When I read about Japanese people shirking food due to prices, my mind can not properly process that. This is so different than the situation when I was a bit younger.
When I was growing up, the prevailing stereotype of Japan was of a nation of producers and consumers of high quality products, including food, despite the price of those items. In reality, there were always people who did not fit that mold, and things were changing even back then, but the generality had held. These days, Japan's economic drift is more openly visible, and articles like this just bring that reality home. I believe that was on my mind when I posted originally.
As long as the price of bottled water doesnāt go above Ā„200 the population is still in control. The moment they start squeezing too much, I donāt know.
Can confirm. Iād buy the entire stock of oden items, and soup. Then Iād turn around and sell it at my non-existent food stand that I can totally rent/buy under a tourist visa.
Pro-tip: eat it for the first time when itās cold outside; get the daikon, mochi-purse, egg, and sausage roll. For your second time, get the konyaku and hanpen and add the yuzu-pepper packets. For your third time, abandon all reserve and get the weird unidentifiable things.
Here is the case of judging books by their covers. Depends on the quality of the ingredients obviously. Can be absolutely delicious. Or it could suck #ss. As all things in life.
One of the best meals I've had in Japan, and that includes a ton of amazing meals over the last decade plus, was at an oden place in Tokyo. I already liked it, but that meal showed me what it could be.
It is. I hate Oden. Itās not only the worst Japanese food itās one of the worst foods I ever had. My despise for Oden can not be explained properly. It is so gross.
When I see the hot mushy daikon in the broth I get flashbacks from my very unpleasant first (and last) time at an oden restaurant.
This category of food is something I nearly always skip in Japan (and the very similar equivalent in Korea). I understand the concept of a warming, salty dish in winter-time ā but thick soups (not broths!) and stews fill out this category very well in Western diets. A salty barrel full of fried and then blanched ingredients, with most of the nutrients nuked out of them, is not particularly appetising.Ā
Iām a hater. It makes conbinis and street scenes (more so in Korea) smell like daikon and fish cakes; that is, like nursing homes and old socks.Ā It reminds me of the meme videos where you see some horrendously beige meal being served in a 'traditional' caff/food truck in the UK with the caption "Brits, the war ended 75 years ago, you don't need to eat this way anymore".
At least in Taiwan at this time of year all the convenience stores have the rich and herbal smell of tea eggs and similar.Ā
Fried? I think you have the wrong impression of this dish. Blanching doesnāt remove nutrients. Which part of this is fried again? Maybe the tofu puffs if you like that? Youāre not a hater. You just have poor taste buds. Even if your opinion was on the nose, itās not. I wouldnāt trust anyone that points to conbinis as the apex of a cultureās cuisineš.
Oden(g) often has ingredients like fried fish cakes, which lends a lot to the invasive smell and general unpleasantness of this type of food ā in my personal opinion! It's very common to see stalls selling fish cake skewers in Seoul in winter.
And, erm, I never claimed that conbinis were the 'apex' of the culinary culture? I never even claimed it was representative. I precisely said that this is a category of food that I can easily give a miss (the implication being that there are plenty of excellent alternatives).
Blanching or long-term simmering absolutely does remove water-soluble nutrients, by the way. It's why steaming vegetables is preferable to parboiling them, for instance.
All in all, every single part of your post was incorrect. Quite impressive really.
The price has risen, but it is still far from being expensive. Japanese people just dont have money. Low salary with higher tax. I'm from Taiwan and now live in Euorpe. I lived in Japan, too. If you live in Japan, you get to know that normal Japanese people do not have money. They do not travel abroad not because they love domestic tourism but because they do not have money to travel abroad. Their low salary with higher tax is literally insane. š If you put your foot outside the tourist traps, the places are doom. However, Japanese people still think foreigners come to Japan for earning moneyš
Oden is really cheap at the moment surely. Here daikon can be got for hardly anything because it is in season. Konjac is cheap. Eggs aren't particularly expensive. Tofu can be got pretty cheaply. You just boil dashi at home and put all those things in and you get oden.
Since I have to heat my home anyway, I can just put a big pot on the stove and have it boil away making yummy oden.
Overall much cheaper than most other options right now.
Homemade oden is easier and cheaper. The only reason to get it at convenience stores is for the broth, which is absolutely amazing. And you can get the whole container filled up by buying just one chikuwabu.
I went cold on Oden a long time ago. It's like ordering overly wet, extremely salty food. I don't like Konyaku to begin with, but Oden is like eating a wet paper towel.
Oh thank goodness I am not the only one. My in-laws always have it for us when we visit them and I really just eat a little bit out of respect, but I've never really liked it.
All of the good stuff that goes into it has been expensive for years. It woudln't be so bad if it were only chicken, egg and daikon, but that's just boring. We're not struggling, but I still only make oden once or twice a year because the chikuwa, aburage, satsuma-age, and all kinds of yummy little fritters surprisingly add up once you've gotten through the register.
ā¦does it have to be something exotic to be good an ostrich egg? Lamb? Maybe some wagyu..? Maybe some saffron? You lost the plot a long time ago. Itās a dish representing humble ingredients and a staple soup base. If you were any good at cooking youād be able to spice it up in any multiple ways. But here you are just complainingš¤·āāļø.
When I read about Japanese people shirking food due to prices, my mind can not properly process that. This is so different than the situation when I was a bit younger.
Why is this hard to process ?
When I was growing up, the prevailing stereotype of Japan was of a nation of producers and consumers of high quality products, including food, despite the price of those items. In reality, there were always people who did not fit that mold, and things were changing even back then, but the generality had held. These days, Japan's economic drift is more openly visible, and articles like this just bring that reality home. I believe that was on my mind when I posted originally.
Very interesting! Thank you!
First rice, now oden. What next seaweed becoming too expensive
Nori became crazy expensive about 5 or 6 years ago for some reason.
Maybe, because Japan culture is being promoted in Europe and a lot of sushi stores have emerged.
Most European-bought nori is from China
My comment was removed and I got a warning for saying the same thing
Really? It's a completely inoffensive statement. Did you word it odd in a way that left room for misunderstanding?
They have deleted it now but wouldnāt have put a racial twang on it
Itās already are.
Nori has been expensive for fucking ever now
As long as the price of bottled water doesnāt go above Ā„200 the population is still in control. The moment they start squeezing too much, I donāt know.
Itās because foreigners are eating all the oden
Itās hard to get cicadas in the winter months.
Canāt blame them. Itās good!
that is the same reason makes famichikin more pricy š„²
Can confirm. Iād buy the entire stock of oden items, and soup. Then Iād turn around and sell it at my non-existent food stand that I can totally rent/buy under a tourist visa.
Pro-tip: eat it for the first time when itās cold outside; get the daikon, mochi-purse, egg, and sausage roll. For your second time, get the konyaku and hanpen and add the yuzu-pepper packets. For your third time, abandon all reserve and get the weird unidentifiable things.
give this person their Japanese citizenship already
solid advice here
Tastes absolutely amazing with misodare (sweet miso paste)
Needs more sinew
It's because foreigners eat all the Oden and drink up even the soup
all because of gaijin sir
Guy Jean strikes again.
It is even worse, when the Gaijin is Asian.
Yeah, straight from the combini pot!
Are we not supposed to drink the broth?!!
(Not from Japan)
I won't if it is from combini, or a stall. Hygiene concerns. But if it is fresh made or home made , why not...
Ah.
Vietnam rules. Don't drink the tap water.
you dont drink it, you reuse it
Exactly. It's rude to not bring it back to the store to add back to the pot. People throwing it away or drinking it is why the prices are going up.
The article didn't even go to the effort of talking about which ingredients rose in price significantly
That would take effort and time that their employer canāt be bothered to paying them forā¦
Unpopular opinion I'm sure, but this has always looked incredibly unappetising to me.
Holy shit an actual unpopular opinion in the wild.
Have an upvote
Oden is nasty, especially if itās that stuff they just let sit out.
It looks mid, I get it, but man is it heartwarming.
Hearty dish
It also tastes mid. Random stuff bobbing around in a boring-ass dashi broth or whatever. This shit sits on the same level as osechi.
My partner loves the stuff, but she's a self-professed lover of "boring tasteless food".
Soup is heartier than oden.
I didnāt eat it for my first 9 years here cos it looked and kinda smelled gross.
Ate it recently in Okinawa because it was order by my husband and his friends. I get it.
Still probably wouldnāt buy it though.Ā
I canāt stand the smell.
Homecooked oden daikon might be the most soulwarming food I've ever eaten.
Unpopular for sure but you should try it. It's awesome and low calorie.
Its mild tasting and most ingredients have a strong seafood scent. If you're into stronger flavors but dun like seafood its not for you.
I avoided it for like a year because it looks so gross, but I had it for the first time on hatsumode at midnight, and Iāve liked it ever since.Ā
Here is the case of judging books by their covers. Depends on the quality of the ingredients obviously. Can be absolutely delicious. Or it could suck #ss. As all things in life.
One of the best meals I've had in Japan, and that includes a ton of amazing meals over the last decade plus, was at an oden place in Tokyo. I already liked it, but that meal showed me what it could be.
Even the basic stuff is good, though. Try it!
Took me 17 years (since first learning about it) to finally try it (just 3 weeks ago), but it's actually really good ngl
It is. I hate Oden. Itās not only the worst Japanese food itās one of the worst foods I ever had. My despise for Oden can not be explained properly. It is so gross.
When I see the hot mushy daikon in the broth I get flashbacks from my very unpleasant first (and last) time at an oden restaurant.
Totally agree. In a country of very good food options, itās soā¦..meh. Not bad, certainly, but just very low on the list of priorities.
This category of food is something I nearly always skip in Japan (and the very similar equivalent in Korea). I understand the concept of a warming, salty dish in winter-time ā but thick soups (not broths!) and stews fill out this category very well in Western diets. A salty barrel full of fried and then blanched ingredients, with most of the nutrients nuked out of them, is not particularly appetising.Ā
Iām a hater. It makes conbinis and street scenes (more so in Korea) smell like daikon and fish cakes; that is, like nursing homes and old socks.Ā It reminds me of the meme videos where you see some horrendously beige meal being served in a 'traditional' caff/food truck in the UK with the caption "Brits, the war ended 75 years ago, you don't need to eat this way anymore".
At least in Taiwan at this time of year all the convenience stores have the rich and herbal smell of tea eggs and similar.Ā
Fried? I think you have the wrong impression of this dish. Blanching doesnāt remove nutrients. Which part of this is fried again? Maybe the tofu puffs if you like that? Youāre not a hater. You just have poor taste buds. Even if your opinion was on the nose, itās not. I wouldnāt trust anyone that points to conbinis as the apex of a cultureās cuisineš.
Oden(g) often has ingredients like fried fish cakes, which lends a lot to the invasive smell and general unpleasantness of this type of food ā in my personal opinion! It's very common to see stalls selling fish cake skewers in Seoul in winter.
And, erm, I never claimed that conbinis were the 'apex' of the culinary culture? I never even claimed it was representative. I precisely said that this is a category of food that I can easily give a miss (the implication being that there are plenty of excellent alternatives).
Blanching or long-term simmering absolutely does remove water-soluble nutrients, by the way. It's why steaming vegetables is preferable to parboiling them, for instance.
All in all, every single part of your post was incorrect. Quite impressive really.
Also boiling reduces the nutrient/fiber value of all the vegetables.
The price has risen, but it is still far from being expensive. Japanese people just dont have money. Low salary with higher tax. I'm from Taiwan and now live in Euorpe. I lived in Japan, too. If you live in Japan, you get to know that normal Japanese people do not have money. They do not travel abroad not because they love domestic tourism but because they do not have money to travel abroad. Their low salary with higher tax is literally insane. š If you put your foot outside the tourist traps, the places are doom. However, Japanese people still think foreigners come to Japan for earning moneyš
Indeed, males came for the japanese females.
Oden is really cheap at the moment surely. Here daikon can be got for hardly anything because it is in season. Konjac is cheap. Eggs aren't particularly expensive. Tofu can be got pretty cheaply. You just boil dashi at home and put all those things in and you get oden.
Since I have to heat my home anyway, I can just put a big pot on the stove and have it boil away making yummy oden.
Overall much cheaper than most other options right now.
Hail malatang
Homemade oden is easier and cheaper. The only reason to get it at convenience stores is for the broth, which is absolutely amazing. And you can get the whole container filled up by buying just one chikuwabu.
The article is about homemade oden.
Fair enough. I only commented based on the picture.Ā
Personally cannot stand oden. The only thing I might like is the daikon. The rest, especially all the fish pasty ones I just can't.
I can see why many people like oden though during winter.
That's pretty funny, since daikon is the ingredient that smells like something that died farting in your mouth while you're eating it.
You don't have to convince me I am already hooked
backflip
I went cold on Oden a long time ago. It's like ordering overly wet, extremely salty food. I don't like Konyaku to begin with, but Oden is like eating a wet paper towel.
Oh thank goodness I am not the only one. My in-laws always have it for us when we visit them and I really just eat a little bit out of respect, but I've never really liked it.
Konyaku is the most pointless food in existence. Tasteless, textureless, colourless, and looks like arse.
Plus it can choke you to death.
Good job LDP,i guess
My fav food
Lovely comfort food.
I thought people stopped eating Oden because of the image it has.
When i think of Oden, I see some old git in a conbini coughing all over the Ban Marie as he picks his food.
I know a lot of conbini now keep the Oden behind the counter, and the cashier serves you, but still....
typical cheap food that became expensive only because now it's popular on socials
Got to feel for Japanese, inflation increases but salary is stagnating... Thank god they have social net unlike in US...
All of the good stuff that goes into it has been expensive for years. It woudln't be so bad if it were only chicken, egg and daikon, but that's just boring. We're not struggling, but I still only make oden once or twice a year because the chikuwa, aburage, satsuma-age, and all kinds of yummy little fritters surprisingly add up once you've gotten through the register.
ā¦does it have to be something exotic to be good an ostrich egg? Lamb? Maybe some wagyu..? Maybe some saffron? You lost the plot a long time ago. Itās a dish representing humble ingredients and a staple soup base. If you were any good at cooking youād be able to spice it up in any multiple ways. But here you are just complainingš¤·āāļø.
it must be because all the tourists and foreigner are eating all the oden.
I love Oden tho.
Blame yourself.... Or god
Can they not just get Matsuko Deluxe to feature it on his show?
People will be queuing around the block the following lunch time.
Or has it already reached the stage where men wearing dresses is wrongthink here too?