So, I’m nearly out of images for my clockwork Japan auto-blogging. Here is a picture of frickin’ incredible ramen from Kyoto station, ramen with broth so fatty and rich that a skin actually formed and stuck to my chopsticks once I finished and let it cool a bit. When you suffer a heart attack just thinking about it, you know your ramen is good.
Delicious as the food here is, though, I’m alarmed by the utter lack of fiber it contains. The closest most meals get to actual roughage is a small saucer of pickled veggies, or maybe a few shreds of cabbage. I can eat like that for a week or so, but any longer and I think I’d freak out a little — it’s like gambling with my colonic health, a crap shoot of the worst sort. I have to assume that bowel movements can only happen with the aid of a weekly surgical procedure.
In other words, it’s good to be back home. I think I’ll celebrate by having a salad the size of a television.
Aaaand the Log Kit saga comes full circle.
Welcome back.
Awesome. Welcome back.
I’m told that whenever you go to a Japanese doctor, the first thing they do is give you something to start the ol’ bowels a-churnin’. Now you know why.
Yeah, japan’s modern diet, nutritionally confuses me. Atkins or Ornish’s soul could never touch this land. skinny healthy old people that line up 2 hours for a box of krispy kreme and seem to eat 80% ultra-refined grains and the rest animal fat and raw eggs. I’ve started to find that the word healthy here means anything that isn’t deep fried pork fat. Even finding brown rice here is limited to ultra-hippie organic/microbiotic stores. I love that their guidelines for sodium are you should maybe try for less then 10g a day http://www.dietitian.or.jp/english/news/sixthrevision.html. American healthy people make it seem like the recommended UL of 2.4G will kill you dead.
Yeah, nutrition!
why have the japanese done this to Flying Spaghetti Monster T_T
oh man, a protective slime coating of PURE FLAVOR.
that’s what food is all about.
That looks delicious.
A girl I worked with, after so much white rice, and so little fiber did not shit for two weeks. TWO WEEKS. I can’t imagine how painful that must be.
Those eggs look like they’ve been hollowed out and filled with Jell-O.
Mmm.
I hate boiled eggs but Japanese ramen places do something to theirs that make the centers this cheesy, delicious goo that I cannot resist. The yolk is probably replaced scientifically with a purer form of cholesterol and saturated fat or something, but damn it’s good.
To heck with their popculture, I want to go to Japan just for the food. Eating microwave burritos at my computer and reading about the incredible sushi and ramen you’ve been eating is MURDER.
Coming back from all of that to the food sold around my office is no treat, either, man.
vsrobot: It doesn’t have to be that way. Easy starter is tonkatsu pork (panko breadcrumbs, egg, pork loin, plum sauce). Miso soup on the side. Brown rice or lettuce/garnish. Take it to work with you.
Life’s too short for microwave burritos. Come back into the light… we’ll be praying for you.
I’d have to say that the most health-wise disturbing ramen (but also so so delicious) is the kotteri-style ramen that you can get (and that I usually got) at chain stores like tenga-ippin.
(photo: http://www.flickr.com/photos/quimix/2236608094/)
And don’t worry about the fiber: if you believe some studies, there is actually no statistically significant correlation between dietary fiber intake and colon cancer among Japanese people.
No, but apparently the Japanese lead the world in stomach cancer from eating too many high-nitrate pickles.
In honor of you, Parish, I had ramen for lunch today.
Well… not really in honor of you, but I was inspired by you. I’m working from home today and when lunch time came around and I was trying to think of what I wanted, I remembered your recent posts on ramen and decided to go to the nearby ramen place since it’s once of the best in the city. Mmmm… It was good. Starting last Monday they have a special soy sauce ramen that they only serve 100 of a day.
parish: Happy chickens make better eggs. I don’t want to sound like a dirty hippy, but factory farming has stinkified my egg salad. Although, the eggs in the pic look like duck eggs.