Unknown Japanese Foods that are Awesome

I think it’d be impossible for a person to live in a foreign country if they didn’t like the food there, and I’m happy to report my satifaction with this aspect of Japan. While Japanese foods like sushi, tempura, ramen and onigiri rice balls are quite well known around the world, there are other dishes I like a lot which you may not be so familiar with, as they’re not “food memes” like Taiyaki or Takoyaki. One is soboro, which is a bowl of white rice with teriyaki flavored ground chicken and scrambled egg on top — such a simple and honest dish, I could eat it all day. Next is chirashi-zushi, essentially a “tossed salad” of sushi pieces arranged over vinagered rice, traditionally served to celebrate daughters on Hinamatsuri (March 3), though I eat it whenever I can. Finally, there’s masu no sushi, a delicious round disc of rice with trout sushi on top that’s pressed into a bamboo frame, and you cut the sushi into wedges making it “sushi pizza.” It’s a delicacy of Toyama Prefecture on the Sea of Japan side of the country — not the most accessible place in the world — but if you ever find yourself at Haneda Airport in Tokyo they sell it there, too. If you’re keen on making some of these dishes yourself, we’ve got a nice lineup of cookbooks and related books you might want to browse.

Some of my favorite Japanese foods are not well known outside Japan.