Food In Japan - Part Two: Soup for Breakfast

Japan’s traditional foods are centered on the fact that Japan is an island nation—thus the portions are small and fish is used a lot. Okay, I’m not all that sure if the small portions are because there were limited resources before mass food importation or something else. But I’m going to stick with what I can glean from observation and my intuition.

The traditional Japanese breakfast is miso soup, rice, and grilled fish. While I did get the experience to try grilled fish (it was bitter and not at all to my liking), most of my breakfasts consisted of a bowl of rice, some sort of miso soup (with yummy things added to it!) and some sort of omlette/pickled thing.

Close up of the ever-changing breakfast ensemble. The mini omelets have crab in them, the brown things are some sort of sweet vegetable pickle, and that dumpling is shui mai

Living in Japan in a Japanese household has really taught me a lot about going beyond your comfort zone.  Except for the fish omelets, the cheese, hot sauce, mushroom, ham, pepper toast, and the riceball filled with itty bitty fish that STARE INTO YOUR SOUL, I have eaten everything my Okaasan put in front of my plate. Sometimes it was not the exact flavor that made my tastebuds sing and sometimes I stared at it, trying to figure out what it was and how to eat it, but I feel that I have expanded my horizons as someone who eats stuff. :D

And now I’m craving soup for breakfast…