When I’m in the U.S., I like to take the chance to drive around to different places in my 2002 Miata, like Reno or San Francisco or hunting for Star Wars locations in Death Valley. Over the weekend I drove up to Palm Springs, a pleasant little city with some nice resort hotels and a giant statue of Marilyn Monroe that I’d have expected to see in Japan rather than America. While I was there, I went into a restaurant and ordered a nice steak. When it arrived, I did something that surprised me: I reached for the plate of hot steaming white rice that should have been next to my steak, but of course wasn’t. In Japan, you always get a plate of steamed white rice (always called “rice” using the English word, never gohan as it’s called in Japanese, as steak is “Western” food). It’s nice to eat the meat and rice together…the juices blend nicely with the rice and make it all taste great. I guess I’ll have some when I get back to Japan.
The Japanese usually eat steak and rice together.
