Edamame
 

I recently went to Japan and absolutely loved the country. It is amazing! I would not have any trouble living there. The people and atmosphere is beyond words. However, I was rather surprised by the edamame, I know it's a little off topic. But, honestly. Japan is supposed to have the best edamame in the world, but honestly I was not impressed. I feel that edamame tastes the same everywhere. Am I wrong?

That's a good question. "Best" is something that is hard to quantify when you are talking about taste. No one can say you should like one taste more than another, but there are so-called experts who have developed systems to rate things.

On the other hand, I have had people recommend me "awesome" sushi restaurants that turn out to be California roll mills owned and prepared by non-Japanese. They target American tastes, and not Japanese ones. I wonder if given real sushi or sashimi, and not rolls with cream cheese and rooster sauce how they would react.

To me, this is not Japan vs. other countries; It's fresh vs. frozen.

Very few places in Japna serve fresh edamame so I kinda doubt if that's what you had there. Fresh edamame tastes heavenly but then again, the frozen kind tastes pretty good, too.

Even frozen edamame can be completely different depending on preparation. I prefer steamed over boiling, and adding a little sea salt.