'Foreign' Food By William

One of the nice things about living in Japan is the chance it affords to try new kinds of food.  Sometimes, however, familiar food can turn up unexpectedly.  For instance, while growing up in England I would often eat eels during the  summer, and so on arriving in Japan for the first time it was a nice surprise to find that eels were eaten here as well.  Recently, I came across some familiar food, which surprised me even more.  While shopping at a farmers’ market in Shigenobu I found local roasted barley flour on sale, together with a note saying how it is a foodstuff eaten in Tibet.  For me it was a food that I  hadn’t eaten in many years - not since I had spent time travelling in Tibetan  areas of the Himalayas, where it is a staple food known as ‘tsampa’.  It is usually mixed with butter tea (tea containing butter and salt) and formed into a paste.  Consumed this way it provides a lot of energy, and is particularly suited to the needs of the body at high altitude.  Perhaps reflecting its importance as a basic foodstuff, tsampa is also connected to various religious rituals.  Anyway, if you are looking for a foreign food experience, perhaps you should forget fancy restaurants and instead simply head to your local farmers’ market!

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