An anecdotal reference guide to fast and junk foods of Japan.
Monday, June 18, 2007
オー・ザック<ピリ辛餃子
The O'Zack Gyoza Chip is a somewhat mannerist potato chip that plays with a very basic paradigm of the chip. The pleasure of the snack chip is reductivism in taste sensation. Let's take the potato chip. A good (and popular) one works with the well-rounded blandness of the potato, deep fried to a satisfying, but undemanding crunch. You don't have to masticate too hard to get it down your throat (say, unlike a knäckebrot). Salt, vinegar, nacho cheese, and barbeque flavor are among the classic tastes. And the bigger and more one dimensional the taste is, the more it hits that fast food nerve of satisfaction. The Japanese have added a particular twist to chips with the addition of umami - the taste of savoriness. As the Japanese are not big cheese eaters, the Japanese food technologist looks toward meat and seafoods to create new flavors for chips. There are chips that taste like scallops, beef stew, and more. And that's where the gyoza chip fits in. The O'Zack Gyoza Chip is your pretty standard thin potato crisp. Nothing too special in itself. Ah, but with a bit of sesame oil, a touch of vinegar, and whatever gyoza-analog chemicals you have on hand - and presto - you've added new life to a tired chip. They are a completely addictive chip, in an insidious modern scientific way. A few years ago, Housefoods, who make the chip, were the first Japanese company to get caught importing GM potato flakes from the US. The cutting edge of food technology may be a devil's road lined with gyoza chips. Beware!
Of the more ubiquitous sights in the Japanese landscape are the konbini (コンビニ) - convenience stores. 7-11, Family Mart, Lawson's and Daily Yamazaki are among the most familiar of the many konbini. For the traveler, it is often the place that is most easy to navigate for basic nutrition, cash machines and that little bit of human interaction after a long day visiting shrines and museums.
My original intent in writing this blog was to make a reference guide of konbini offerings for the foreign traveler. However, as the writing commenced and the blog took form, the anecdotal often gave way to the critical, and the referential opened doors to a historical, political, and unsentimental look at corporate food and how it invades daily life. In more ways that just the consumption of snacks and sweets.
But let us take a good look at the bittersweet! If one casts a blind eye toward that of which we are critical or disapproving, one is merely being blind. It is only with open eyes can we move forward toward the light.
Remember that when you're gobbling down some chips or stuffing some candy down your throat.
1 comment:
Is this still available anywhere?
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