Showing posts with label street food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label street food. Show all posts

Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Random Picture #137


One of the things that I did on a semi-regular basis when I was living in Japan was pick up a bag of frozen imagawayaki to keep in my freezer for breakfast or snacking. I liked the compact size and the fact that it was well-formulated such that it didn't suffer much (or at all) in quality for being a frozen food. In fact, I think that there were some ways in which it was superior to fresh versions.

Of course, that does depend on precisely how fresh it is. The picture above, taken in Asakusa, shows a man operating a machine to make these filled-pancake-style sweets. This shot was interesting not so much because it's a form of street food, but because it's so mechanized compared to the way that such things are usually made. All of those Borg-like tubes that plop batter and bean paste into molds represent a step up for the usual guy with a funnel and a spatula that is more common.

The entire set-up reminds me of the whole melding of the old (doing it by hand) with the new (but using modern equipment) that really is a tightly woven part of Japanese culture.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Random Picture #110

Click to see a larger picture.

It's that time of year in Japan again. The cherry blossoms are blooming. The salary men are sitting on blue plastic tarps and getting drunk in appreciation, and the young folks are flocking to Inokashira Park in Kichijoji and drinking in reasonable moderation. The vendors near that area, which has very heavy foot traffic composed largely of people for whom nutrition is not a concern as there are a lot of university students, always come out in force to sell their wares. I'm sure most people imagine Japan at cherry blossom season like some ukiyoe (woodblock) print and food options would be more like bean jam buns (anpan) and dango (mochi balls on sticks). The most popular thing, at least by the number of vendors, is wieners on sticks and whatever Western food strikes people's fancy in a given year. 

This charming woman is selling chorizo and Bavarian pretzels in "normal" or "fresh butter" flavors. During the early days of our time in Japan, my husband would see "chorizo", which he loves, and eagerly buy one. That eagerness was quickly suffocated by the fact that "chorizo" in Japan seems to mean "marginally spicy hotdog". I'm guessing the Bavarian pretzels (Brezel) were about as authentic as the chorizo.