Dear food knowledge / ヨーロッパ

If you live in Europe, you may often find yourself wanting to eat Japanese food.

Do you know what ingredients you can find at the supermarket?

So this time, I would like to explain about Japanese food ingredients that you can buy at supermarkets and shops in Europe.

Ingredients for Japanese food that you can buy at supermarkets and shops in Europe

We will introduce the basic ingredients used in Japanese food that are necessary when making various Japanese dishes.

Especially if you are planning to move to Europe, knowing foods that are easy to obtain will help you decide what to prioritize and bring from Japan when you move.

Basic sashisuseno "se", soy sauce: Obtaining difficulty ☆

Soy sauce is required to prepare most Japanese dishes.

In recent years, there has been an increase in the number of supermarkets in Europe that have small corners for Asian ingredients.

So it's becoming relatively easy to get your hands on soy sauce.
Kikkoman's bottle type soy sauce is placed in a nearby supermarket.

However, the options are limited, so if you want variety and a range of sizes, we recommend using Japanese food stores or online shops.
There is a high possibility that both light and dark soy sauce are available, and not only that, but also sashimi soy sauce.
You will find the type of soy sauce that you need.

Useful for binders and fried foods, Bread crumbs: Difficulty of obtaining: ☆ ☆

Bread crumbs are necessary when making hamburgers, pork cutlets, etc.
You can substitute it by shaving hard or dry bread, but it takes time and often does not shave cleanly.

Therefore, you may want bread crumbs that are sold in bags.

Depending on the store, it is possible to buy bread crumbs at the supermarket, but to put it the other way around, it is not everywhere.
If you can't find it at a nearby store, there is a high probability that you can find bread crumbs at a Japanese food store or an Asian store.
Larger supermarkets often carry it.

By the way, flour, which is also necessary for frying, is sold at supermarkets in Europe.
They are often bundled together in powder form and are easy to find.
However, it depends on the store whether they have all kinds of flour, medium flour, and strong flour, so you need to be careful.

When making sushi at home, wasabi: Obtaining difficulty ☆☆

Wasabi is rarely used, but it's something you'll crave when making sushi at home.

When I live in Europe, I sometimes have local friends and colleagues who want to try sushi, so I have a sushi party at home.
In fact, the popularity of wasabi is increasing, with people from overseas saying they want to try wasabi.

Some European supermarkets have recently started selling wasabi.
Whether wasabi is used as a spice in creative dishes and rankings, or because Japanese food is becoming more popular, it is sometimes put together with the above-mentioned soy sauce in the Asian food section.

Dashi and Miso Necessary for Various Japanese Foods: Obtaining Difficulty ☆☆

In Europe, it is very difficult to obtain dashi from katsuobushi (bonito flakes) and kombu (kelp).

Also, it is basically impossible to buy dashi soup at supermarkets in Europe, so these are not sold at all.

Dashi-related ingredients must be purchased at Japanese food stores, Asian shops, or online.

In these places, you can find a wide variety of dashi soup stocks.
However, there are cases where granule-type or packed dashi is available at large supermarkets.
With this, you don't have to use ingredients that are hard to get in Europe to make the dashi stock, and you can complete the dish in a short amount of time.

Besides miso soup, of course it is necessary as a base for Japanese food, and it can also be used as a base for mixed rice.

Of course, miso is required to make miso soup.
This miso is also hard to find in European supermarkets, except for large supermarkets.

In addition, there is an increasing number of BIO-affiliated shops that sell health-conscious foods in Europe that sell miso as a healthy food.

As for the size, they are rarely sold in packs of the size commonly seen in Japan, so they are sold in smaller packs and bags.
If you don't need a large amount, or if you're looking for a small size for traveling or at a friend's house, you can find it at BIO stores.

Lastly, I would like to introduce some foods that you can buy anywhere in Japan, but are surprisingly difficult to buy in Europe.

Furikake to accompany white rice: Difficulty of obtaining: ☆☆☆

When you eat rice, you may feel lonely with only white rice.

In such a case, the rice will be dramatically delicious just by adding furikake.
Furikake is usually sprinkled over rice, but there are many other ways to use it, such as adding hot water to turn it into ochazuke.

In Europe, where rice is not a staple food, and in countries where japonica rice is not as sticky as it is dry, furikake is not a familiar dish.

Unfortunately, furikake is not readily available in European supermarkets, and can be purchased at Japanese food stores.

If you don't have a Japanese food store in your living area, or if you don't want to bother, you can also look for it from the online shop.

lastly

What did you think about the Japanese ingredients and foods that you can buy in European shops?

For those who have lived abroad, it is important to know that living in Japan and moving to Europe for the first time makes decisions about what can and cannot be bought. This is a confusing point.

Small condiments such as furikake don't take up space in the bag, so we recommend you bring a few of your favorite items.

On the other hand, liquids such as soy sauce are heavy and bulky, so it is convenient to procure locally.
Our Germany-based online shop also carries soy sauce, mirin, and various other Japanese foodstuffs, ranging from table-sized to commercial use.

People who come to Europe as expatriates, people who find a job locally, people who get a working holiday visa, people who come to study or do research, people who come with their husbands or wives, or people who marry their European lovers. Japanese people from various backgrounds live in various countries in Europe, such as those who come to immigrate and, of course, those who come to Europe on vacation.

Food is a problem that every Japanese living in Europe worries about. The eating habits of Japanese living abroad are very different from those of Europeans.

However, due to this difference in eating habits, it is often the case that you cannot find the ingredients you used to buy in Japan even when you go to your local supermarket. Also, it is not uncommon to find the same ingredients, but when you buy them, the taste is completely different from that of Japan. Let's take a look at the hard-to-find ingredients and things with different tastes that Japanese people face in Europe.

Difficulty in procuring ingredients for many Japanese overseas

The number of Japanese residents in each country and the degree of expansion of Japanese companies vary from country to country. Compared to other European countries, the UK, Germany, and France have a relatively large number of Japanese companies operating in them, and as many Japanese people live there, it is easy to access Japanese foods.

On the other hand, as you go to Eastern Europe, the number of Japanese residents will decrease, and the demand for Japanese food will decrease, so the amount handled will decrease and the difficulty of procurement will increase. There are similar foods in Chinese and Korean brands, but this time I will exclude them and talk about Japanese brand foods.

 

Hon mirin and cooking sake

Hard-to-find condiments that are surprisingly hard to come by are hon-mirin and cooking sake, which are often used in making Japanese food. You can find mirin-style seasonings in Asian shops and Japanese food stores, but you won't find hon mirin very often.

There is a reason for this, since Hon mirin and cooking sake contain alcohol. Both hon mirin and cooking sake have an alcohol content of around 14% and are taxed.

Also, depending on the country, there are regulations on the sale of food containing alcohol, and it is necessary to obtain a separate permit to sell alcohol. For example, in Sweden, beverages with an alcohol content of 3.5% or more cannot be sold in supermarkets, and products with alcohol content of 3.5% or more can only be sold at a state-run store called Systembolaget . However, Systembolaget is a shop that sells liquor for drinking, so it does not handle food for cooking.

In this way, depending on the country, it is difficult for retailers to sell hon mirin and cooking sake due to the influence of regulations, and the liquor tax is imposed, so the price is also high, making it difficult for retailers to sell.

On the other hand, mirin-style seasonings have an alcohol content of less than 1% , so they are not subject to liquor tax and are inexpensive, making them easy to handle in European supermarkets.

 

Bonito

It is commonly used as an accompaniment to tofu and okonomiyaki, or as a soup stock.Katsuobushi is a standard ingredient in rice balls, and katsuobushi is a familiar product that is treasured by Japanese people, but it is also difficult to obtain in Europe. .

Those of you who have been to or lived in Europe may have noticed that you never see katsuobushi, but why is there no katsuobushi in Europe in the first place?

Katsuobushi contains a carcinogenic substance called "benzopyrene," which adheres to katsuobushi during the production process and exceeds the EU standards. Japanese people may be surprised and wonder if katsuobushi, which they have been eating for many years, is bad for their health.

Katsuobushi is available in some parts of Europe, but the foods sold are products that meet EU standards. Katsuobushi is such a complicated matter, but there is one interesting incident in the story of katsuobushi in the EU .

Expo Milano 2015 was held in Italy. Japan saw the Milan Expo as a great opportunity to promote Japanese food in Italy and Europe, and aimed to promote Japanese food on a large scale. However, katsuobushi will be caught in the food import regulations introduced above. Therefore, the Japanese government negotiated with the EU and others, and was granted a special exception that it could only be used as a special measure for consumption within the Milan Expo site.

For Japanese people, katsuobushi is one of the basic seasonings that can be bought at any supermarket, but katsuobushi, which is indispensable for making dashi, is a food that Japan and the EU are moving together nationally.

 

sliced ​​or minced meat

Sliced ​​and shredded meat is a popular ingredient for Japanese people who appears in various dishes for those who cook, such as ginger-grilled pork, gyudon, and stir-fried dishes.

However, in fact, meat cut like this is rarely seen in European supermarkets. In Europe, when we talk about meat, we tend to think of it as steak, stewed dishes, or minced meat such as hamburgers and meatballs, and there are no dishes that use sliced ​​or shredded meat.

Supermarkets and butchers have slicers, so if you ask the clerk, you may be able to get sliced ​​meat. In some cases, the meat is not sliced ​​or shredded as intended, and pork is not mixed with Muslim halal meat (is the meat made in an Islamic certified manner?).

If you go to a store that sells Japanese ingredients or an Asian shop, you can buy it, but there are different difficulties than the ones introduced above.

Mirin and katsuobushi can be purchased online as long as they are available, but the difficult part about meat is that both thinly sliced ​​and shredded meat are fresh foods, so they cannot be purchased online.

If you can't buy it in your living area, it's very troublesome, but you can only buy a home slicer and cut the meat yourself.

 

pickles

Pickles go very well with rice, but in Europe, the staple food is potatoes and bread, so Japanese pickles are hard to find.

You can still find takuan and gari for sushi, but pickled cucumbers and shibazuke are much more difficult to find.

In addition, there are many types of pickles, from major pickles to those that are not widely distributed in certain regions, but it is rare to find such local pickles in Europe.

For example, Takana-zuke is a relatively popular pickle in Kyushu. Takana pickles are familiar to Japanese people because they are topped with pork bone ramen and other dishes, but for those from Kyushu, it is one of the pickles that they usually eat. However, takana pickles are hard to find in Europe, as they are only available in some places such as London.

Pickles are so-called " acquired taste " foods in English. In other words, it becomes a food that you get accustomed to eating and feel delicious, and it is rare for foreigners to feel that it is delicious immediately after eating it for the first time.

Since it is the kind of food that you gradually come to like after eating it a few times, you can hardly expect demand from Chinese and Koreans. is.

There are many people who eat Japanese food often when they were in Japan, but find it difficult to eat it overseas.

And among them, there are quite a few people who miss miso soup.
Sometimes it's difficult to make miso soup overseas because you don't have the time to make it yourself or you can't find all the ingredients.
Therefore, many people bring instant miso soup from Japan instead of making it themselves.

So, in this article, I wrote about my experience with instant miso soup, so I hope it will be helpful for those who are wondering whether to bring instant miso soup from Japan or looking for it locally.

I will explain the difference between Japanese and European instant miso soup

In fact, some overseas supermarkets sell miso and instant miso soup.
In most cases, the instant miso soup sold there is not made in Japan, and it tastes different from the Japanese ones.

From now on, I will explain what is the difference between these two, focusing on the impressions of actually trying them. (Please note that this is just my personal opinion)

About the difference in taste

Here, I will explain the instant miso soup that the author sold at a nearby supermarket as an example.

This is the instant miso soup that I actually purchased, and the price was around 4 euros for 4 pieces.
Compared to the price in Japan, it feels expensive.

The one I bought was tofu, but there are also wakame seaweed and kimchi.
By the way, kimchi is included in the lineup because it says PRODUCT OF KOREA, so it's probably because it's made in Korea.

Regarding the most important taste, to put it bluntly, there is a sense of incongruity and it does not suit Japanese tastes.
I don't recommend it unless you're really hungry for miso soup, or you don't care about the taste and just want to drink miso soup.

light taste

The reason is that the taste of miso is light in the first place.
When I put it in my mouth, it smelled and tasted like miso, but it wasn't miso I know.

I will explain the ingredients later, but this product was listed as kelp extract.
Of course, there is a possibility that kombu extract means kombu dashi, but it seems that extract and dashi are different in extraction method and ingredients, so it would be better to consider them separately.
If the kombu extract was mixed well with the miso, it would have tasted even better, but unfortunately, it felt like it was falling apart.
It even feels that the kelp extract has a stronger claim than the flavor of miso.

And the peculiar "instant ugliness" came out strongly.
There is a slight tingling sensation in the throat when drinking.
This feeling is not what many people are looking for in miso soup.

In conclusion, if you want to drink it, you can drink it, but it's not at the level where you go out of your way to drink it, and this discomfort makes 4 euros feel expensive.

Appearance and other impressions

If you look at this photo, you will immediately understand the impression of this instant miso soup other than the taste. (I put it in a mug because I don't have a bowl for soup locally)

My first impression was that the packaging was different.
The only thing that is the same is the light shade of miso soup.
First of all, tofu was in this state even though it was written as "tofu".
It looked like dregs such as soybeans in miso.

Wakame is relatively decent, but it will fall apart just by hitting your tongue.
It seems that the package does not contain anything that looks like a green onion.

Also, the reason why the color is light as a whole like the package is that it hardly melts even if you pour hot water on it.
Normally, just pouring hot water over it will loosen it a little, and if you stir it, it will mix well.

In the first place, the contents of miso soup will sink to the bottom if it is not touched for a while, but there was a problem before that.
I could see that it remained solid even when boiling water was poured over it, and it never melted even after mixing and mixing.

The above photo was taken at the moment when the flow almost stopped after stirring vigorously for a while, so it was about 10 seconds after I stopped stirring.
Unfortunately, the contents just spin around and sink when it stops.
Even if it sinks, the main body that fell apart is sinking.
So it doesn't look like miso soup.

As for the packaging, if you are a person like me who buys without looking at the product carefully, you may mistake it for instant tofu and buy it.
I bought it with the intention of adding instant tofu to my miso soup, but I can't deny my disappointment.

It's just that I'm not careful enough about this, but since only tofu is Japanese, if I didn't think about it, someone might make a similar mistake.
If you think you are not careful enough, please be careful when you see this series or similar type products.

Ingredients

I think some people are wondering what is included in this instant miso soup, so I will briefly introduce it.

Miso 57% (soybeans, wheat flour, wheat grains, umami seasoning E621, alcohol, koji), corn syrup, tofu 5% (water, soybeans), gochujang, kelp extract, onion, garlic, dried seaweed, umami seasoning E621, E635

The first thing I thought when I saw this was that the gochujang was the cause of the slight spiciness.
Perhaps this should be regarded as Korean-style miso soup.

lastly

This is my impression of the instant miso soup I bought overseas.
It is better to buy Japanese instant miso soup than to get this quality at this price locally.

Undoubtedly, Japanese instant miso soup is generally rated higher.
If you don't have a Japanese grocery store in your neighborhood but you can't be satisfied with instant miso, or if you want to drink it every day and just bring in instant miso and you want to buy miso, then online shops are very convenient.

Our German-based online shop also carries soy sauce, mirin, and various Japanese food ingredients ranging from table-sized to commercial use, so please take a look.

When living in Europe as a student or member of society, there are Japanese foods and ingredients that you absolutely want to eat.
When you cook for yourself or your family, there are many times when you want to enjoy the familiar taste of Japan.
Here, we will mainly explain the ingredients necessary for Japanese food that you can buy at supermarkets and shops in Europe.

Procure ingredients in Europe and make curry

Curry is an easy and convenient dish for students to stock up on.
It's the same for working people and people with households, and it's a dish that will make your family happy.
This time, I will explain the ingredients used to make Japanese curry in Europe.

Ingredients for curry bought at European supermarkets

First, let's take a look at the typical curry ingredients: carrots, onions, potatoes, and meat.

Carrots, onions, and potatoes, these three types of vegetables can be purchased in European supermarkets as well as in Japanese supermarkets.

However, there are differences in the size and taste of vegetables, and of course, the price, depending on the country or region.

Here is an example of European carrots.
Compared to Japanese carrots, they are slender and shorter.
Many of the carrots sold in European supermarkets are of this type, and if you are expecting the same kind of carrots as in Japan, you may be a little disappointed.
However, when you actually eat it, there is no big difference in taste.

Next is onions.
This is also a little smaller than Japanese onions like carrots.
Many supermarkets have yellow onions, white onions, and red onions.
Buy according to your taste.

The last is potatoes.
This is almost the same as what you can buy at Japanese supermarkets.
Personally, I think Baron or May Queen is closer to Baron.

Potatoes are often sold in 1kg bags, so if you put a lot of potatoes in the curry and still can't use it all, it's delicious to make French fries or potato chips.

Meat that is sold but difficult to procure

And regarding meat, unlike Japan, they don't sell thinly sliced ​​meat.
If you really want it, I think you have to go to a butcher who sells it by the piece and have it sliced ​​thinly.

It may not go well with curry, but if you have a tongue (tongue) handling, most tongues are thinly sliced, so you might want to consider that.

It may be one way to enjoy the curry made in Europe to enjoy the large chunky meat.

Extra: Japanese curry roux not sold in local supermarkets

It is very difficult to find retort curry roux like those sold in Japanese supermarkets in European supermarkets.

Basically, it is difficult to get it unless you buy it at a Japanese grocery store, an Asian shop, or an online store.

Of course, if you don't mind spending time and money, you can make curry without using Japanese retort curry roux.
You can buy a wide variety of spices in most European supermarkets.

Of course, you can combine various spices to make Indian-style curry, and you can also add bouillon to make it Japanese-style.

They also sell small bottles of spices labeled Indian curry or British curry.
In that case, it is possible to get closer to the curry you want to eat with just that spice, but since the contents are small in the first place, depending on the amount you make, you may need a whole bottle or more at a time.

However, it's still difficult to make curry that tastes like Japanese retort curry, so buying curry roux at a store like the one mentioned above may be the best solution.

Remarks: About rice

Even if you eat curry, nothing will start without this rice.
Most supermarkets in Europe sell rice itself.

However, most of it is rice for risotto, and there are cases where the heart remains in the rice even after it is cooked.

Indica rice is sometimes sold, so there is something different, but you can eat curry more deliciously than rice for risotto.

If you really want to eat Japanese rice, you need to buy it at a Japanese grocery store or online store, just like Japanese curry roux.

There are several types of Japanese rice available in Europe, but one of the most famous is Yumenishiki.

It's Japanese rice from Italy, but it's just like the rice you buy in Japan.

If it is this, compatibility with Japanese curry is perfect and you can enjoy it deliciously.

Ingredients that are delicious when added to other curries

In addition to the basic ingredients, there are many ingredients that make curry delicious.
I will extract and explain some of the ingredients available in Europe from among them.

Garlic for example.
Adding garlic when making curry enhances the flavor and makes it very appetizing.
You can get it as easily as in Japan at supermarkets in Europe.
European garlic has a good flavor and can be enjoyed deliciously.

Eggplant is delicious when added to the dish.
Compared to the eggplant in Japan, it feels very large.
The appearance is similar to Japanese round eggplant, but the size is larger than that.
Even if it looks different, it doesn't taste bad, and of course it's delicious even if you put it in curry.

There is also paprika.
European supermarkets sell large paprikas whole.
Paprika has a unique taste that is different from bell peppers, and it is very delicious as an ingredient to add to curry.

Also, paprika powder is often lined up in the spice corner as a seasoning and coloring, so you may be able to use that as well.

When I live in Europe, my friends and work colleagues sometimes tell me that they want to try Japanese food.
However, what can be troublesome at times like this is when the phrase "If possible, I would like to eat something other than the famous one in Europe" is added.

I wrote this article for those who want to meet such expectations.

4 lesser-known Japanese foods that are highly rated when cooked

Even if you say this, you may not have a very good image of what is famous and what is not known to Japanese people who are used to Japanese food in the first place.

When it comes to Japanese cuisine, sushi is of course famous, but conversely, sushi is too famous, and there are parts of other Japanese cuisine that are not well known.
Therefore, I would appreciate it if you read this article and think, "Speaking of which, this happened."

Oden

When it comes to winter staples in Japan, it's oden.
Just because you can buy oden anywhere in Japan, especially if you go to a convenience store, doesn't mean it's famous in Europe.
If you serve hot oden with a strong taste, you will be very happy.
In Europe, there is no culture of sharing a large plate or hot pot dish among multiple people, so Europeans who see oden for the first time may be confused about how to eat it, but many people like the gentle taste of dashi. It's a taste that can be.

The main ingredients for making oden are your favorite ingredients (carrots, radishes, sausages, etc.), sake, mirin, and dashi stock.
The ingredients are available at European supermarkets, but carrots and sausages can be purchased anywhere.
Although daikon radish is a popular ingredient in oden, it varies by country and region, and it is not always as easy to obtain as it is in Japan.
Sake, mirin, and dashi stock are available at Japanese food stores, so please look for them.
The taste will be less, but you can make it without mirin and sake, so if you can't buy it in your neighborhood or it's expensive, please try it.

Meat and potatoes

Nikujaga is one of the staples of Japanese home cooking.
Nikujaga is said to have originated from British beef stew, but that doesn't mean it's famous in Europe.
The taste is also quite different from beef stew because it uses Japanese seasonings.

Carrots, potatoes, onions, beef, soy sauce, mirin, and sake are often used in nikujaga.
Carrots, potatoes, and onions can of course be bought at supermarkets, but beef is rarely sliced ​​or chopped like it is in Japan, so you will have to cut and use what looks delicious.

Recently, European supermarkets have been selling soy sauce more and more, so there is a high possibility that you can buy it at your local supermarket.
As for mirin and sake, you need to go to a Japanese food store instead of the supermarket in your neighborhood to find them, just like the oden.

Ginger grilled pork

This is also a standard dish in Japan, but it is not well known overseas.
But as expected, meat dishes, everyone jumps.

The ingredients are pork, onion, ginger, mirin, sake, and soy sauce.
Like beef, thinly sliced ​​pork isn't sold very often, so it might be delicious if you cut it yourself or try making it with a thicker piece of meat on the bone.

Onions can of course be bought at supermarkets, but ginger is often not available, so if you don't have it in the vegetable section, go to the spice section and you will often find powdered ginger, so look for that as well. Try it.

Mirin and sake must be purchased at a Japanese food store, and soy sauce is often available at your local supermarket, so please look for it.

chirashi sushi

Isn't this sushi? You might think so, but it's not as well-known as regular sushi, so I'll introduce it here.
Chirashizushi is a dish with a high degree of freedom as long as you prepare the base sushi rice and eggs, so you can add ingredients that your partner likes.

The basics are rice, sushi vinegar, eggs, seaweed, and any other ingredients you like.
As for rice, it is difficult to buy Japanese rice at supermarkets, but rice for risotto is easily available, so if you don't mind buying rice for risotto at a supermarket, if you like Japanese rice, buy it at a Japanese food store.

Even if vinegar is sold at supermarkets, sushi vinegar is basically not available. Uka
Of course, you can also buy shinoko at Japanese food stores.

You can buy eggs at supermarkets, but seaweed is sometimes sold at supermarkets, so if you can't find a supermarket, buy it at a Japanese food store.
You can basically choose the other ingredients as you like, but shiitake mushrooms and shrimp are often included.

Supermarkets sell mushrooms, but they rarely sell shiitake mushrooms, so try looking for Japanese food stores.

Some supermarkets sell frozen shrimp, so if you have them, you can buy them.
However, from my experience, European frozen shrimp often smell so bad that even if you put them in sake, you can't get rid of the smell, so please be careful about that.
There are many other things such as salmon and cucumbers, so please try to find them yourself.

summary

These are the 4 Japanese foods that are not well known to Europeans but are highly rated.
What do you think?
If you look at it this way, mirin and sake are needed quite often when making Japanese food, so it might be better to buy them for the time being.
Online shops are very convenient for those who don't have a Japanese grocery store in their neighborhood, or who have a poor selection of products.

Our Germany-based online shop carries mirin, sake, and various Japanese food ingredients ranging from table size to commercial use, so please take a look.