Monday, December 27, 2010

Laugh? I nearly choked on my kani-jaga-mayo pizza

For those who aren't up on the lingo, kani = crab, jaga = potato and mayo, yes, mayo is mayonnaise. And rest assured that the title is not some gruesome post-Christmas culinary fantasy brought on by overindulgence, but one of the top billing choices of pizza on the flyer of the local "Pizza-La" delivery chain. Alternatives include crab, macaroni, corn and white sauce, or teriyaki chicken, seaweed, corn and mayonnaise, or...well I think you get the message. It makes me feel slightly queasy just typing it.

So I couldn't help but laugh at the latest installment of the "sushi police" as reported in the Torygraph

Now, Mr Kanda along with a string of leading Japanese sushi experts have declared war on so-called "pseudo sushi" in Europe – food which claims to be sushi in countless high street cafes, supermarkets and restaurants but in fact bears little resemblance to what is found in Japan.

Early next year, the sushi tsars will open Europe's first sushi academy in London devoted to professionally training chefs in a bid to correct increasingly erroneous misconceptions of what sushi should consist of.

"The Italians would never allow their pizzas not to be perfectly crusty outside Italy," said Mr Kanda. "The French are also protective of their cuisine. We want to do the same with Japanese food. There is no quality control at the moment."


I can only charitably assume that he has never lowered himself to the level of eating pizza - or indeed any sort of foreign food - in Japan. (not that "crustiness" is specifically the issue here, other than that of the men who think they should attempt to control what gets eaten around the world...)

6 comments:

takahide73 said...

I don't know it in England, but in
Italy and france there are hundreds of japanese restraunts. "real" japaense restraunt are only 2 or 3. mostly chinese or korean pretend to be japanese then they serve awful food.

Japanese food use raw fish. it is more dengerous than other cuisine, that must be coocked by expert .

people i know ate sushi in europe then they got food-poisoning

EliRabett said...

California roll.

OTOH, if you are ever in Livermore visiting Ben Santer try Sammy Sushi.

David B. Benson said...

Pizza is now enjoyed all around the globe.

Imagine the toppings in Kazakhstan, or worse, in Tibet...

David B. Benson said...

James, I forgot to save the link to the blurb about your new journal and now I don't seem to find it again.

James Annan said...

Well, food hygiene is a different kettle of fish from culinary authenticity and quality, but Japan is hardly perfect in that respect either. For that matter, a colleague was recently ill after eating oysters here in Japan. I avoid raw oysters anywhere, they are much nicer (and safer) cooked.

David, were you talking about GMD?

David B. Benson said...

GMD, yes, thank you.