2017年6月23日金曜日 - 
Cody:American and Japanese Tongues
I love to cook. My mother started to teach
me the basics when I was a little kid and it became a hobby soon after. I've
spent decades
learning recipes, making my own and perfecting them. Recently, my
mother even gave me her recipe book, which had previously belonged to her mother (my
grandmother).
So, imagine my surprise when I cooked
dinner and desserts for my friends here in Japan for the first time – using my tried and true recipes
that are favorites back home – and was told that they were too salty, too sweet
or even had too much flavor.
I mean, I know Americans can go a bit crazy
with their recipes, but I'd never imagined that such a fundamental difference existed
between Japanese and American taste buds.
However, after this disparity was made apparent to
me, it started to make sense. I thought about my encounters with Japanese food in
America, often at restaurants with my friends.
Americans love to dunk their sushi in soy sauce. They also love sushi rolls that are covered in rich,
sweet sauces. Most of the udon and ramen I ate in American had heavy,
salty, rich broth
and were loaded with things like tempura
or grilled meat and seafood – light and refreshing versions were a minority.
Perhaps a better example of the difference
between Japanese and American taste preferences can be better illustrated by
finding a common ground, in which there should be very little variation:
Starbucks.
But, surprise! There's a big difference in
one very simple ingredient between Starbucks in America and Japan… the whipped cream.
In America, it's very sweet and heavy; it tastes like dessert. Here in Japan,
it often tastes like no sugar at all has been added. It's light, fluffy and creamy without
being sweet.
So, if you're ever looking to try some authentic American cuisine,
you might want to prepare your taste buds for a lot more flavor than you're used to!
decades：数十年
perfecting：完璧にする
belonged to：～のものである
tried：実際に作ってみた
fundamental：根本的な
taste buds：味蕾
disparity：不一致
make sense：理解できる
dunk：どっぷり浸す
broth：煮汁
minority：少数派
ingredient：材料
fluffy：ふわふわの
authentic：本物の
used to：なじみのある