Japanese food v. Chinese food

[SeattleUte]

Japanese food is really quite a simple cuisine. There is not much subtlety or diversity in my opinion. Sushi is so one dimensional that some super markets can make it as well as a fine Japanese restaurant. What unique artistry you do find in sushi is generally the product of fusion with Western cuisines.

I find teriyaki and tempura unimaginitive and I get bored of them fairly quickly, though I will eat a teriyaki lunch every once in a while. Much teriyaki is simply overbearingly salty/sweet. The soups are tasty and elegant, but again, redundant and fairly simple. Whole Foods supermarket has a nice array of Japanese soups about as good as you'll find anywhere. I have similar comments about sukiyaki as the soups.

On my visits to Japan I enjoyed teppanyaki, including especially the kobe beef. But you don't get teppanyaki and kobe beef anywhere like it is in Tokyo. Here it's the stuff of chains for some reason. Maybe culterally Americans don't like sharing a table with strangers. Kobe beef probably requires cruelty to animals.

In contrast, the varieties and subtle qualities of excellent Chinese food are infinite. Personally, I never saw this so evident as when I visited Beiging. The hotel we stayed at had half a dozen nice restaurants, all serving Chinese food, and each one was a completely unique experience. Yes, super markets serve something that passes as Chinese food, but it's like calling French fries French food. The only places you can get fine Chinese food is at Chinese restaurants, invariably prepared by master chefs. Indeed, I've found that Chinese restaurants wax and wane depending on the chef, and I imangine they are sought after like baseball free agents.

Like French food Chinese food is a mother cuisine in that has impacted a variety of lesser cuisines such as Japanese and Thai enormously.

[nikuman]

Originally Posted by Jeff Lebowski

I remember going down a street in Beijing where they were selling scorpions on a stick and grasshoppers on a stick. That was the only thing in China that I just couldn't bring myself to try.

That's an improvement on the stuff I had. I stomached the sheep tripe without much problem, but the propane-torch barbequed parakeets were too much. The latter were literally parakeet sized birds, the preparation of which entailed (as nearly as I can tell) the removal of the head and cooking with a propane blowtorch and nothing else (i.e. innards attached, feet remaining, etc.). We asked our translator how we were supposed to eat these things - were we supposed to nibble the meat off the miniscule bones? We were then informed that the bones were crunchy and we were to consume these much as one would would eat a mini-snickers bar: pop the whole thing in at once and chew away.

Thankfully, this was a scarce two weeks after my worst culinary experience ever (exotic sashimi in Japan - raw abalone liver is quite the deal), so I was able to choke it down with minimal gags and no puking.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by nikuman

That's an improvement on the stuff I had. I stomached the sheep tripe without much problem, but the propane-torch barbequed parakeets were too much. The latter were literally parakeet sized birds, the preparation of which entailed (as nearly as I can tell) the removal of the head and cooking with a propane blowtorch and nothing else (i.e. innards attached, feet remaining, etc.). We asked our translator how we were supposed to eat these things - were we supposed to nibble the meat off the miniscule bones? We were then informed that the bones were crunchy and we were to consume these much as one would would eat a mini-snickers bar: pop the whole thing in at once and chew away.

Thankfully, this was a scarce two weeks after my worst culinary experience ever (exotic sashimi in Japan - raw abalone liver is quite the deal), so I was able to choke it down with minimal gags and no puking.

You don't have to eat the fierce food. China is an ancient culture. Like the Middle East you still find much residue of medieval times there. This is not all there is to Chinese food needless to say.

[YOhio]

Originally Posted by nikuman

That's an improvement on the stuff I had. I stomached the sheep tripe without much problem, but the propane-torch barbequed parakeets were too much. The latter were literally parakeet sized birds, the preparation of which entailed (as nearly as I can tell) the removal of the head and cooking with a propane blowtorch and nothing else (i.e. innards attached, feet remaining, etc.). We asked our translator how we were supposed to eat these things - were we supposed to nibble the meat off the miniscule bones? We were then informed that the bones were crunchy and we were to consume these much as one would would eat a mini-snickers bar: pop the whole thing in at once and chew away.

Thankfully, this was a scarce two weeks after my worst culinary experience ever (exotic sashimi in Japan - raw abalone liver is quite the deal), so I was able to choke it down with minimal gags and no puking.

Wow. That's hilarious, almost like a hazing ritual.

[MikeWaters]

I went to a nice Chinese restaurant in Japan, and I have to say, it was quite good, and completely different than any Chinese food I had ever seen in the states.

Japanese food is simple and clean. Chinese food is oily in comparison.

There is a reason why those rare times I see an overweight Asian, that I automatically assume that person is Chinese.

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by MikeWaters

I went to a nice Chinese restaurant in Japan, and I have to say, it was quite good, and completely different than any Chinese food I had ever seen in the states.

Japanese food is simple and clean. Chinese food is oily in comparison.

There is a reason why those rare times I see an overweight Asian, that I automatically assume that person is Chinese.

Waters doesn't eat out and lives off of his food storage and what he can grow in his back yard. So take this for what it's worth.

[SeattleUte]

I agree there are more ways to get fat off of Chinese food than Japanese, and it's more tempting to overeat good Chinese food.

[SeattleUte]

Chinese food even hugely impacted Italian cuisine.

[YOhio]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Chinese food even hugely impacted Italian cuisine.

Interesting. How so?

[SeattleUte]

Originally Posted by YOhio

Interesting. How so?

Pasta. There was no pasta in Europe until Europeans interacted with the Chinese. Legend has it Marco Polo brought it back with him. Also, most of what you love about Japanese food is similarly derivative of Chinese. Like I said, Chinese is the French food of Asia, except that to Asia China is like a conflation of Greece, Rome, and France to Europe/USA.