Rice

[JayT]

Originally Posted by ishikawa

The only brown rice I've noticed in Hawaii is if you're
A) Asking for Brown Rice at a rest.
B) You just eat Brown Rice
C) You go to school and they give you disgusting brown rice.

Otherwise, it is white rice, which is more often seen, in my opinion, away from public school than brown rice. Fried rice is common, obviously as well.

served white rice
And nasty chicken patties... -_-

[TalnSG]

Hmm, that listing needed to be a ranking, rather than single choice for me. My grandfather grew rice and it is its own food group for me.

When I have good quality rice, it want it with nothing added but the water to cook it. White rice is #1, but black rice is a very close second. Brown rice is ok and at least better than some of the American "instant" varieties.

My most common additive is furkake. Varioius types fill my pantry and my desk at work.

Shoyu is something I only cook with, and seeing someone splash it over rice invokes my gag reflex. Though I have been known to throw some rice in leftover puddles of ponzu.

Even the aforementioned "instant" rices are better with cream gravy that shoyu for me.

[steven]

Nyororin, great info! I never knew that senmai was called "seimai"... I know people around here say "senmai" for sure... and I always just connected it with the word 洗たく... I guess　洗 can be read sei, too then?

I asked my girlfriend about the seimaiki... and her parents do have one, which I kinda expected, them farming rice and all. I might get one, but we have a lot of other stuff to get (as appliances tend to all die at once, and that process seems to have begun recently).

As far as "last year's rice" goes, I think a lot of what you get in stores is "last years rice". You can get newer rice, but I'm sure the price goes up with that.

About soy sauce, I remember studying about that in a Japanese History class in college... the old kind of soy sauce, that is. I wonder if anyone makes that around here-- I'll have to ask around to see if I can't try some (although I'm slightly afraid of super salty things, and I think that may be what I'm in for).

What MMM said may have been a figurative thing, but I've seen people take that sentiment very seriously and almost hold a grudge against people who pour soy sauce on rice.

I'm just very curious as to how these types of things originate. Sometimes by asking around and talking about this stuff with different people, you can gain a lot of insight on different cultures. Just for the record I love these kinds of conversations and mean no ill-will to anyone.

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by steven

Nyororin, great info! I never knew that senmai was called "seimai"... I know people around here say "senmai" for sure... and I always just connected it with the word 洗たく... I guess　洗 can be read sei, too then?

Actually, nope. The sen is 洗 as you wrote, but the sei in seimai is 精. It makes it polishing rather than cleaning. A 洗米機 is usually an automatic washer for the rice...
But, it seems like a lot of people refer to polishing as senmai - at least up along the coast.

I asked my girlfriend about the seimaiki... and her parents do have one, which I kinda expected, them farming rice and all. I might get one, but we have a lot of other stuff to get (as appliances tend to all die at once, and that process seems to have begun recently).

I know what you mean about the appliances. We`ve been lucky this year, but the in-laws had a rash of failures. First the refrigerator went, then the washing machine, then two of the rice cookers (they run an inn so usually have 3 or 4 going at once), and then the hot water maker... All in the span of about a week.

As far as "last year's rice" goes, I think a lot of what you get in stores is "last years rice". You can get newer rice, but I'm sure the price goes up with that.

Last year`s rice - usually polished this year. In proper storage with controlled humidity and in sealed bags it can keep quite well. But after being polished and sitting in a regular house, it loses moisture and ends up pretty crappy after a few months.

About soy sauce, I remember studying about that in a Japanese History class in college... the old kind of soy sauce, that is. I wonder if anyone makes that around here-- I'll have to ask around to see if I can't try some (although I'm slightly afraid of super salty things, and I think that may be what I'm in for)

.

I`ve had it and it`s somewhere between soy sauce and miso in flavor. Not too salty - but either way it`s a condiment so add to taste sort of thing.

What MMM said may have been a figurative thing, but I've seen people take that sentiment very seriously and almost hold a grudge against people who pour soy sauce on rice.

Personally I think it`s incredibly nasty, and would pretty much agree with him on no one in Japan doing it. If you took 1000 Japanese people and all asked them if they thought it was okay or did it, you may find 3 or 4 who do... But they would be thought of as just flat out weird by pretty much all the rest. I am sure that you could find just as many people who think it is perfectly fine to walk around inside on their tatami with shoes on - but it`s pretty safe to say that no one does it in Japan.

[YukisUke]

Originally Posted by ishikawa

.... why cheese?

It just tastes so GOOOOOD!!! You got to try it sometime. Just heat up a bowl of rice with a slice of cheese on top. Doesn't need anything else. I swear!!! It's heaven after the first bite and you'll feel so sad when it's gone.

[caisaki]

Originally Posted by YukisUke

It just tastes so GOOOOOD!!! You got to try it sometime. Just heat up a bowl of rice with a slice of cheese on top. Doesn't need anything else. I swear!!! It's heaven after the first bite and you'll feel so sad when it's gone.

I have tried this a few times already. It is some sort of a comfort food for me, when I can't think of anything to eat. But I eat cheesy rice with meat.

[steven]

Nyororin, I thought that same thing too-- the number of people who actually ate it would be really slim... but I expected that some people did eat it.

I'll post the link I posted before one more time:
@nifty

I wish it had more information about where their data came from, but according to those graphs, it says 32%! I don't believe that's an accurate depiction of what reality is, but it makes me wonder quite a bit on this whole situation. I'm gonna go ahead and talk to my students to feel it out haha. I would've been surprised at 10%, but 32% seems high to me. At any rate, I'll try to look for more data regarding this habit. It's almost as if it could be a guilty pleasure or something. I suspect japanese people don't put as much soy sauce on rice as americans, but they probably sneak some on sometimes-- at least according to this survey. Maybe the "what japan thinks" blog will have some information on this. There must be some kind of bias or data collection mistake in the survey I found.

[steven]

I asked the 5 kids in my 掃除時間 team today (at school) if they've ever had shoyu kake gohan, and one of the kids said she has it some times. The other 4 have never heard of it. That's kind of how it seems around here. I want to ask more people to get a better feel for it... but it seems like most people have no idea it even exists, some people do know and look down on it, and some people know about it and eat it some times.

The girl that said she eats it said that when she eats sashimi or something like that, she might pour a little shoyu on her rice just because it's there and it gives it a little flavor. She did seem a little embarassed about it. None of the other kids really expressed disgust with the practice. A couple of them were, however, surprised that it existed and said they've heard of putting raw eggs on rice, but not putting soy sauce on it.

It could be just that, though. People eat a lot of sashimi around here because it's so readily available (and really good)... so by taking a wild guess, I'd imagine a lot of people that put soy sauce on rice do it when they're eating sashimi or something like that. It could be much more prevelant here than in tokyo or osaka (although not a frequent thing in any places in Japan).

[manganimefan227]

Withbeans or chicken or hot dogs or a combination of beans and chicken or hotdog. Yum, Baked Beans!!

My mom would put ketchup on that, and my potatoes . . .Potatoes and ketchup, my favorite dinner!

I was such a disgusting and partially unhealthy child ^_^ I've gotten over the ketchup addiction fourtanetly, and now only put it in sandwiches!!

[rettofaia]

hey,, i love japanese rice
it has soft texture and fragrant ^^