Tonight, I went back to F.K.'s home for dinner with his family! His wife had to work late at the hospital, so we ate with his second eldest and younger daughters. From the start, I was already a lot more relaxed than before. We ate nabe again, this time with crab claws! And let me tell you, as delicious as they are, try eating crab claws with chopsticks and not make an ass of yourself. Money on the table!
Over the course of dinner, I learned a couple new Japanese culture tidbits.
First:
Japanese palettes are no joke! When we started eating, everyone suddenly realized that the nabe wasn't seasoned! The dashi broth didn't have anything in it: the daughter just forgot to put anything in! So she just pulled some seasonings out of the kitchen. She put out bottle lemon juice, soy sauce and bottled ponzu sauce, which is a tangy brown Japanese seasoning. F.K. took some but explained he doesn't like the taste of the chemicals. The "chemicals!" Not the ingredients. The openly acknowledged that the bottled stuff has flavorings and chemicals, not "ingredients." That's just commendable: give me fresh or give me death!
Second:
"Hara hachi bu" meaning "80% Full." Anyone who has sat down to an all-you-can-eat dinner or Thanksgiving, for that matter, is familiar with the feeling that every square inch of your body is stuffed! Feeling like mashed potatoes are oozing out of your ears, sauteed carrots have filled your fingers where once there were bones and the thought of a wafer thin mint will turn you into a geyser. But if you've ever wondered why so many Japanese people are so fit and healthy looking, it's because of the Hara Hachi Bu principal!
Basically, it means not stuffing your face and just stopping once you reach a certain degree of fullness. Now, what does that mean? It might vary from person to person, but generally, it means having some discipline and not eating to the point of discomfort!
Third:
Being modest about the meal. After the meal, when everyone says "Gochisousamadeshita" (loosely translated as "What a feast!") the chef has the position to say "Osomatsusama deshita" meaning "It was a meager offering." Japanese modesty at its finest!
We chatted about cooking classes, the difference between winter in Japan and America and cartoons. At the end of dinner, they pulled out a few discs of Tom and Jerry and insisted I choose a couple to watch with them! Sitting at the table with hot tea, we watched the series where Jerry and Nibbles are Mouseketeers. They paused the cartoons a few times so I could read the French letters or explain a few phrases to them. They actually got a kick out of a few of the jokes once they understood them where previously they weren't able to enjoy the show. It felt nice to share those jokes with them: our languages are different, but laughter is universal!
Before I left, we took a couple pictures. F.K. will send them to me, so this time I'll have evidence that I was actually there and this hasn't all been a crazy, drunken fabrication.
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