What's new

What Japanese Foods DON'T You Like?

What Japanese Foods DON'T You Like?


  • Total voters
    177
I really, really tried to like nattou but nope, not successful. I tried to eat it as it is, with karashi, with soy sauce, mixed in a lot of rice. Still hate it.
I introduced it to my Japanese class as part of a "cultural immersion" so my students would be aware of other Japanese food that are out there and they won't be limited to just the usual sushi, donburi, etc. To make it fun, we had a contest: i separated the class into pairs and the pair that can eat the nattou fastest will get a prize. The prize package included origami paper packs, cute Japanese erasers and stationery, Pocky...and more nattou :)

I also do not like umeboshi because it's so sour. I make bentos and the first time I made a hinomaru bento, I didn't even eat the umeboshi. I gave it to my boyfriend.

I have not tried the more exotic ones like kanimiso and horse meat.
 
Oh man, I accidentally checked all of the foods I do enjoy! (;_;)
But yeah, salmon eggs and anything raw (excluding sushi) is pretty nasty.
 
Monster poll!

I have to assume a lot of the negative responses come from people who never actually tried those foods.

I never ate namako ever. So its not right of the me to claim I don't like it. I might love it. But I will never put it in my mouth on purpose! Not quite right since I think snails are okay.

Also, I am sure basashi is delicious. Why would it not be? But I am morally opposed to eating horse even more so than with other mammals. Your morals may not be my morals, but eating horse is like eating dog, or another person to me. Hardly matters how good they taste. You don't eat your friends.
 
Also, I am sure basashi is delicious. Why would it not be? But I am morally opposed to eating horse even more so than with other mammals. Your morals may not be my morals, but eating horse is like eating dog, or another person to me. Hardly matters how good they taste. You don't eat your friends.

I guess it all depends on your upbringing. Otherwise, how can a cow, a sheep, or even a pig be less of a friend than a horse?
 
I've eaten bazashi a few times, it's common enough in restaurants in Okinawa. Why might someone not like it? IT'S RAW. It's not delicious. It's okay, with a beer or two down. I also had raw goat there. It's severely pungent for meat. But, with a few beers, your nose gets deadened, and the taste hits a nice point. I really liked it, but I've never had it sober. Most Japanese hate it.

Okinawa has a bunch of those foods; tebichi (pig hoof) or tofuyo (tofu fermented in Okinawa rice wine) are both pretty questionable, but alright if you can take the plunge into them.

And the list has a mistake. Nankotsu is chicken cartilege, not specifically joints. I love it, especially at yakiniku. It's chewy in a really fun way. And is there a pickled apricot umeboshi? I've always heard pickled plum.

Of the stuff that I've tried there, I like most. The one that gets me is the okra (which isn't even a Japanese food, it's generally considered from Africa). It looks like it's covered in snot, has a weak texture, and no flavour. I just don't want to eat it.
 
I can't take spicy food.
A little bit of wasabi is ok, but anything with chili or kimchi is not for me. I know that this is not traditional Japanese food, but it's avialable everywhere, so yeah, I don't like it.

I'm also not a big fan of tempura, espcially shrimp tempura.

Other than that I love Japanese food, especially natto and goya - which seems to surprise others.
 
I guess it all depends on your upbringing. Otherwise, how can a cow, a sheep, or even a pig be less of a friend than a horse?

Cows and sheep are not on the level of horses, which is why they do not appear in stories as such friends of man. Never heard of anyone riding a cow, getting into trouble, and have the cow return to the stable alone and alert others. Or anything remotely like saving a man's life or helping people besides just being food. Granted that pigs do seem to be unfairly under-appreciated despite their intelligence. I understand that there are now seeing-eye pigs/ guide pigs and even bomb sniffer pigs. (Quite an accessory for a cop eh? "No officer, I was referring to the ACTUAL pig!")
 
From the things I already tried from this list, I only didn't like nattou and uni. However, I have tried both just once, therefore, I will definitely try those again just to make sure.

On the other hand, from the usual suspects of this list I love basashi (had it in Matsumoto and Kumamoto, and I just don't see the difference between one animal and the other), I like eating ikura not so much for taste but more for sensation while eating it, umeboshi also has a very interesting but pleasant taste, and unagi might even be my favorite type of fish.

From the things I haven't tried I'm the most curious about funazushi (or narezushi in general) and nankotsu. Enough good reasons to keep going to Japan again and again...
 
Natto eeks!!!
It's like forcing Japanese to eat our fruit Durians :p

I haven't tried the last few items on the list yet :/
 
Eva, nattou and umeboshi are definitely an acquired taste, I like both, while my (Japanese) wife hates nattou.

We had funazushi this summer in Shiga. Interesting taste, but not something I'd like to include in my daily diet. :)

 
Eva, nattou and umeboshi are definitely an acquired taste, I like both, while my (Japanese) wife hates nattou.

We had funazushi this summer in Shiga. Interesting taste, but not something I'd like to include in my daily diet. :)

Thanks for the nice photo! Japanese dishes always have a nice display and some kind of leaf as decoration. Makes strange food appetising too :p
 
Oddly enough, I fell in love with nattou from my first try. People, is something wrong with me? My girlfriend said she wouldn't stay closer than a mile with me because of its smell, and that was a tragedy:p I didn't dare to try raw horse meat though. It's probably because I love horses too much and beause of my childhood memories at a grandmo's farm. Horses, with their clever eyes, were my freidns then, and I still canlt eat them. Sorry if someone actually loves this dish, it's nothing more than my personal attitude.
 
Oddly enough, I fell in love with nattou from my first try. People, is something wrong with me?
I fell in love with nattou from the first try as well and now I couldn't survive without my daily pack of fermented soybeans. I sometimes eat 2 packs, just because it's so good.

I have liked everything I have eaten in Japan, including pretty much everything on the list (I love most of those things actually). Only thing I haven't tried is inago and I'm not too interested in trying that one either. I doubt it would taste bad though. Another thing I'll happily pass on would be hachinoko. Oh, and I also once got offered turtle leg by my friend's father but I happily let him enjoy that delicacy by himself. :D
 
Back
Top Bottom