教員コラムBlog

  1. home
  2. 教員コラム / Blog
  3. 詳細 / Detail

National Cuisine as an Ice-Breaker

2020.08.24

“What is a typical dish from your country?”

 

Food is a great topic when meeting people of other nationalities. The question above is good for breaking the ice and can lead to interesting discussions. Japanese people have many answers to choose from when hearing this question; sushi, tonkatsu, okonomiyaki, tempura, udon… These are undeniably good examples of Japanese cuisine.

 

What is interesting is the deceiving nature of the question. This is because the person asking might think it means the same as asking “What food is typically eaten in your country?” Indeed, for Japanese people, the dishes mentioned above could answer either question, so the distinction between the two questions could seem unimportant; however, the point of answering is a little problematic for me.

 

I am often asked the first question “What is a typical dish from your country?” when Japanese people are getting to know me, and they likely expect an interesting answer that can teach them something new. However, it is tricky because my quick and simple answer cannot carry over as a reply to the second question (like it does for Japanese). Why is that?

 

The reason is because I am from Canada. What is typical food in Canada? Well, a quick and simple answer is pasta, pizza, hamburgers, steak, dumplings, curry… and sushi! However, surely those are unexpected responses for a Japanese person to hear—especially those who have not been abroad. I am not Italian, German, American, Chinese, Indian, or Japanese. I am Canadian.

 

The point of difference between “from your country” and “in your country” is what I wish to address, and this can also nudge into the spotlight the feature of the so-called Canadian mosaic.

 

There is a story I like to tell whenever I get asked about Canadian food. When I was young, after school I often went to a friend’s place. Depending on the day or friend, I might stay for dinner, and over a span of years this amounted to a wonderful introduction to international cuisine because everyone I knew was either an immigrant or a child of immigrants. One day I might eat homemade Indian food. On other days it might be homemade Italian, Chinese, British, and—especially in my hometown of Edmonton—Ukrainian food. Then when it was my friend’s turn to visit my house, my mother would cook Cuban food.

 

I am not joking when I say that the food I ate as a young Canadian varied among such delicious dishes as homemade spaghetti, Chinese-style dumplings, Ukrainian-style dumplings, curry with naan, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding (from Britain), and fried plantain (a Caribbean dish).

 

True Canadian food? Look that up on {Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_cuisine]} and I cannot say that I experienced—as far as typical food is concerned—what is listed as examples: poutine, salmon jerky, Montreal-style bagels, ginger beef, and butter tarts. I look forward to trying all those when I return, though. I hear they are more available now than when I was young.

 

 

Photo Credit: Social Soup@pexels.com

 


Blog Quiz

 

1. What does the author’s first question usually mean?


A.    What is the most popular food in your country?

B.    What food is commonly eaten in your country?

C.    What food represents your country’s cuisine?

 

2. Why did the author eat many different cuisines when he was young?

 

A.    Because there were many restaurants with foreign cuisine in Edmonton.

B.    Because he didn’t like typical Canadian food.

C.    Because his friend’s families were immigrants.



3. Which of these dishes would the author like to try on his next visit home?

 

A.    fried plantain

B.    salmon jerky

C.    Yorkshire pudding

 

 

 

 

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

 

 

 

 

 




 

 

Quiz Answers

 




1. C

2. C

3. B

戻る / go back

Related posts