Food, what people eat to live with, is one of significantly important factors of culture. Depending on where you live in the world, your diet might be completely different.
However, sometimes that difference on food diet between two cultures is not as huge as you’re expecting.
It’s true that since I came to the U.S., a part of my food diet has been influenced by American culture and its cultural diversity.
What majority of Japanese people imagine as American cuisine is, in my opinion, fast food such as hamburgers, hotdogs or pizza.
A research conducted by Gallup in 2013 shows “eight in 10 Americans report eating at fast-food restaurants at least monthly, with almost half saying they eat fast food at least weekly.” http://www.gallup.com/poll/163868/fast-food-major-part-diet.aspx
So what we believe people in the U.S. typically eat is partly correct.
If you have a chance to visit Japan and go out for lunch at McDonald or some other fast food restaurants, you will be surprised at the size of a medium cup for soda and the fact; you can’t even refill your cup with that tiny cup.
On the other hand, from American people’s view, I think the most famous Japanese food penetrated in the U.S. is sushi. So do all Japanese people eat sushi constantly like every day or once a week in Japan?
There might be some people who live with sushi somewhere I’ve never known in Japan, but unfortunately, it is not true for the most Japanese.
Even though there are many sushi restaurants in Japan more than in the U.S., at least for college students or young adults, those restaurants might not be the first choice.
In my case, whenever my family had sushi for lunch or dinner, it was either on one of my family members’ birthday, Christmas or New Year’s Day to celebrate those days as something special.
Since there are Asian grocery stores where you can buy ingredients even in Bellingham, I’m not missing Japanese food as much.
I said my food diet has been influenced by American culture, but for the most part, it is simply because this is the first time to live without family.
What we typically eat in Japan is not that different from what people eat in the U.S., except we serve a bowl of steamed rice pretty much every single meal.
If you have a chance to visit Japan, you don’t have to be worried about food. We have McDonalds, some other burger places, Pizza Hut, Domino’s Pizza and even Taco Bell in Japan.
It is difficult to see what people eat in other part of the world until you actually get to stay there for a while.
I would like to let some people, especially who have stereotypical image of Asian food diet, know that there are many similarities between Japanese food diet and American food diet.
