The Teriyaki Effect

Earlier this year I took a trip to Australia, which was a lot of fun. I noticed something while I was there, though: despite the general fame of Fosters beer around the world, I didn’t encounter the brand inside Australia itself. This got me to thinking about other famous foods that might not be exactly as we expect, like kiwi fruits (which shockingly don’t all come from New Zealand) or Canadian bacon (my sources tell me is called “back bacon” north of the 49th parallel). One of the most famous Japanese foods around the world is teriyaki, the delicious flavoring that’s made from soy sauce, sake and sugar, although foreigners who go to live in Japan are usually surprised to find it’s not that common, outside of the McDonald’s Teriyaki McBurger. (Yakitori, chicken on wooden skewers roasted over charcoal flame, does have the sauce on it, though no one bothers to call it by name.) When Japanese think of America, some think of “American dogs,” the name corn dogs are sold under in Japan, imagining that we sit around eating them every day.

The best place to find teriyaki in Japan is McDonald’s.