There are many strange and new tastes that await a foreigner who comes to live in Japan. Some, like pickled plums, chicken cartilage or the fermented soybeans called natto don’t sit too well with me, although I’ve come to enjoy many other foods, including all manner of fish and other good things from the sea. (At my house, we regularly eat tako salad, which is fresh salad with octopus meat, served with a tangy vinaigrette). Another food I’ve really come to like is wasabi, an extremely spicy flavoring that adds so much to sushi and sashimi as well as soba and udon noodles. Similar to horseradish, wasabi has a very long history in Japan, and there are documents dating from the year 718 that mention it as a medicinal herb, which is interesting since wasabi is known to naturally fight infections and act as an antibiotic, for example killing the bacteria that cause ulcers. At J-List we have many interesting wasabi products, including the hit snack of the season, Wasabi Doritos, real wasabi in a tube, and a treat I personally love to much on, spicy rice crackers and peanuts called Kaki no Tane, which means “persimmon seeds” because of the shape of the rice crackers. Check them out!
