Feeling indignant about "watching and eating" while holding a smartphone in one hand

It seems that a sudden trend has arisen, and tsukemen has become popular. In the past, the so-called ramen was just soup noodles served in a bowl. Recently, there are more and more restaurants that separate the noodles and soup.

Tsukemen was born in post-war Japan and is a unique Japanese noodle dish. In the beginning, the restaurant cooked its own meals. As for serving it to customers in the store, it is said that it started at "Okatsuken" in Ikebukuro. This shop is famous for its long queues and is popular because other shops don't have tsukemen.

Although tsukemen has been around for a long time in Tokyo, it has not been available in Kyoto and other parts of Japan in general. It was not until the end of the Showa era that it gradually began to spread. After Heisei, it became popular all over Japan in the blink of an eye like a prairie fire.

As long as it is noodles, if the cooked noodles are not piping hot, I always feel that they are not flavorful enough. The tsukemen that had been cooled down didn't have any charm at all. At a familiar ramen shop, as soon as I complained, the owner started explaining it to me with great interest.

"There are also many customers who like to wait for the noodles to cool down before eating them. Young people nowadays seem to be afraid of hot food. In the past, they ate while reading comics, but now they eat while scrolling on their mobile phones. Of course, the noodles will get cold. . But they don’t care at all.”

That’s it, so I understand. Lately I’ve been feeling indignant at seeing so many examples of inattentive eating.

Think back to the morning at the tea shop. Someone spread the newspaper while eating toast and drinking coffee. Without taking your eyes off the paper, skillfully crack open the shell of a hard-boiled egg with one hand. Such a scene makes people smile unconsciously, and the leisurely atmosphere is pleasant.

But that’s not the case during breakfast time at a soba shop. For example, a young woman in the store didn’t even look at the curry buckwheat noodle soup in front of her, and continued to slide her fingertips across the screen of her smartphone. Are you writing emails, playing social networking sites, or playing video games? She had no intention of starting to eat. The owner of the soba noodle shop couldn't stand it anymore, so he pretended to cough as a reminder.

But the customer still didn’t pay attention, so a film began to form on the surface of the curry buckwheat soup noodles. After about five minutes, she finally put down her phone, picked up her chopsticks, and finally started eating, but her eyes were still fixed on the phone screen.

Which is more important in your life, mobile phone or dining? I really want to curse, but a truly sensible woman will naturally not do such stupid things. Even when doing things at home or watching TV, I don't have any scruples, but I show ugly behavior in public. I'm afraid even the parents of the person involved wanted to sigh after reading it.

For the needs of such customers, tsukemen may be just right. Another point is that the popularity of tsukemen is related to the portion size and taste.

"Usually, compared to ordinary ramen, the portion of tsukemen in most stores is doubled. In addition, what is a bit strange is that the taste of the soup is particularly strong. The taste is rich and the portion is full, which is perfect for slow eaters. For young people, it suits their preferences."

This way I understand better.

A bowl of hot ramen will expand after being left for a long time, but tsukemen has no such problem. Just perfect for those who don't pay attention during meals.

On the other hand, tsukemen is a crazier food than regular ramen. If you want to talk about ramen, it is said that you can’t finish it all night long, and ramen fans are everywhere. I guess tsukemen must be more than that. But tsukemen or ramen are food, not something to talk about. The hidden trap of too long menu copy

"A gift from the ocean from Amakusa, low-temperature cooked abalone smoked with the blessing of the forest" This is the content of the restaurant menu introduced on a variety show. When did the guessing menu signs in the restaurant industry become so lengthy? There is also a big trap hidden in it.

In 2013, the problem of inaccurate menu labeling in restaurants and department stores came to the fore. Without exception, operators came forward one after another to explain that the problem with menu labeling was revealed. Turn on the red light. Depending on the situation, the Consumer Affairs Agency and the prefecture may issue an order prohibiting inappropriate labeling.

The situation has evolved to this point, the goodwill of the industry has been damaged, and consumer boycotts are the norm in Japan. I heard in the news that a certain restaurant’s banquet menu directly labeled “steak (restructured meat)”, which is really embarrassing.

A certain family restaurant renamed the "fried spinach" on the menu as "spinach snacks" because it was not actually fried in the store. Could it be that this dish is like airplane food, and all the cooking process has been completed before?

The false labeling also points to the ingredients. Take the "Salmon Bento", a representative type of cooked lunch, as an example. If the fish used is not salmon but sockeye salmon or rainbow trout, I am afraid it cannot continue to be labeled as a "Salmon Bento." But even if it's labeled "Sockeye Salmon Bento" or "Rainbow Trout Bento", it doesn't look delicious at all. Fortunately, due to strong opposition from the industry, it seems that they can continue to be collectively referred to as "salmon bento". If exceptions were made for every familiar thing, the market would collapse.

Perhaps the bigger problem is conveyor belt sushi bars that use alternative fish. In order to maintain the low price of 100 yen per plate, I heard that some stores even use sea snakes instead of eels and tilapia instead of snappers. However, if they are labeled correctly, no one will buy them.

If you really want to explain the contents of the dishes in detail, there will be flaws, and then you will have to make up lies.

"To pay homage to Akkeshi oysters, add Shibazuke from Kyoto Ohara. The yuzu flavor brings out the essence of low-temperature cooking"

If the explanation is too detailed, you should have read it before eating. There is no point in imagining the taste.

Couldn’t we just write “steamed and grilled oysters”?

When seeing the name of the dish, let the guests use their imagination and generate various associations. Then the food is served. Just as imagined or unexpected, that's part of the fun. Not only the dish itself, but also the name of the dish should not be too fancy.

"Today's Fish Dishes or Today's Meat Dishes"

I heard that in the past, hotel restaurant menus were marked this way.

Not only in terms of food, Japan today has a negative tendency of being too extreme.

Although lying is wrong, being too neurotic is not necessarily a good thing. It seems like you have to go to extremes and you can't stop. Just keep it ambiguous, because Japan has a lot of that. How long will superstitious origin continue?

The practice of distinctive origin has a long history. Taking fish as an example, maybe we started with horse mackerel and mackerel. Just because a certain place name is added as an article, the selling price is much higher than usual, and it has already been established.

If you witness the bait on site, or buy it at the fishing port where the cargo is unloaded, you can be sure. But how reliable is it after it is wholesaled, marketed, and then purchased by restaurants to make dishes?

Moreover, why is horse mackerel so popular and valued? How is it different from the horse mackerel caught in Cape Sada across the sea from the Saga Seki Peninsula?

I asked the young sushi chef who prides himself on getting horse mackerel from Tsukiji.

"Although it is located in the same strait, the ocean currents are different and the temperature of the sea water is also different. If it were not for the horse mackerel, it would be much different."

It seems that this makes him I got through it, but it's still far from the standard answer.

Even if a layman thinks about it, he will know that fish in the same sea area will not be much different. Sewan horse mackerel is specially processed after being caught and is not weighed. Instead, the size and weight of the fish are visually determined by visual inspection of the fish swimming in the water. Because of the various supporting measures, it is highly praised. This is why it is different from the "Cape horse mackerel" caught in Misaki Sada.

If professional sushi chefs are like this, you can imagine the situation of others. I didn’t understand it deeply at all, no, I should even say I didn’t want to delve into it, and I didn’t realize that I was just superstitious about the place of origin.

In recent years, the first auction at the New Year Market has become a hot topic, and Oma’s tuna has become a top specialty. There are other similar stories.

"Who caught the fish? Is there another port called Oma?"

It is said that the fisherman of Oma said this with a smile.

He was laughing. If the so-called Oma tuna in all sushi restaurants in Japan were added up, the catch would be several times larger. Because the media has been instigating it, creating the impression that large fish equals delicious food, they won’t even look at the tuna caught by Kishitoi. But how keen a foodie does it take to tell the difference?

When TV programs introduce restaurants or cuisines, they do not verify each one.

When interviewing sushi restaurants, whenever the owner says it is Oma tuna, he will introduce it as such. Even if the place of origin is actually somewhere else, it is impossible to know. This is the proof of freedom.

A certain program introduced clam ramen. It advertises 100% supply, which has a certain value, but surprisingly, the program claims that the origin of the clams is in Kuwana.

The ramen ingredients include three thick slices of chicken breast from a famous origin and five clams that are said to be produced in Kuwana. You can see them on TV. It is said that a bowl of this is 900 yen.

The so-called Kuwana clams are rare and high-end products. Even farmed Chinese clams cost nearly 100 yen each. What's more, the so-called "Kawana clams" grow naturally and should cost 200 yen each.

This store must be a charity operation, otherwise how could it afford such ingredients?

But there are many viewers who believe that what is said on TV is true, and they will definitely follow it.

So the media created a store with long queues. We should be wary of false labels on menus and counterfeit ingredients, but people gradually forget about them, and the superstitious origins continue. When will it end? "Is food so amazing?" :Save the food culture that has gone astray! 》