I always knew Japanese food is among the top healthiest cuisines in the world. I got this perception by reading books and watching documentaries until I had the real experience in Osaka. Although Osaka is considered one of the major tea growing areas in Japan it has its own specialty of foods. The hospitality in restaurants is another aspect which I noticed whenever I’m dining in a restaurant. The Japanese people hardly speak English but they try their best to assist customers by trying to understand what they want. I’ve been going to lots of restaurants and experienced great customer service at every one of them. Another interesting thing is the realistic food models restaurants have in front for customers.
We enjoyed a welcome dinner on our second day of our program. It was a huge arrangement for the total 33 students who took part in this program along with Osaka Gakuin University (OGU) staff. This dinner gave me some idea about Osaka’s specialties. The first is Takoyaki which is a round-shaped Japanese snack made of a wheat flour-based batter and cooked in a special moulded pan. The other one is Okonomiyaki which is savory pancake containing a variety of ingredients. The dishes are made with many ingredients and more importantly they are healthy.
The sweet dishes have some special ingredients as well. Since Osaka is a tea growing area they use Matcha as one of their ingredients. They have Matcha ice cream, parfait, rice cake, pastry, chocolates and so on. I have been to Uji area which is the home town of Matcha where they have every type of sweet foods made out of Matcha.
I am now at the point where I realise three weeks will not be enough to try out all the delicious foods in Osaka. . .
