Dish of the Day: Okonomiyaki

Okonomiyaki (Pronounced: Oh Cone Oh Mi Yocky ^_-)

A pan-fried Japanese dish consisting of a batter cake with assorted vegtables, meat and toppings cooked into it. Widely considered by Americans to be the Japanese equivalent of pizza, Japanese people will politely rip your guts out in insisting that it's NOT like pizza.

Okonomi means "what you like" or "what you want", and yaki means "grilled" or "cooked".

Since I do watch some anime on the side, I found out about Okonomiyaki by watching Ranma 1/2, which consists of a transgender guy/gal that is constantly being chased by men and women, including a girl with a giant spatula who seeks revenge on him because her family's Okonomiyaki cart was stolen by the guys father.

You won't find a okonomiyaki chef with that
big of a spatula. Or extravagantly puffy hair. Or eyes that big.
Probably with a bigger nose. Maybe three-dimensional, too, im sure that helps.

That being said, Okonomiyaki is much better than the Anime series, which revolves around gender change and being in awkward situations.

A fairly simple dish to make, you just might like it. I've never had it before, but the creator of this recipe has stated "OH GOD MY TASTEBUDS!" when thinking about eating it. I mean, when you're that enthusiastic about a recipe, you know it's good. Or bad.

Don't be afraid to try something new!

Know your Food

I was perusing Core77, the ID site, and this attracted my attention, such that I copied and pasted the mini-article here. It's something to think about.

Posted by: Xanthe Matychak on Monday, July 30 2007

Some of our favorite products to consume are the products that we put in to our mouths--food! Yet, like much of the stuff that we consume, we don't really know where it's been. Worldwatch Institute has a neat little piece that tells us how to keep it real when it comes to good eats.

Here's a taste:

Eating local keeps money in the local economy, helps preserve farmland, and usually means tastier food. In the midst of food safety crises, eating local also brings a certain peace of mind because the shopper can get much more information about what they are actually buying.

Learn more about the Slow Food movement here, how to track your Food Miles here, and the similarities between good food and smart design here.

Breakfast and how America missed the point

Breakfast is the most important meal of the day.

Of course you have heard that term before, and you would readily agree. Why is it, though, really?
Well, general opinion makes it out that eating early boosts your metabolism and the intake of nutrients will add more energy to your mornings, which would translate into your day being hunky dory. not to mention that the majority of the energy you spend during the day is derived from the steady energy release as breakfast digests, being supplemented by lunch and dinner to keep your machine running.

Those statements are true to an extent, but you must really be wary about eating breakfast because America sucks. at. Breakfast.

Back in the early days of America, people tended to eat fairly well and were generally healthy people. The prototypical American farmer back in the late 18th century had a good rhythm to his life, waking up at the butt crack of dawn and sitting down to a solid breakfast, usually consisting of a whole grain/cereal dish (bread, hot oats, etc.), eggs freshly picked form the coop, and beer, milk or coffee (Before light beer and industrrial bottling, America drank it homebrewed to supplement most every meal, due to it's high nutritional value and low alcohol content + qualities as a preservative). Meat was valued as a source of protein, though it was rather rare on most breakfast plates because their livestock were more useful in most respects, either for milk or eggs. Pigs however, got the shaft. Bacon, Ham and all that good stuff did make it to breakfast, but rarely.

Many things change, and so should the diet. Somehow, it got to the point where industry, deadlines, College and processed food destroyed the balanced breakfast. Everyone is guilty. EVERYONE. There is no time or rythm in the morning, when everyone is in a rush to beat traffic, get to work, school, etc. All this often results in a bowl of sugary cereal, fast cooked bacon, Starbucks frappucino's with whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon and caramel and packaged breakfast bars.

I remember I fell asleep at work after
eating this single slice of nutella bread.
Breakfast, 6/28/07

Not that there is anything wrong with coffee, pig meat, cereal, or nutrigrain. However, our lives have changed, and our diets should have, too. The great, overwhelming majority of middle class Americans sit on their gluteus maximus all day, looking at their computer screens and reading weblogs and hoping that all the coffee with 5 nutrisweets and non-dairy creamer they drink will keep their metabolism boosted so they feel less guilty about eating thai food for lunch. The necessity of ham and bacon in the morning is nonexistent now because we don't move as much as people without technology used to. That fat and protein is useless for quick energy, and fixes itself to unwanted areas of your body. with all the pork and bacon available in this age of readily available processed meats also spoils the treat of having it in the morning, where it is now taken for granted and with a lot of grease.

The alternatives to complex carbohydrates suck, too.
Sugary cereal is processed and doesn't have the fiber or true nutrient properties to provide you with a healthy digestive tract, with all the simple sugars being used at once and burning you out before the day begins, and nutrigrain bars don't have nearly enough fiber to clean your digestive tract. a clean colon makes a clean man, after all.

A banana and my moms cranberry bran cakes,
along with the package of shoes I had to
send out that day.
Breakfast, 6/21/07

The simple fact is that breakfast is only effective if you eat A LOT of the RIGHT THINGS when you can SIT DOWN and EAT IT, not inhale it and then run out the door.

What should you eat? What is necessary. Complex carbohydrates for consistent energy all day,
Milk and yogurt for nutrient value and some protein and easily metabolized fat, eggs for cholesterol that are precursors to the hormones that regulate your body, and some fruit. make sure to eat it at a good pace, and not gobble it down.

I would say that you could drink beer, but since light beers have wiped out everything on the american landscape and people are less responsible and drive death-buckets on wheels, it's probably not a good idea.

The glaring exception of the cinnabons aside,
this was a good breakfast, along with good company.
Breakfast, 5/1/07

It ain't about where you from, it's where you at: KFC

There are many aspects of life that binds people from different backgrounds and mindsets together in this modern world, and there are two that I can think of off the top of my head: modern plumbing and Chicken.

I'm at lunch eating some leftover chicken, and I realized that I eat chicken just about every day. You might be suprised (or not) that chicken is the choice of meat for people of every culture and ideology, but have you ever wondered why? What is it about chicken that appeals to Caucasians, African Americans, Asians/Pacific Islanders and Others? How does this affect me in any way?

These are big questions, but let's talk about me.

I do enjoy chicken because it's relatively cheap meat, it can be cooked in so many tasty methods and goes hand and hand with anything you pair with it, it doesn't get stuck between my teeth nearly as much as beef and pork, it's satisfying without stuffing, and there is no doubt that the ONLY good thing they serve in ANY cafeteria ANYWHERE in the world are chicken nuggets and chicken tenders. And cereal. No way you can screw that up.

People have eaten chicken since the dawn of time, the first mention going to the Chinese in 1400BC, and the Babylonians liked it so much that they carved it into their palace walls in 600BC. They were popular in Europe in the middle ages, prized for their mild, non-overbearing taste and neutral reaction in digestion, as opposed to the toadstools and magic mushrooms they also ate back in the day. The russian peasants "genocided" them for food when their government tried to take them when they collectivized the agricultural community, fearing that they would lose them to the dirty Kulaks.

After the African Americans lost their goat milk and yams when they were brought from Africa, they looked to chicken as a major part of their diet during the early years of their introduction into America, so much that they have inadvertently popularized KFC, a fried chicken fast food chain that was created by a white man that called himself the "Colonel" dressed in a stereotypical "southern gentleman" costume as a way of self-promotion. not to imply that i'm racist or anything of the sort: generalizations and common-sense make the world go round.

The Colonel: contributing to Obesity
and Heart disease issues of
the Urban poor population
since 1930.

In a roundabout way, Chicken has elevated itself beyond racial and social prejudices and is now a staple in the world diet. (You can eat white or dark meat, unity in every sense of the word) It's Kosher, it's not Haram, and every ethnic cuisine in the modern world has multiple chicken dishes. Chickens have been in the middle east for CENTURIES.

Just about everybody enjoys the chicken in some way other other, whether it's the meat, the feet, or the eggs. Except for the vegans. Don't get me started on vegans.

Some fun facts and biased opinions:
-Wikipedia says that in the "Traditional Jewish practice, a chicken is swung around the head and then slaughtered on the afternoon before Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, in a ritual called kapparos. The sacrifice of the chicken is to receive atonement, for the bird takes on all the person's sins in kapparos. The meat is then donated to the poor."
- There is a correlation between the population density of the urban poor and the number of Fried Chicken Restaurants in the area.
-Chicken is the reason why Chinese American food exists today and not just MSG syrup sauce, BBQ pork and bok choy.
-Some people say that African Americans are not motivated and lazy, but they ought to eat fried chicken at least 4 times a week before the snobs pass judgement.
-Chuck Norris retains his superhuman strength by eating hormone-injected chickens... raw.
-The only difference between Barry Bonds his rookie year and Barry Bonds now is Fried Chicken. And maybe a pill or two.

11 pieces of Deep-Fried Death for only $11 at Popeyes!
(eaten for lunch, july 22nd)

Here's something I thought I would never do...

Ever since the Xanga experience, i've made a point to stay away from Blogs, mostly because productivity is being wasted while whining about my unspectacular life and keeping my fingers crossed for eProps. However, my productivity level is at an all time low AND I have developed a sarcastic online personality that needs some air. Therefore...

This blog is dedicated to discussing many different topics, ranging from race, ethnicity, moral values, hot current events and health (among other things) through Food.

This idea came from the twisted minds of myself and Steven Chen at the Asian Intervarsity Chapter focus week up at Cedar campus, in the UP of Michigan.

The idea was to document everything we ate for an entire year (either through photography or written descriptions). I've been asked many times to describe why i was doing it, and to be sure, I had no clue. I was thinking of recording this idea into my portfolio for my Arch school app, but i decided that it was impractical to do so.

Being inclined to spend an inordinate time on the internet at work, I realized my passions in life ( Food and Ranting) could be combined here. So here I am, documenting my eating expereinces with pretty pictures and as much humor as I can possibly extract from my brain.

Tune in every now and then, it should be an edifying experience!

Yub Yub, kids.

-Kenny