Foreign Cuisine in Japan

Japanese Cuisine is usually of a very high quality and most people in Japan are well informed diners. Local and foreign cuisine is available in abundance all over Japan which is invariably a key tourist attraction for travelers visiting the country.

Japan has adapted cuisine from all over the world mostly from Asia, Europe and to lesser extent America. Japanese people are particularly interested by Chinese, French, Italian and Spanish cuisine. Northern European and American dishes are not well regarded by the Japanese people. Historically, food such as castella and bread were imported from Portugal, and the name pan for bread is a loanword from Portuguese.

Foreign Cuisine in Japan is made suitable for the people by reducing the amount of spice or by changing the recipe of that particular dish. A Japanese Pizza for example may have toppings such as sliced boiled eggs, pineapple, sweet corn, nori and mayonnaise instead of tomato sauce. Shrimp and other types of seafood which is excluded in the United States is often retained in Japan just like most other parts of the world.

Foreign cuisine may vary in their authenticity. For example a number of Italian dishes have been changed. Most Japanese chefs have also preserved a number of Italian seafood oriented dishes which have been forgotten in other dishes. Some examples are pasta with prawns, lobster, crab and pasta with sea urchin sauce.

People of Japan are known to appreciate foreign cuisine. They are known to eat at hamburger chains such as McDonald's, First Kitchen, Lotteria or Mos Burger, a popular competitor. Other fast food establishments are also very popular among the Japanese. These include doughnut and ice cream shops. Okinawa has a chain of A&W drive-in restaurants in Japan that features the company's root beer. People in Japan also alter American style fast food such as green-tea milkshakes and fried shrimp burgers at chains like Lotteria.

It is easy to find numerous foreign restaurants serving authentic cuisine in Tokyo. In most other parts of the country however, the variety of imported food is limited in many ways. For example you will rarely find pasta that is not of the spaghetti or macaroni varieties in supermarkets or restaurants; other forms of bread except white are rarely available; varieties of imported cereals are also very limited and if available is usually either frosted or chocolate flavored. Most Italian restaurants that you may come across in Japan only have pizza and pasta in their menu. The cheaper Italian places in Japan tend to serve an American version of Italian food that varies wildly from the version that you will come across in Italy or in other countries.

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