“ Knowing the Difference “ - Oden and Sinigang -

Getting to know different culture is very interesting. It is especially fascinating for me to learn differences in food culture.

Now I study English with the help of Filipino teachers in an online school and I often enjoy talking about food in Japan and Philippines. But I don’t know much about Filipino cooking and they don’t know much about Japanese one either.

I often tried to introduce Japanese delicious food to my teachers but it is very hard for me to do that in English. A typical example was “Oden”. It is a dish consisting of radish, potato, konnyaku, chikuwa, hard-boiled eggs, fried tofu and other boiled meat. They are stewed with Japanese soup stock, soy sauce and sweet cooking rice wine (mirin). It is a very popular and well known cuisine in Japan and people are looking for it especially during cold season. However the ingredients was very difficult for me to explain in English, especially, “ konnyaku”. “Konnyaku is one of my favorite ingredients, so I wanted to tell my teachers how delicious it is. I tried to describe but I felt it is almost impossible for me to explain it.

I think everyone loves “Oden” and almost all Japanese know it. But it is the common thing only for Japanese. I found that "Oden" is a new and unique food for people who have a different culture, so I was a little bit surprised at that time.

I’ve experienced a similar situation when we talked about a typical Filipino food “Sinigang. “ It looked delicious and balanced. However I still couldn’t imagine its taste even though my previous teacher already explained how to cook it and what are ingredients used.

It was the first time for me to know the typical Filipino seasonings like tamarind, patis and bagoong.

I could only imagine that “Sinigang “ has sour taste because I heard tamarind, which is the main ingredient, is sour.

I felt knowing these two different foods impressed me and entice me to know more about the vast difference of food culture in both countries. Moreover I even thought of the factors that defines the back ground of dietary culture such as geography, history and climate. It enriched my understanding about Philippines as well as Japan.

“Oden” is a familiar food for me and “ Sinigang” is familiar for my teachers. I know the world is wider than before and knowing the difference of dietary culture taught me the importance of learning it. Now I think that knowing the differences enriches me.