does anyone else think jap food is severely overrated? they invented the word umami, but their only seasonings are soy and fish stock. they don't traditionally use garlic, peppers, tomato, cheese, meat stock, cumin, coriander or anything with a lot of flavor. the most exciting thing they do with pork is fry it and eat it with plain rice. they way I see it japan is basically england tier but with raw fish instead of fried.
>>7255587
Pretty sure those ramens have some meat stocks familia
>>7255587
overrated, yes.
not delicious, no.
>>7255587
Damm I'm craving some ootoya now
I think I'll go there for lunch tomorrow
>>7255587
Yeah, I was disappointed to find out how simple most Jap cuisine is after I wanted to learn more about it than sushi. Sushi is a delicious food, and Japanese cuisine has a couple other great dishes, but it's mostly pretty plain.
I don't believe it's a bad cuisine though, as much as British food is. A bit plain at times, but it's still interesting and often quite flavorsome.
>>7255587
>does anyone else think
The answer to this is almost always certainly yes. It's a terrible way to create a discussion. Pet peeve of mine.
Yes, Japan is overrated. It's been done to death.
On a semi-related note, I was thinking the other day how it's sad that Nintendo can't put out a good Zelda game every few years. Rocksteady was arguably making the best Zelda-style games with their Arkham series.
>>7255633
Zelda is overrated
Ignoring the fact that your op post ignores hundreds of dishes and preparations in its reduction...the entire point of Japanese food is its subtlety. Their philosophies are simply different when it comes to cuisine. I think it's overrated, but I don't think you should be treating food so absolutely - it leaves out any room for variety. A dish doesn't have to have intense singular flavor, or cheese, to be amazing.
>>7255644
Well in fairness, the ideal of washoku is that locality and seasonality be respected, most of these cultureless whitebreads will gladly try to make a tomato dish in January and then complain that it's underwhelming memefood
>>7255639
Good job repeating what you just read. We can confirm you have reading comprehension skills.
I always found it good tasting but still bland. If you think of your favorite foods Japan is low
>>7255650
You're being sarcastic about my understanding of what I'm reading
>>7255662
Good job repeating what you just read. We can confirm you have reading comprehension skills.
>>7255666
Half the shit used in japanese cooking is imported
The idea of using fewer, high quality ingredients instead of fifty gorillion mystery chemicals and meat slurry is definitely not imported
Enjoy your tendies and ranch, pepe
>>7255666
They had access to ingredients western cuisines didn't, and they built a cuisine around it. That's literally all cuisines.
It's just food.
The shit that's hyped up whereever you are is usually junk food in Japan. For example okonomiyaki, yakisoba, and *katsu.
What Japanese people actually eat can be plain in comparison to whatever you eat but that's what they're used to.
In any case it's just food.
Weebs who hype it up are retarded but you people who use those weebs as an excuse to downplay Japanese food are just as stupid.
Stop making a big deal out of food. You had expectations from seeing weebs rave about some culture's food and then you tried it and didn't liked it. Congratulations. You learned that there are things you don't like.
>>7255672
garlic and peppers are mystery chemicals now?
>>7255676
like what? it seems like it's the other way around, their food is based on the complete lack of interesting ingredients.
>>7255690
Are you seriously implying Japan doesn't use garlic or peppers in 2016? Or are you going to move the goalposts now and compare 2016 neo-American food to Japanese food circa 1694?
>>7255608
Agreed. There is some great Japanese food out there.
I can't for the life of me figure out why it's so esteemed, though, or why they are so afraid of flavor.
>>7255696
It's a fact they have ingredients western cuisines don't. As for those ingredients not being interesting, that's subjective - and doesn't seem to be based on much, because you seem ignorant of a lot of their dishes. How much Japanese food have you actually eaten?
>>7255703
They are afraid of flavor because your american shitfood can't provide it
Remember, if all you have is CAFO garbage and wooden supermarket tomatoes, then yes, it is ok to blast it with crystal hot sauce and ranch
But in some places, this isn't necessarily true, and some people enjoy the true flavors of the ingredients
>>7255703
Japs like eating junk food like any one of us.
But they always go back to their own food that has the "Japanese taste".
Afraid of flavor lol there are people in this world who actually believe this Japanese people are so cucked they are scared of flavor
>>7255713
>western cuisines
what about china and korea which are right next door with way more flavors than salty fish and fermented beans? I don't think being the only one to invent natto is something to be proud of.
>>7255733
china is just chink indian cuisine and korea is le pickle vegetable and spicy shit
>>7255733
You didn't answer my question. How much Japanese food have you had? Natto is good by the way, and very healthy. If something can be said for Japanese food, objectively, it's that it's one of the world's best for your health.
>>7255733
Can't stand kimchi and gook foods. Look like shit and taste like shit too
You know, it's been a while since I've seen a true, dyed in the wool weeb that all this hate toward japan is in response to.
>>7255587
Japanese food is a bit overrated but it's still fantastic, there are many meals that are absolutely delicious and they have a decent variety of traditional foods. And I fucking love set meals.
Have this picture from my recent travels. It's creamy cheese and ham soup tsukemen (you dip the noddles in the soup at the side there before eating). Was really good. The noodles were supposed to be spicy but the japanese idea of spicy is laughable.
>>7256620
I'll have you know, kimchi is pert near good.
>tfw never had Japanese food
>>7255587
Jap chow is hugely overrated.
Jap food is like the nips themselves, bland and soulless.
Japan is all about bringing out the flavor in products without the use of spices or sauces. They're in certain dishes, but bringing out the flavor of the ingredients without that is pretty common.
It's nice once in a while, but fuck eating that shit everyday. I could just not do it. Had to mix it up with some spices every now and then.
>>7255587
Overrated by who? Weebs by definition. And in the late 80's and early 90's sushi and Japanese-Western fusion were prestige foods in places like New York and LA. And we've seen a ramen craze for just over a decade.
But I think the only people really going nuts over Japanese food in an adoring way are chefs looking there for inspiration - guys like David Chang, and Jean-Georges (who has been doing it for decades). Neither of them are terribly reverent about it.
At the high end Japanese food is as codified, refined and formalized as French, yet there's almost no overlap between the two. That makes for really interesting crossover stuff.
At the low end their junk and snack food is delicious, and not quite as trashy as Western junk food.
Personally I don't eat Japanese food very often, but I've been to Japan four times, and thought the food there was delicious. In total I've spent a month there, and have fond memories of many meals. But I don't pine for it the way I pine for Italian, Middle Eastern or Indian food. And I don't see people putting it on a pedestal these days the way they did 15 or twenty years ago.
tl;dr I don't think it's overrated, but I understand why some chefs are fascinated by it.
>>7255587
>soy and fish stock
I agree that the food is overrated but that's just absurd. They use a lot of other seasonings. Common ones include miso, yuzu (a kind of citrus that's much more flavorful than a lemon), sansho (similar to Sichuan peppercorns), finely chopped dried seaweed, vinegar, sake, and sugar. Those are all very common seasonings in much of Japanese cooking. There's other specialty seasonings too.
>>7255740
>China is chink indian cuisine
Nigga pls
>mfw I've only had sushi, ramen, miso and teriyaki
What am I missing out on? I always get thai food instead.
>>7255720
They don't have flavortown.
>>7255587
>only seasonings are soy and fish stock
stopped reading
They are a people that exude refined tastes.
>>7257925
Pretty much sums nip art up.
>stealing
>>7257643
>>7255733
Chinese is good, the only Korean food I like is yakiniku. The sides always range from mediocre to bad
>>7255587
As an anglo-jap guy who lives in britain but goes to japan every year, putting jap cuisine in the same league as british cuisine does not sit well with me. I like a good english breakfast now and then, and our family has sunday dinner every week, but holy shit japanese food is some of the best shit ever, healthy too. Ramen, soba and teppanyaki is my jam. Sushi is also good albeit expensive, and japan's bastardised versions of western food - jap curry, mos burger, etc are good too. You will be hard pressed to find a bad meal in japan, since everybody works their fucking dicks off there.
>>7255740
I doubt you'll find any chinese chef abusing added animal fat anytime soon.
Mostly because they'd discovered batter at one point, unlike their southern neighbours.
>>7255733
Chinese food needs a renaissance. Traditional recipes can't keep up with the sudden availability of so many ingredients and techniques - not with industrial food knocking on the door. There's always been what I'd like to call a "corrupt" restaurant culture funded by government officials and the rich, however it's time for them to face the music and appeal to a growing middle class that already has strong appealing alternatives in boxed lunches and some of the best street food in the world..
>>7258714
>You will be hard pressed to find a bad meal in japan
This has been my experience as well.
>>7258714
their packaged goods can be shit but other than that, yeah its incredible
A lot of people who criticize japanese food haven't eaten it either. They may have gone to some meme jap restaurant run by koreans or something, but that's a bit like going to taco bell and considering yourself to be wise to Mexican cooking
It's only overrated by weebs and people who buy into that "Jap diets are SUPER healthy" crap.
But the food really is good. Most of it. I don't think it's as complex and tasty as Chinese cuisine, but that's what you get when for the vast majority of the country's history, they were basically shut off from the rest of the world and poor as fuck.
You don't have to hate things just because weebs like them. Japan is still a part of the world and they've made some pretty good shit.
>>7258770
You two numb skulls have either never been over there or are just plain full off shit. Japs can fuck up a meal just like everyone else.
Stop lying.
Try growing up with a Nip family.
While there are some dishes I like, most of Japanese cuisine is very bland compared to much of the rest of the world.
>>7255644
>m-muh subtlety!!
Fuck you. Subtlety belongs in literature, not food. Japanese have some of the best classic writings of any nation in the world but some of the blandest food. Even curry is so bland and it's not bland anywhere else! When I was a kid, if my parents or other adults used to made curry rice from scratch instead of using the block, they would put MAYBE one tablespoon of curry powder for the whole family, but usually, it was only a nearly full one, not a complete tablespoon. And that's how all Japanese make it when it is homemade curry.
It's not subtle. It's just bland.
>>7259056
>Try growing up with a Nip family.
>While there are some dishes I like, most of Japanese cuisine is very bland compared to much of the rest of the world.
I'm not Japanese, but I grew up in an immigrant family and I thought my culture's food was shit too.
Then I grew up, learned more about the world, and eventually figured out that we were using shitty local substitutes instead of the proper ingredients from the old country.
It makes a difference, nisei-kun.
>>7255633
The fact they don't do just that is the reason people still want Zelda.
>>7258997
I'm this guy >>7257446 and like I said I've been four times for about a month's time total spent there. And I'm quite sure they can fuck food up there. I made it a point not to eat any Japanese takes on Western dishes after seeing what they do to pizza. But the food I had, even the fast food was generally made to a higher standard than comparable food in the US. Even the convenience store crap they sell at Lawson's Dairy is a few notches up from what you'd find at a US 7-11 or Circle K. It's not that they don't eat trashy shit, it's just that the threshold for how trashy they'll go is higher. The level of cooking you find in the food court in the Shinjuku Station for example is higher than anything you'd find in a food court in the US - the employees have good ingredients to work with and take pride in what they do. That's not how it's done here.
>>7255696
>it seems
Maybe you should research a bit before making baseless assumptions about an entire cultures cuisine, you tendy sucking faggot.
>>7259061
Anywhere where a number of Japanese live, there are stores carrying a huge amount of Japanese ingredients. We had no shortage of supplies for most ingredients.
Japanese food is just bland.
>>7258714
>mos burger
Yesssss
>>7259108
But they'll dive from behind a cloud in order to destroy our battleships.
I say we nuke them again!
>>7259093
Wh- what do they do to pizza anon?
>>7259061
I grew up in a Chinese family and I hated Chinese food as a result
But that was because when my friends were eating pizza and hamburgers like the people on TV I was eating shit that I thought was embarrassing or weird. Now I'm the cool one cuz I can order off the Chinese menu and get the "authentic" food when I go out with my friends.
>>7259197
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bukkake
>>7259094
how many columbian exhange ingredients are commonly used in japanese cooking? about 0?
>>7255633
Zelda is my least favorite Nintendo IP t b h. We need Prime 4.
>>7259581
>growing up in a chinese family
>not loving the fuck out of chinese food at all stages of life
fuck you
well my mom's actually a good cook so there's that.
>>7261549
My dad and grandma are/were good cooks too but if your friends have soda and chips at their houses and you have tea and char siu bao at your house you feel weird and resent all the Chinese food. I appreciate it now and probably eat more than my siblings but if you don't understand how a child wouldn't be happy with that then...
rice and tofu is like #1 tier so i dont think its overrated.
