Kyuushoku for 16 December

Wednesday

Chew Chew Menu

White Rice（ごはん）

Milk（牛乳）

Southern style chicken Stew with vegetables（筑前煮）

Dried sugared anchovies（ごまめ）

Turnip with sweet and sour dressing（カブの甘酢の和え）

789 Kcal

32.2 g of protein

Today was another “chew chew” day in kyuushoku. The idea is that chewing produces more saliva that in turn strengthens your teeth. This is why I thought most dentists encouraged sugar-less gum. Gum may not be banned like in Singapore, but it has the status of chewing tobacco. Only rude and uncivilized people sit around like cows chewing their cud. So instead of chewing gum, there’s chewing fish.

The dried anchovy nastiness today was supposed to encourage chewing. I don’t know about the kids, but I barely chewed and tried to swallow it whole to avoid any contact with the tongue. This is easily the worst “dish” the kyuushoku centre tries to pass off as food. Imagine what would happen if you dried whole fish, sugared it, added some soy sauce and try to cover the taste with some sesame seeds. Oh, and these dried monstrosities have the texture of mini razors. I have definitely cut my mouth on these things, so now I am much more careful. I have become the expert in chewing enough of the razor candied fish so it doesn’t cut my esophagus while avoiding my tongue at the same time.

The tea lady at this school told the entire office that she is so happy that the lunch ladies use such a nice recipe every time. I am too, because I really can’t imagine a recipe any worse than this culinary carnage.

That being said, everything else was really nice today. The dressing on the turnip was neither sweet nor sour, but still good. And the stew thing was nice. I think it’s supposed to be a local dish from somewhere in kyuushuu, the southernmost island. (excluding Okinawa) Everything else on today’s menu would easily get a 5 shishamo rating, but the weakest (and most vomiting inducing) link in the chain determines the overall strength of a group.

2 Shishamo