Japanese Desserts
On 2009-06-19 03:51:55 -0700, "Musashi" <Miyamoto@Hosokawa.co.jp> said:
I guess there are "sweets" and then there are desserts. I've
encountered many kinds of sweet-bean and jelly-filled items. I'm not
sure whether they are pastry or a rice-type "container". These shops
are at places like Mitsuwa and sell this stuff alone. Right next to it
is another shop that sells these cookies in tins as well as tea. I
believe all of this stuff is to be eaten with tea, or perhaps given to
a child to eat without proper tea. A "sweet", but not a dessert.
The European-style desserts Musashi refers to above are found
everywhere in Japan and simply look like extravagantly well-stocked
French bakeries. And it's true they have French pastry NAILED. When
in Japan we frequently eat breakfast by stopping at one of these shops
and getting a couple of pastries and exceptional coffee.
I don't think than in the Japanese dining tradition it makes sense to
finish the meal with a dessert the way we think of it in the west,
whether cookies/cake, ice-cream, fruit dishes or cheese. It just
doesn't seem right. But then we don't eat dessert in our household at
all (no children).
When in a Japanese sushi bar we sometimes finish the meal with a piece
of tamago. No sauce or anything, just a simple piece of the sweetened
folded egg they make.
--
Dogmatism kills jazz. Iconoclasm kills rock. Rock dulls scissors.
|