best I've had was sesame tofu and that was amazingly good.

I am sorry, but I suppose you know what tofu is; tofu is tofu, it is made from soy beans; sesame tofu is not tofu; we call it �gsesame�h tofu because it is not a real tofu and simply because the finished texture looks like tofu; these two �gtofu�h are totally different food.

The taste of tofu depends on the quality of soy beans and �gwater�h, and tofu itself has no strong and distinguished taste, it has a slight and refined soy bean flavor and delicate water taste. Good tofu can be tasted only with a dash of salt or soy sauce. I don�ft mention now how to season tofu or how to cook it, because other posters have already mentioned and will mention too.

Generally speaking, children don�ft like tofu, because their sense of taste is not yet fully developed, therefore, they love food of distinguished and strong taste: sweet, salty, fatty, flavored etc. Tofu is a preferred food of adult persons.
Unfortunately, you seldom find good tofu in supermarket. Produced in a factory and low-priced tofu is naturally far from good tofu.

If you are a guest of my home, I will serve you good yu-dofu and tasty sake�c

Bit hard to be a guest in your home when you're anonymously posting tofu facts for dumb foreigners but thanks for your information.

I am fond of Japanese food especially snacks. I have subscribed to Bokksu who send me amazing snacks every month and I really enjoy them.

For me, it was hojicha tea. I found the taste very weird at first, but some ten years later and several trips to Japan it has become my favourite and I never forget to stock up when I travel there.