Kyoto: Common Diets

It was challenging to talk to Japanese people about what they ate on a day-to-day basis. Most Japanese people have a limited English vocabulary and it is unusual for a stranger to come up and start a conversation. Staff at my hostel were willing to answer questions for me, observing what food people ordered at restaurants, and what groceries people purchased helped paint a picture as to what was typically consumed by most Japanese people. I was able to talk to two people that I would place in a 25-35 age range.

The woman said that Japanese people typically try to cook. She lived alone, so she found it challenging to frequently cook as most of the time she was busy working. When she would eat with a group of people she would make obanzai ryori. She usually bought premade meals at the grocery store; especially after 8 pm when most of these foods went on sale (more on that in a later blog). The food she recommended included plum wine, chilled soba, and onigiri.

 The man I interviewed shed some light on the Japanese household. He said that many people cooked at home. I pressed the issue of limited time for the average working Japanese person. He responded with that married Japanese men that worked would often come home to a meal prepared by his family. He lived alone, so he cooked his own meals; he typically made various flavors of onigiri and pasta, which could include ramen, soba, or spaghetti. He mostly cooked, but often visited a restaurant about twice a week. He emphasized that diet could vary from person to person.

 Without trying to generalize too much I seemed that younger Japanese people try to cook whenever possible often making quick and simple dishes like onigiri.

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