Exploring Japanese Food

Who doesn’t love sushi?

I hope you didn’t raise your hand.

My family and I have a Japanese friend who brought the ingredients over to make this. He told us that most of what he brought was straight from Japan and that we couldn’t get it in the States. Sad.

Soo I’m not going to lie- before we befriended him, the only Japanese food I knew about was sushi. But did you know that there’s actually Japanese pizza? (Picture below)

This Japanese pizza is called Okonomiyaki. Technically it’s a pancake, but to me it looks like a pizza. So flavorful. There’s fish, onion, Japanese mayonnaise, and cabbage in here among other things. Love.

Being eager to learn more about Japan, I went to the Obon Festival that takes place in St. Paul annually. Definitely go if you haven’t. They do floating lanterns when it gets dark, teach you how to make origami, and have rows of food stands.

Here is what I got while I was there:

This is called Takoyaki. They are snacks that are filled with octopus, tempura, pickled ginger, and green onion. To me, they taste similar to the Okonomiyaki, but I could just be naive. They definitely have similar ingredients though.

Anyways, after all this, I think I should take a trip to Japan soon.

Plus I’ve been obsessed with the song “Lost in Japan” by Shawn Mendes.

A sign? I think so.

Thanks for reading!