Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with japanesefood

Where can I look up calorie information for typical Japanese foods?

Vorteks — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 10:24:26 -0800

I'm looking for a website or perhaps a printed book that gives typical nutritional values for a large variety of Japanese foods. I'm counting calories, and logging everything I eat. For most typical American foods and restaurants, it's pretty easy to get a rough estimate of the nutritional value of what I eat. If I eat out, most major restaurant chain provide nutritional info on their websites. And if not, or I'm eating at home, places like The Daily Plate and Calorie King can be used to find similar foods and make a reasonable estimate.

But, when I eat Japanese foods, I'm totally lost. The above sources might be useful for foods well-known in America, like "california roll" or "shrimp tempura". But what about okonomiyaki? unagi? katsu curry? chanpuru? natto? I'm lost. Does anyone know where nutritional information for these sorts of foods might be obtained? A website is preferable, but if there's some sort of guidebook or something I could buy that'd be helpful too.

I read Japanese at perhaps a 5th-grade level and I have dictionary tools to help me out, so I don't mind using a Japanese website if you know of one.

I love curry but my curry doesn't love me.

fiercekitten — Mon, 12 May 2008 09:58:49 -0800

I'm looking for a good recipe for Japanese-style curry rice from scratch, without using the block of tasty curry roux. I love the "Vermont" & "House" brands, but really can't handle the wheat and soy. I'm pretty accomplished in the kitchen and can find unusual ingredients easily since I'm in a large metro area.

What's a good recipe for menma?

DoctorFedora — Thu, 21 Dec 2006 11:32:43 -0800

JapaneseFoodFilter: Help me make menma! I've been trying to make my own menma (seasoned bamboo shoots for ramen and such) but have had limited success -- the only recipe I've found so far has been on recipezaar.com and in all honesty it sucked (though this may have been at least partially due to using "cooking sake" instead of the real thing). If anyone knows or could point me to a decent recipe for it (in English or Japanese), I'd much appreciate it.

Help Me Find My Nuts

iconomy — Fri, 10 Feb 2006 13:15:09 -0800

Please help me find more of this yummy food. A friend went to Disneyworld a while ago and one of the things she brought me back was a really good peanuty thing. It was a bag of dried nuts that had the same kind of mouth feel as the dried wasabi peas that are so popular, and they had some kind of insanely delicious, slightly sweet, super crispy coating on them, and I'd love to find them either online or at a store so I can buy lots and lots and lots of them. Here's a scan of the package. The back side is actual size. There is a website printed towards the bottom of the back - http://kasugai.co.jp, which leads to an online shop, but I can't really make heads or tails of anything, and don't really want to order that way. Does anyone know where I can find these exact nuts in this exact packaging? Is there a place online (in English) where I can order them?

Does anyone know what they're called? On the Kasugai site they're called Kasugai Peanut & You (hee), but all of their nuts are called Kasugai Peanut & You, so that doesn't help me find this one particular thing.

What's the proper etiquette for eating sushi?

hooray — Sat, 21 Jan 2006 10:17:49 -0800

What's the proper etiquette for eating sushi? When I go to a restaurant, how should I reply when the sushi chef behind the bar greets me? Are there certain types of sashimi or sushi that I should not dip in soy sauce? Should I eat a piece in one big bite, or can I take multiple bites? What about when eating futomaki? Is tea something that I should eat during the meal or generally best before or after? What about sake?

A lot of questions, but basically, please share with me the proper etiquette of eating sushi and other Japanese food.

Miso confused

Shane — Mon, 05 Sep 2005 13:53:51 -0800

Recipe for miso soup wanted! Must be tried and true and fixable with ingredients available in the U.S. (or on the 'Net.) It's not as easy as it seems, evidently... (T'anks!)

Fabulous Sushi

stuart_s — Tue, 07 Sep 2004 14:37:11 -0800

At a Japanese restaurant, I'm tormented by the fear that a whole world of tasty Japanese treats lays just outside of my reach hidden behind a wall of California roll. I have a theory: if I challenged a handful of local sushi chefs to show me a broader range of more authentic Japanese food, at least one will be willing and able. I'm afraid that years of making smoked salmon-cream cheese role may have dulled his skills and strangled his spirit. I want to be ready to help pull him out of his waking matrix-esque nightmare but I just don't know enough about it. Besides the stuff that you can get at any Japanese restaurant anywhere in the world, what's the most wonderful thing you've ever had in a Japanese restaurant? What I have in mind is a Japanese tasting menu. Lots of little treats that can be whipped up by the sushi chef, although not necessarily sushi. I would also lean towards dishes that have been perfected over hundreds of years rather than dishes thrown together to appeal to a new American palate. But good food is good food, so just give it your best shot.