5 Japanese Foods I Refuse to Eat
Does anyone really like natto?
When I was young, I was never an adventurous eater. Our family didn’t eat anything that didn’t come from a cow, chicken, or stalk of wheat. Seafood was limited to an occasional tuna fish sandwich.
Japanese food? It might as well have been Martian food. The only Asian food within 20 km of my childhood home was a single Chinese restaurant.
I didn’t have my first taste of raw fish or even an onigiri rice ball until I was well into my 20’s. And then I moved to Tokyo.
Japan is rightfully known throughout the world as having the tastiest, healthiest, wonderful-est cuisine. Unfortunately, I didn’t get to enjoy much of that when I lived there. Working as an English teacher barely paid the rent. I ate a lot of yakisoba and 7-Eleven onigiri. Once a month I’d save my money to splurge on conveyor belt sushi.
Later I worked at a large Japanese company and lived in the company dorm. It’s difficult to find tasteless, bad quality food in Japan, but our dorm cafeteria succeeded. Every day.
I didn’t care much anyway. Food was just calories to be consumed as quickly as possible to get back to work or study.
And then I married my wife, a Japanese woman with a love of food who knows how to cook. Since we…
