Growing up, I could have been easily placed in the "picky little eater" category of Canadian food consumers. I'd like to blame it on my parents and geographic locale by saying thing such as, "I was never exposed to different foods." Or something like, "I only ever knew meat and potatoes before I came to Asia." I'd say those things, but they'd be outright lies. My parents valiantly attempted to introduce new and wonderful foods to my palate as a youth and I was only exposed to meat and potatoes.
Now, here I am. Living in Japan and exposed to a wide and fantastic cuisine. Previous to moving to Japan I spent more than five years living and working throughout South Korea. I consumed more vegetables than I ever thought humanly possible and ate things I never could have once imagined myself eating (I'm still not really into the kimchi thing though). Here I am, married to a wonderful Japanese woman who is doing her best to convert me to a new religion. That of, "Fish Fan." Will it ever happen? Maybe, maybe not. I am getting better though.
Along the theme of trying new things, there are some I have tried and feverishly see as wrong. Some foods are dear to me. Some foods are sacred. Pizza is one of those sacred foods. Those who have had the fortune to spend time traveling in Asia and have craved something they know, such as pizza, may have been in for a rude awakening at some point.
Corn on Pizza!
It's more common and well-loved here than you might think. It tends to be when you order pepperoni and cheese pizzas. They come slathered in sweet corn.I know what you're thinking! "That's just plain wrong Kevin!" And you are correct in that thinking. The sweet and spicy combination simply fails miserably in this case. At least to the "Western pizza fan" palate.
I took these pictures in my local 7-11 with my camera phone. This is "Pizza Toast", a popular snack here in Japan. Basically, it's bread, instead of crust, with pizza toppings. In this case you can clearly see the corn.
Here it is "up close!" Corn on pizza!! A travesty.
A few days ago I posted a BRILLIANT video of someone making "Korean Pizza." In that video you can see him adding the "very necessary" ingredient of sweet corn.
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1 comment:
I always find white bloggers like you and Shari Custer going up in arms about corn on pizza in Japan as a uniquely Japanese or Asian 'travesty'.
You guys need to get out more. It's extremely common/standard in the UK - and they did not get it from Japan.
Infact, everywhere I have been from Palestine to the Uk to South Africa nad beyond has sweetcorn as standard. I got used to it, and now even like it, when I do eat pizza, which is rare enough.
People who do not eat corn on their pizza, you see, are in a worldwide minority.
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