Won't Miss #514 - kamaboko

Sometimes you'll go into a market or convenience store in Japan and see pretty pink and white or green spirals with scalloped edges that look like some sort of candy. In fact, they bring to mind slices of potato candy, a concoction of peanut butter, mashed potatoes and powdered sugar which sounds horrible, but is tasty in a way that is hard to describe, especially when you're a poor child and that's what your granny makes you.

Those lovely spirals are not, of course, candy. You'll figure that out soon enough if you see some floating in a savory stew, or, if you have the misfortune to bite into it. This harmless looking substance is fish paste or kamaboko. I don't know about you, but logs of colorful spiraled slabs do not bring fish to mind and this seems like a real bait and switch or perhaps more of an effort to put lipstick on a pig (or a stinky fish in this case).

I am open-minded about food. There is little that I won't actually try at least once, often two or three times. In fact, my husband was once given a cheese-flavored cricket which I was game to sample, but he was so disgusted by the idea that I abstained. I tried kamaboko and it was a horrible experience. Though I'm not the greatest fan of fish to begin with, I do eat fish and even enjoy it on occasion, but this is just disgusting to me personally and I absolutely do not miss kamaboko.

Won't Miss #478 - kameboko

The kamaboko is on the left.

The most exciting time in Japan is at the beginning when all is new and wondrous. It's also the most dangerous from various points of view because you can't read or understand much of what is around you. You wander into a store and see all sorts of curiosities and wonder what is actually food and what might be a cleaning product or marital aid in disguise.

There are plastic tubes cinched with little metal ties at either end which look a lot like cheese, or, to be more accurate, "cheez", available in many shops including markets and convenience stores. If you buy one and take it home to accompany that box that clearly looked like salty crackers but ends up being some bizarrely sweet crispy thing, you're in for a shock. Kamaboko is fish paste. It is supposedly akin to gefilte fish, which I will never sample knowing that it is a ethnically diverse cousin to kamaboko. My, admittedly limited, experience with it, was that it not only tasted like fish that had expired on the beach and left lying there for quite some time. It also had a rubbery and unappealing texture.

When kamaboko was served with a meal, especially the pink and white type which looks so cute and candy-like, it was always something which was an unwelcome addition and I won't miss it.