“You’ve been in Japan too long when you no longer find anything amusing about the concept of ‘Vermont Curry.'” Although you may think of certain foods like sushi, sashimi, tempura and sukiyaki as popular Japanese dishes, the honorary national food of Japan has got to be curry, or as the Japanese always call it, curry rice. Curry spread out from India during the 1700s, a gift from the British Empire that’s enjoyed in Japan more than any other kind of food save rice itself. Many companies compete to bring the best curry to market, with products like House The Curry (the Japanese love to add the word “the” to product names), Java Curry, and Vermont Curry, flavored with the mild kiss of Vermont apples. One of the rules of curry-eating is, it takes even better after it’s been left to sit out all night, and “second-day curry” is just heavenly (although my son discovered that “second-day Chef Boyardee ravioli” is pretty good, too). Curry is available in many forms in Japan, poured over fried pork cutlet; as udon noodles in a curry soup, a popular dish from Nagoya; or as curry bread, a doughnut-like ball of bread with curry inside.
Mmm, I could go for some delicious curry rice right about now.
