“Do you like Japanese/Korean food?”

Japanese and Korean people desperately want to know that foreigners like their cuisine. Is it Western validation that they seek? I don’t know. But if I had a dollar for every time this question was asked of me during my time in Asia, I’d have a healthy little fund tucked away. When I lived in France nobody ever asked me if I liked French food. In my travels in Italy, Germany, Morocco, Hungary, the Caribbean, and the Czech Republic and elsewhere nobody cared to ask. Then I move to Asia, and, nine times out of ten, whenever I meet someone for the first time, this question will be asked.

Do you like Japanese food?

Yes, some dishes.

What Japanese food do you like?

Norimaki, umeboshi onigiri and yasai tempura.

“What about (insert meat dish)?”

I’ve never had that. I’m vegetarian.

Eeeeeh?! No meat-o?

Yes.

How about chicken? How about fish?

If it grows out of the ground, it’s okay. If it flies, walks or swims I don’t eat it.

Wakata [I understand]. How about eggs? How about milk?

I don’t eat eggs or drink milk, but I’ll eat a piece of cake which is made with both.

It must be so difficult to eat here!

No, I cook all my meals.

You can cook?

[Ignore stupid question.] Big cities like Tokyo and Osaka have many vegetarian restaurants, so I can eat out when I go there. Some Buddhist monks run restaurants. True Buddhists are vegetarians.

Really? How do you find them?

On the internet.

Oh!!

Do you prefer tea or coffee? [They’ve been told that all foreigners prefer coffee, so they’re surprised to hear that I’m a tea drinker. If they knew that I was born in a place where coffee is a major export, they’d lose their minds.]

Do you prefer rice or bread? [Again, they’ve been told that all foreigners prefer bread over rice, so they’re absolutely flabbergasted when I tell them that I grew up eating rice every day. Rice is a major staple of diets in Latin America, the Caribbean and parts of Africa and Asia, but Japanese people think they’re the only ones.]

In case you haven’t noticed, many Japanese and Korean people prefer to think of foreigners in generalizations and absolutes. So I often find myself having to correct these erroneous perceptions.

Korean variation

Do you like Korean food?

Yes, some dishes.

What Korean food do you like?

Kimchi bokkumbap, kombijijigae and dobu jorim.  (They’re amazed that I’m familiar with something other than kimbap, ramyeon and bibimbap.)

Korean food is very spicy.

Yes, I like spicy food.

Really??

Yes. Not too spicy?

Korean food is not the spiciest I’ve eaten.

(dumbfounded silence)

Thai food is very spicy. Indian food once brought tears to my eyes, but it was so good.

Korea food is better. More healthy. Foreign food is very greasy.

One word: twigim.

That’s not Korean food.

Yeah, okay…

February 16, 2020