A few weeks ago I attended a Japanese cooking class held by the Hiroshima International Women's Club. The menu consisted of Makizushi (rolled sushi), mushroom soup, Dashi (Japanese kelp soup stock), Japanese-style salad, and blanc-manger (cream and persimmon dessert). It is Kaki (persimmon) season here in Hiroshima and the ladies teaching the class used the fruit not only in our food, but also in decoration.
Everything was delicious. I had a feeling we made dishes that were more suited toward Western tastes. For example for the sushi we made California and Philadelphia rolls.
A friend of mine sent a comment on facebook that I should do a blog post about the cost of food here in Japan. The cost of living is very high, so as you can imagine food is expensive too! I went to the grocery store this morning and here are just a few examples of some of the staples you would find here compared to the USA.
Cost of items in yen/ U.S. dollar equivalent
1 liter of milk= 218 yen/ $2.20 (so......... $8.80 per gallon of milk!!!!!!!)
8 slices of white bread= 158 yen/ $1.60
4 small cups of yogurt (2.8 ounces or 80grams)= 238 yen/ $2.40
10 white eggs (no special organic or cage free anything!)= 188 yen= $1.90
Just for fun I took a picture of recent add for Pizza Hut: 3,680 yen for a large pizza (12 slices) = $37.16.
Sometimes even Japanese food staples are bit expensive. Rice is about the same cost as in the U.S., but seafood is just as expensive or a little bit more. Vegetables and fruits are super expensive too. Often bananas will run me 298 yen (around $3 for 4-5 bananas). Apples are range from 80 cents to $1.25 per apple. A watermelon in the summer time is about $25 and a cantaloupe is around $20. The two things that are cheap are kelp/seaweed and boneless chicken breasts. The Japanese prefer chicken thighs.
They are selling frozen butterball turkeys at Costco right now. A 15lb turkey will cost you about $45!!! Happy Thanksgiving!!!
I hope you will cook some of these dishes for us when you come home.
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