When I first went to Japan and for many years after, it was impossible to get a salad. What, you ask? Shocking because what is Japan if not yasai? This is true, but mostly they were cooked vegetables and namamono vegetables tended to be used as a decorative element or kazari.
Witness the doko ni demo aru shaved kyabetsu–a side for hamburgers, korokke, shōgayaki and other yōshoku dishes. It often came with a slice of tomato or two slices of kyūri cut on the diagonal. But what you couldn’t find was a Western style salada that was meant to be a main dish or a full meal.
In the 1980s in a misguided attempt to lose weight, I signed up for a jazz-exercise kurasu in Shinjuku with an American tomodachi. We’d finish class and then go out to lunch. We would try our best to be virtuous and would end up at a kissaten we’d found that did serve a salad. However, in this case it was all vegetables and no tanpakushitsu. We’d be just as hungry after we finished as we were before we started.
But as the years have passed hearty salads seem much easier to find. Recently I was reading a blog about a salad chain called “with Green” because what else would you call it? It looks very oishii and I wish we’d had a with Green, when I was there.
The salad I was wishing for in 1982….
- yasai – 野菜 vegetable(s)
- namamono – なまもの raw things (vegetables in this case)
- kazari – 飾り decoration. Yes you can use this for Christmas decorations.
- doko ni demo aru – どこにでもある ubiquitous
- kyabetsu – キャベツ cabbage
- korokke – コロッケ croquette (yum!)
- shōgayaki – 生姜焼き ginger pork dish, also yummy
- yōshoku – 洋食 (Japanese) Western style food. This is a whole genre.
- kyūri – きゅうり cucumber
- salada – サラダ salad
- kurasu クラス class. The kind of class that you sign up for and attend.
- tomodachi 友達 friend
- kissaten – 喫茶店 coffee shop, but now refers to an old style coffee shop as opposed to a cafe. Us old folks like this style much better. Hipsters do not. Yet.
- tanpakushitsu – タンパク質 protein
- oishii – 美味しい delicious
I went to Japan in 1976.... 