hey guys so I was recently in a
restaurant staring uncomfortably at a
questionable menu a menu with such
delicious items as raw guts and raw
uterus although truth be told I was more
uncomfortable by the overly enthusiastic
dog asking me to put green onions and
issues over the sauce which isn't
something I normally do when I eat out
mainly because I don't know what the
hell it means but I realized I never
really talked much about Japanese food
and when you think of Japanese food
usually think of the same old things
sushi tempura ramen which is my favorite
but obviously there's so much more food
in Japan and in today's video I want to
talk about four popular foods that might
seem a bit strange or odd to most people
living outside Japan I suspect one in
particular might seem a bit of a
surprise considering in the UK it would
be a health hazard and in most countries
and when I told friends and family back
home that I tried it they didn't believe
me as I didn't believe it when it was
served to me so keep an eye out for that
and know it's not wrong to us god forbid
I once went out for dinner with a
Japanese friend and they asked me if I
wanted to try grilled eel which in
Japanese is unagi no kabayaki and
naturally I said no and went with the
fried chicken instead the reason being
that in the UK the mere mention of eels
sends a shudder down most people's spine
as it conjures up images of one of the
UK's national dishes which is jellied
eels a dish which looks and sounds bad
except for the seven or eight people in
the UK who still enjoy eating it so
imagine my surprise when they brought
out my friend's meal and it not only
looked edible but actually amazingly
good the presentation of eel in Japan
makes it look like a gourmet meal
traditionally served on rice and in a
sweetened soy sauce called tonic for me
it was a strong reminder that the
Japanese are very good at making things
look delicious and appealing where other
countries fail miserably
but far from being a gourmet meal eel is
the sort of thing people eat every day
in Japan as it's very convenient easy to
prepare and taste bloody delicious and
this is what my dinner often looks like
if you're wondering how heels go from
this wah to this how it looks wonderful
there's a really awesome fishery called
Yamada Suisan and they put up those
videos sharing
a how to prepare eel and B how they go
about making popular national cuisine
they're actually really interesting
check out the videos in the description
box below but you can bet your horses
you'll love the taste of eel oh yeah
and speaking of horses my first tried
raw horse on a trip to Nara in Kansai
and I didn't enjoy it the first time as
it had quite a tough texture and a
surprisingly mild spicy aftertaste but I
thought it was an exclusive thing you
can only buy in certain places in Japan
I told some Japanese friends that yeah I
needed some horse it was crazy it was
wicked it was awesome and they were like
yeah you can just buy that everywhere in
every Japanese pub really brilliant I
wish somebody had told me but raw horse
is commonly eaten in Japanese izakaya
izakaya is a japanese-style pub it's
referred to either as Musashi or the
more exotic name of Sakura Nikko Sakura
means cherry blossom blossom Sakura
means cherry blossom niku means meat and
it got the name on account of his pink
appearance obviously it's taboo to eat
it in the UK in the US but it's still
worth trying mainly because when you
come back in your friends and family
asked how is Japan you can reply it was
amazing I ate horses and they'll be like
oh gosh you really do live life on the
edge don't you then again the first time
I ate horse in Japan was the same time
that the horse meat scandal was going on
in Europe where it turned out every
piece of edible matter in Europe
secretly contained horse me so to be
fair if you're living in Europe you're
probably already living life on the edge
anyway every Thursday I meet with my
good Japanese Fred Natsuki and we go to
an izakaya for dinner and a few drinks
usually more than a few drinks if
Natsuki has his way and one of his
favorite things to order is this stuff
that looks like fried chicken which as
you and I know is one of the most
delicious and nutritionally balanced
foods in the world but it isn't fried
chicken it's called nankatsu the first
time I've tried it I nearly broke my
bloody teeth in half what I thought
someone had battered some [ __ ] rocks
and stuck them on a plate or something
but it turns out none katsu is chicken
cartilage the best way to describe it is
like a soft chewy bone like Tex
which doesn't sound appealing but if you
can get over the weird crunchy like
texture and the concept of eating
chicken cartilage the rewards are great
as it's a very popular dish in izakaya
and you probably find it in front of you
quite a lot while you're in Japan I
converted from actively avoiding it to
loving it within the period of about six
months due to going out with nasty every
week so if you do struggle to come to
enjoy as I did when I first arrived in
Japan you best get signed up to Natsuki
six-month cartilage and join the program
as well and what a program it would be
well I have a money like most people
growing up I had it hammered into me
that raw chicken equals bad or to be
precise raw chicken equals salmonella so
when I had poori Sachi served to me
which is raw chicken I was a little bit
a little bit worried but despite my
concerns I went ahead ate it and lived
to tell the tale admittedly I didn't
actually enjoy eating it due to the
texture being a bit and the flavor well
there was no flavor but it felt cool to
eat something that I felt like I should
have the raw chicken in Japan comes from
chickens that are specially raised not
battery farmed so apparently the risk of
salmonella is really low so if you get
the chance to try it don't be put off by
the health risks it's perfectly safe and
you can find it it is a Kai's throughout
Japan although iweb eating it in a hurry
let's face it it's got nothing on fried
chicken but I will say about Japanese
food is it's always excellently prepared
and the Japanese really are culinary
masters they treat every aspect of
cooking and making food with such great
craftsmanship and skill even food that
initially looks or sounds questionable
is always delicious well everything that
is except raw uterus which I've 100%
refused to try you certainly won't catch
me pouring any issues over the sauce any
time sick but have you tried any
interesting or Bizarre Foods whilst in
Japan let us know in the comments
section below please don't forget to hit
the like button if you want more videos
and I apologize for the overuse of the
phrase raw uterus it won't happen again
probably