Italian jockey Mirco Demuro’s comment that “Italian food in Japan isn’t tasty” became a hot topic on 5ch. The discussion spread to why Japanese and non-Japanese palates differ, touching on salt levels, MSG (glutamic acid), and differences in ketchup seasoning.
Italian jockey M. Demuro: "Italian food in Japan is bad"
There's just one thing about eating in Japan that disappoints me: Italian food.
There are tons of restaurants everyone calls "delicious," but to me, none of them are. I guess the "taste" is just different from the real thing back in Italy.
There's just one thing about eating in Japan that disappoints me: Italian food.
There are tons of restaurants everyone calls "delicious," but to me, none of them are. I guess the "taste" is just different from the real thing back in Italy.
>>2
It's a matter of personal taste, so there's no point in me saying I think Japan's version is better.
It's a matter of personal taste, so there's no point in me saying I think Japan's version is better.
>>2
He's saying Italian food in Japan is seasoned for Japanese tastes and doesn't suit him — so it's pointless for a Japanese person to counter with "well I think it's tastier than the real Italy!"
He's saying Italian food in Japan is seasoned for Japanese tastes and doesn't suit him — so it's pointless for a Japanese person to counter with "well I think it's tastier than the real Italy!"
I mean, Japanese people complain when they eat sushi abroad too, right?
Threads like this are basically the same as the comment section on a clickbait aggregator site.
Honestly, Japanese people don't eat much Italian food when they're overseas either.
>>15
Pizza and pasta are hugely popular here, and Saizeriya's doing great business too.
Pizza and pasta are hugely popular here, and Saizeriya's doing great business too.
Maybe it's too salty?
>>24
I'd guess the opposite — too sweet, if anything.
I'd guess the opposite — too sweet, if anything.
It's made to suit Japanese tastes, so I guess that's just how it goes?
>>31
That's literally what they just said.
That's literally what they just said.
The fact that there's no famous Italian chain besides Saizeriya says it all.
>>40
There's places like Olive no Oka ("Hill of Olives"), you know.
There's places like Olive no Oka ("Hill of Olives"), you know.
>>40
There's a ton of delivery pizza
Plus pasta sauce sells like crazy too.
There's a ton of delivery pizza
Plus pasta sauce sells like crazy too.
>>37
Then why do I, a Japanese guy, also think Italian pasta from Italy tastes better?
Then why do I, a Japanese guy, also think Italian pasta from Italy tastes better?
>>42
That's just personal preference too
There's no flavor everyone likes, just one the majority tends to prefer.
That's just personal preference too
There's no flavor everyone likes, just one the majority tends to prefer.
Why does Japan always copy everything from overseas?
>>43
Isn't that true everywhere in the world though?
Isn't that true everywhere in the world though?
Can't be helped — taste perception differs by ethnicity
Asians are more sensitive to picking up amino acids as umami, while Europeans are weaker at that and perceive fat as delicious instead
That's why Europeans put in a shocking amount of butter, right?
Asians are more sensitive to picking up amino acids as umami, while Europeans are weaker at that and perceive fat as delicious instead
That's why Europeans put in a shocking amount of butter, right?
>>44
We're talking about Italy here, and you bring up "drowning in butter"? Come on.
We're talking about Italy here, and you bring up "drowning in butter"? Come on.
>>51
How do you know that's the majority?
How do you know that's the majority?
>>54
Because a business can't survive without selling to the majority
Look at what sells well and you get a pretty good read on a country's preferences.
Because a business can't survive without selling to the majority
Look at what sells well and you get a pretty good read on a country's preferences.
For foreign tourists visiting Japan, it must feel like every single product has a 66%-off sale tag slapped on it
Insanely cheap
Insanely cheap
A foreign tourist visiting Japan once said,
"Everything you eat in Japan is salty and bad"
The thing Japanese people mistake for "tasty" is really just "salt"
Cut the salt on the same dish and Japanese people will suddenly say it's bad
"Everything you eat in Japan is salty and bad"
The thing Japanese people mistake for "tasty" is really just "salt"
Cut the salt on the same dish and Japanese people will suddenly say it's bad
>>60
Well yeah, change the salt level and it's basically a different dish.
Well yeah, change the salt level and it's basically a different dish.
>>60
Nope, wrong.
It's MSG.
Japanese people are addicted to glutamic acid, so without added seasoning it feels bland to them.
Foreigners find Japanese food overpowering because they're not used to MSG.
But live here two years and you'll end up just like the rest of us.
Nope, wrong.
It's MSG.
Japanese people are addicted to glutamic acid, so without added seasoning it feels bland to them.
Foreigners find Japanese food overpowering because they're not used to MSG.
But live here two years and you'll end up just like the rest of us.
There was a TV show about what taste perception actually is —
apparently it comes down to memories and past experiences stored in the brain.
Whether the brain judges a dish as tasty or bad depends on what memories you made with that food in the past, and whether they were good ones.
So there's no such thing as objectively "delicious" or "bad" food — it's just electrical signals in the brain.
apparently it comes down to memories and past experiences stored in the brain.
Whether the brain judges a dish as tasty or bad depends on what memories you made with that food in the past, and whether they were good ones.
So there's no such thing as objectively "delicious" or "bad" food — it's just electrical signals in the brain.
>>62
It's all mental
The body's just responding to the mind, as always.
It's all mental
The body's just responding to the mind, as always.
How good food tastes basically comes down to how used you are to that flavor — the more you've eaten something, the tastier it seems, and the less familiar a taste is, the worse it seems.
That's why everything tastes bad to foreigners when they come to Japan —
too much salt, so everything just tastes like salt, and they're sticking their tongues out going "blegh 👅"
That's why everything tastes bad to foreigners when they come to Japan —
too much salt, so everything just tastes like salt, and they're sticking their tongues out going "blegh 👅"
>>70
Yet the conveyor-belt sushi joints and ramen shops in Shibuya are packed with foreigners…
Yet the conveyor-belt sushi joints and ramen shops in Shibuya are packed with foreigners…
Japanese ketchup is made with salt mixed in, while American ketchup is made with sugar added.
If you grow up assuming ketchup is supposed to be salty, American ketchup will shock you with how sweet it is.
If you grow up assuming ketchup is supposed to be salty, American ketchup will shock you with how sweet it is.
>>92
Yeah, the whole sense of it is just different.
Yeah, the whole sense of it is just different.
>>88
Hasn't Demuro lived in Japan a long time, though?
Hasn't Demuro lived in Japan a long time, though?
>>94
That's a separate issue.
Italian food in Japan uses different ingredients and different methods, and that's exactly what an Italian means by "not tasty."
It's the same as a Japanese person thinking American California rolls aren't good sushi.
That's a separate issue.
Italian food in Japan uses different ingredients and different methods, and that's exactly what an Italian means by "not tasty."
It's the same as a Japanese person thinking American California rolls aren't good sushi.
Italians and Osakans both take food way too seriously
Osakans probably also have some anti-Tokyo spite mixed in there too.
Osakans probably also have some anti-Tokyo spite mixed in there too.
>>96
I don't hear much about Osaka's food being great, honestly.
I don't hear much about Osaka's food being great, honestly.
>>96
Osaka people can only beat Tokyo on udon and okonomiyaki, so they cling to just that and spin it into their whole food-pride argument.
Osaka people can only beat Tokyo on udon and okonomiyaki, so they cling to just that and spin it into their whole food-pride argument.
※This article is an excerpt and summary of the 5ch (Nanademo Jikkyou G) thread “An Italian says: “I have zero appetite for Italian food in Japan” — Japanese reaction: “?!?!?!” *SHUBABABABABABA*“.
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