Kyuushoku for 22 Jan

Friday

The taste of Wakayama Prefecture

Rice（ごはん）

Milk（牛乳）

Fried whale bits（くじら肉の竜田揚げ）

Young sardines and potherb mustard with sweet and sour dressing（シラス干しと水菜の甘酢和え）

Egg drop soup（かきたま汁）

Kumquat（きんかん）

833 Kcal

40.5 g of protein

Before the whole whale bit, I’d like to saw that the salad thing they made today was really good. I usually don’t like those little fish, but they were dried instead of the usual boiled. Once again, this could be a product of living in Japan too long. The vice-principal said that she was “moved” by today’s salad. It wasn’t that good, but I can see where she’s coming from.

I’ve had whale the other times at kyuushoku, and compared to the other times, this was the best. Whale still isn’t that great. The best way I can describe it is that whale tastes like chicken that has been marinated in seawater. (Perhaps making it the real chicken of the sea…) No one really like whale in Japan. Anyone that says they do is lying. I haven’t heard a single person speaking about the delicious qualities of whale. Usually on whale day, almost everyone complains. And those who don’t complain just say “I won’t complain and I’ll just eat it”. Eating whale comes from a time when Japan was struggling after the war and whale was just about the cheapest meat available. So they used to have whale in the kyuushoku almost every day. Sure, there are whaling communities in Japan, but nationwide, it was never that popular. I liken it to mystery meat in American school lunches. The only difference is, you never hear American adults saying “I long for the nostalgic taste of USDA grade D mystery meat…” And since the whales they’re hunting and eating are endangered, this really shouldn’t be the issue that it is. It’s the thing that pulls Japan and America together, pure stubbornness. America wants to continue driving SUVs that they don’t really need and Japan wants to continue hunting and eating endangered animals that they don’t really like.

Growing up, I don’t think I ever really knew what a kumquat was. It was one of those words that I knew, but I imagined a cross between an orange and a pomegranate. Turns out that kumquats are tiny little citrus fruits. They come in kyuushoku every now and then and I am never really sure how to eat them. They’re about the size of a peach pit, so it seems futile most of the time to even try to peel it. And then when you do, the meat inside barely goes down a few centimeters before you hit the seeds. The seeds are about half the size of the kumquat itself. This time, I was told to just eat the skin along with the kumquat. It made eating it easier, but it was really bitter. I give up.

0 shishamo

(3 moral shishamo lost for eating an endangered animal)