Message from nramon

• As I heard Professor Yamashita’s lecture on Japanese food I had two thoughts. First, I wished I had heard this lecture before I visited Japan this summer, and second, the tradition and spoke about resonated with a lot of my understandings of what I saw in Japan. While I was in Japan, I had the opportunity to sample a lot of Japanese cuisine, and as an open-minded diner, I was very excited to try what Japan has to offer. Part of being introduced to new cuisine however, was that from time to time, I had no idea what I was eating. What was nice about hearing this lecture was that a lot of what I ate was explained and I had the opportunity to appreciate a lot of what was offered to me despite the fact that I had already experienced. While I was in Japan, I also noticed that Japan tends to operate in a very orderly manner and they tend to have a lot of rituals and specific ways to doing things. In hearing professor Yamashita’s lecture, this was very evident in the way food trays are organized and in they way meals are consumed. Coming from an American perspective, I also noticed that Japanese food tends to be much healthier than American food, and this was particularly interesting within the context of instant noodles. My students are frequent consumers of instant noodles, however, the stigma attached to this food is that it’s unhealthy. I am curious to know of instant noodles are seen in the same light in Asia.

edited by nramon on 8/3/2016