SisterVibes
A podcast hosted by three sisters in their 40s with a lifetime of stories and insights to share. From growing up in Japan to now living across three continents, we've gone through life's twists and turns. Join us as we dive into our cherished childhood memories, offer our unique perspectives on a wide range of topics, and recount our humble experiences living in different parts of the world. Despite long distances and scheduling conflicts that have kept us physically apart for years, we're here to give you a glimpse of what it's like to have sisters, regardless of the miles that separate us. Are we still the same as we used to be, or have we grown and changed along the way living in diverse locations? Stay tuned; we hope you’ll be entertained!
SisterVibes
20. Bite Sized: A World Food Tour (Fork-Free Zone!)
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For this episode, Our global culinary journey takes you through the distinctive food landscapes of Japan, Germany, and the United States.
Do you know what traditional mochi is in Japan? What is German Brotzeit? What is considered American food?
We guarantee you’ll learn something new!
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Website: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2279605
Big shoutout to Allison Gray for generously granting us permission to feature her song, "Off My Mind" (from Ep 05).
Episode Introduction
Speaker 1I gotta get you out of my system. I gotta get you off of my mind. But how do I move on when no one compares? They only keep me occupied. I gotta break these chains that bind me. I try to shake them off so desperately, but you pull them tighter.
Japanese Food Exploration
Speaker 2Hey guys. So I thought it would be really fun to maybe talk about today what foods are popular in each of our countries. So what's popular in Germany, japan and the US? So, sumi, what are some popular foods in Japan that we have to talk about?
Speaker 3Oh, are we talking about popular foods?
Speaker 2Well, what do you want to talk about?
Speaker 3I thought it was more like country-specific foods, sure.
Speaker 2Yes.
Speaker 3Okay, well, japan, I'm sure everyone knows, but we have sushi. Okay, can I say something about sushi though? Okay, so Lucas said that sushi was first invented in china, so apparently it's popular in japan, obviously, and everybody knows that it came from there.
Speaker 1But how about?
Speaker 3sashimi, I don't know, you'll have to ask him. But um, okay, but anyway, I just wanted to mention yes, but you're right're right.
Speaker 2Like right now. Sushi is definitely more popular in Japan than in China.
Speaker 3And it's considered Japanese food. So he told me a long time ago that it's actually from China. So okay, there's tempura right.
Speaker 2What is tempura for those people that don't know?
Speaker 3Deep fried vegetables or shrimp.
Speaker 2But what makes it special, in my opinion, about Japanese tempura is the crispness how it's like fried is so different than anywhere else. I think it's the breading they use it's a lot lighter and it's so crisp they use. It's a lot lighter and it's so crisp Whatever batter they use or whatever breadcrumbs they use whatever it is they use.
Speaker 3These breadcrumbs are specifically made for tempura.
Speaker 2So good it's like none other.
Speaker 3Okay, tempura, you don't use breadcrumbs, you use batter Tempura batter. Yeah, so breadcrumbs use um batter.
Speaker 2Yeah, so breadcrumbs like a light batter, right?
Speaker 3yeah, so there's two different types. I guess for frying in japan there's tempura style, which is with a batter. It has flour. Like tomomi said, it's like light fluffier flour. Whatever that flour is um called in western world, I'm not quite sure. Cake flour Maybe they have some of the cake flour I know in.
Speaker 2Japan, they use a lot of cake flour.
Speaker 3Mixed in with egg. I think that's the basic and you dip it in, dip the seafood or vegetable or whatever. You're frying what's your guys' favorite tempura.
Speaker 2Oh my gosh, I have to say ebi the shrimp. But I mean there's so many good ones. I mean I used to love sweet potato tempura when I was little. That's really signature and pretty good too. But I think ebi, the mushrooms are good too.
Speaker 3Yeah, I love mushrooms. Pumpkin's good too. I also like eggplant. Oh, yeah, me too, okay. And I think in frying in general this is also when you make it at home in Japan you use quite a bit of oil, so it's not like you have about an inch of oil, it's more like Deep-fried yeah, completely deep-fried.
Speaker 2So you use a inch of oil.
Speaker 3It's more like deep fried yeah, Completely deep fried. So use a lot of oil and that makes it.
Speaker 2I wonder what kind of oil it's cooked in. You know, I think it's so different than just like a fried food here. You know, it's just so light and crispy and. Yeah so good yeah, and then you normally dip it in a sauce. It's like flavored soy sauce.
Speaker 3So it says that tempura is traditionally fried in sesame oil.
Speaker 2Sesame oil. It is Really.
Speaker 3I don't think so. Maybe it's a lighter version, but many restaurants and home cooks also use neutral oils like vegetable oil, canola oil or even blends of oils for frying tempura.
Speaker 2I didn't know. You can deep fry with sesame oil, to be honest.
Speaker 3Sesame oil sounds kind of not true. Yeah, it doesn't sound so true but interesting.
Speaker 2What else, what other food?
Speaker 3Okonomiyaki. Oh yeah, Tell us about that. Okonomiyaki is like a savory pancake. Yeah, that is that uses flour, eggs and vegetables like cabbage, spring onions, and either meat or seafood yeah, you can put anything in there, because okonomiyaki basically means like your favorite style, like you can put whatever you want, like whatever you like. So I like to put kimchi in mine.
Speaker 2Ooh, I've never had a kimchi okonomiyaki, it's good. And I know in Japan like they have different regions that have different style of okonomiyaki too Right, Like sometimes they put yakisoba noodles in some Right.
Speaker 3If you put yakisoba and egg in it, then it's called.
Speaker 2Hiroshima style.
Speaker 3Okay so it is the pancakes, but it's got sauce on it too. You put okonomiyaki sauce. Typically, you would put mayonnaise on it, right.
Speaker 2And the dry seaweed flakes on it and bonito flakes which are dried fish flakes, like yeah, I know that it's uh, like you said, it is considered savory pancake, but it's nothing like a pancake you know at all. It's more like filled with other ingredients, very little bit of the batter, if the batter holds it together and makes the dish come together.
Speaker 3But I think it's nothing like different asian countries have these like savory pancakes with things in it. True, korea has one too, their own style yeah and I think in china too, I believe, interesting okay yeah what other food? Talked about ramen a little bit, but that's originally from China, but we also have udon and soba.
Speaker 2These are all different types of noodles.
Speaker 3Yes, Udon is made of wheat, flour and water.
Speaker 2Soba is buckwheat noodles.
Speaker 3Ramen is egg noodles Technically.
Speaker 2But I don't think in Japan are they all egg noodles. Ramen is egg noodles Technically, but I don't think in Japan are they all egg noodles.
Speaker 3Ramen is.
Speaker 2Like ramen restaurants.
Speaker 3I mean, if you think ramen it's egg noodles, yeah, for sure.
Speaker 2It's that Chinese egg noodles Udon is the thick and chewy. It's kind of popular in the US too because it's so different.
Speaker 3And you can also, similar to ramen. You can eat it with broth or you can fry it.
Speaker 2More common is broth, but you can also eat it cold. Oh yeah, right, I hear there's salad udon. Oh yeah, yeah, yeah, salad udon. It's interesting to me.
Speaker 3I've never had that before. You can get them at like convenience stores, especially during the summer.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, japanese convenience stores have everything and they're so good. And don't forget yakisoba. That's the most popular in the US. Really, yakisoba yes, fried noodles, they're like stir-fried noodles yeah, they are. I like the most lo mein-ish one out of the other ones that you named. The noodles are different and it's not as oily, Stir-fried, topped with cabbage onions, carrots.
Speaker 3You mean cooked with them, not topped with them? Yeah, cooked with them, and usually pork, thin sliced pork. But that actually depends on region. Some people use chicken, but I think pork is more popular, I would say.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, I think the difference between lo mein and yakisoba, too, is like lo mein is cooked in a wok right normally, and yakisoba is more like teppan, isn't it well, well?
Speaker 1I think it depends.
Speaker 2Make it at home I mean yakisoba is cooked in wok, though no, but the wok is not usually fried rice yeah, typically used in japan, not as much. Yeah, no, it's not. It's hot brittle.
Speaker 3Yeah, yeah, yeah. So soba is also. I think a lot of people know the difference is that, like Tomo said, it's made with buckwheat, noodles, buckwheat, and they're gray in color and I think it's one of the most healthiest.
Speaker 2I was arguing about the color of soba the other day. She was swearing it's brown and I said it's gray. We pulled up the image. For some reason they looked brown online, but I agree with you that in person it looks gray.
Speaker 3I feel like they also have different kinds, like matcha style green ones, I feel like there are different types, but generally it's like grayish, brownish, I guess, and traditionally it's eaten again with broth, like a soup style, which people typically eat during, you know, new year's eve, you can eat them cold.
Speaker 2I love it cold more, me too dip it and dip it in sauce. Yes, well, you can do that with anything actually udon and ramen too. Like dip it in sauce, true, instead of eating broth yeah, also somen yeah, I love somen. Oh, somen's like real, real, real thin wheat noodles. It's considered summer food. Okay, what else? Mochi?
Speaker 3Mochi Slash dango, but I'm sure everyone knows what mochi is, right. Do I have to explain what it is? It's made of rice Flour, rice flour, rice flour.
Speaker 2That's theed rice.
Speaker 3Yeah, so the traditional way to make mochi is you pound the rice and you kind of repeatedly pound it, pound it until it gets like really sticky. Oh my gosh, it's so hard to explain. But if you make it at home then, yeah, you typically use rice flour, right, and you do need a different type of rice. It's like very specific yeah, mochi rice, mochi rice.
Speaker 2It's like very specific Mochi rice. Yeah, yeah, mochi rice, mochi rice. But you know, by the way, mochi. In the US when people hear the word mochi, they think it's ice cream, that daifuku mochi only. So they're like oh yeah, I love that ice cream.
Speaker 3You know, I'm like no, no, no, it too. You see mochi as well, but they're always in dessert frozen section. People think of it as like a yeah, ice cream.
Mochi and Japanese Drinks
Speaker 2Yes, what are some actual ways we eat mochi in Japan?
Speaker 3So mochi can be flavored with red bean paste, which I love.
Speaker 2It's sweet, it's like a dessert style.
Speaker 3Well, okay, so what would you say? The difference between mochi and dango is? You know what I think? Dango is made with rice flour. It's also very similar in texture perhaps, but it's not as no it's not as sticky and thick. I feel Mochi is made from steamed and pounded glutinous rice while dango is made from rice flour, which is then steamed or boiled.
Speaker 2Yeah, and they usually always warn elders and young ones to not choke on mochi.
Speaker 3Especially during the New Year season.
Speaker 2Yeah, they really remind people.
Speaker 3Yeah, I think a lot of people consume mochi or make mochi during New Year's, at the very beginning of the year.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 3It's eaten in Japan like this. It's usually very plain, there's no flavor, plain white. It's served a few different ways, so yeah, the red bean paste is one. Another popular one is kinako, which is roasted soybean flour.
Speaker 1Yeah, it's like in a powder form.
Speaker 3Yeah, and you. Typically it doesn't really have much taste. So you typically mix with sugar, make it a little sweeter and you sprinkle it on your mochi or dango, kind of like a dessert type. Another way of eating mochi is you would wrap it in seaweed and dip it in soy sauce.
Speaker 2I love that, yes, so good. You can also fry mochi, make it in soy sauce. I love that, yes, so good. You can also fry mochi, make it kind of crispy and again still wrap it with seaweed and then dip it in soy sauce. That's really good too. You can also put it in broth, right, what else? Yeah, or not do anything, just have it as mochi.
Speaker 3Yeah.
Speaker 2But that's the typical way of having mochi in Japan. I think in the US everyone thinks mochi means ice cream and it's like the least common way.
Speaker 3And in Japan, too, it's eaten as a dessert as well, which is very similar to what you see in the Western world, I think, but it's not always frozen. There might be a strawberry on the inside, but it's not always frozen, I think. The mochi ice cream cream you can get them at convenience stores in japan, but only during winter time, seasonal. What about some drinks? Um, some drinks. Well, one thing that comes to mind is shochu which is alcohol, um, it's made of.
Speaker 3There are different types potato-based shochu and rice-based shochu, two major types, and then there you can break it down.
Speaker 2But is the content pretty high, like the alcohol content is pretty high, right?
Speaker 3yeah, so it's a distilled beverage, typically distilled from rice barley and sweet potatoes, buckwheat or brown sugar, and typically they contain 25% alcohol yeah, okay we also have or brown sugar, and typically they contain 25% alcohol. Yeah, okay, we also have sake right, which is referred to as Japanese rice wine.
Speaker 2Yeah, you can drink it hot or cold. I prefer warm Really, I only prefer warm when I'm cold. Otherwise I prefer cold.
Speaker 3In general or sake.
Speaker 2I'm talking about sake right now.
Speaker 3Okay, so sake is alcohol is like 15 to 22 percent.
Speaker 2Oh, I didn't realize it's that high. I thought it was a lot lower.
Speaker 3Uneshu is a Japanese liquor Plum wine yeah, made. Umeshu is a Japanese liquor Plum wine yeah, made by steeping plums.
Speaker 1It's sweeter.
Speaker 3Alcohol content is like 10 to 15% and you can drink it pretty much straight. I consider it more like dessert wine. It's sweet I remember Okasan used to make umeshu right. Yeah, she did. Oh yeah, sweet. I remember Okasan used to make umeshi right. Yep, she did.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, I think, wasn't that to treat your like the freeze burn on your hands? But then she would also remember she used to put plums in to make it. But also use that plum for your shimoyake to treat your freeze burn juice used to get.
Speaker 3Possible. When I got shimoyake, my dad would make me put my hands in cold water and then hot water.
Speaker 1Cold water, hot water.
Speaker 3That's all I remember for shimoyake.
Speaker 2It's like your hand cracks from the cold weather. We're talking about how to treat that. I remember she used to soak it in plum.
Speaker 1I don't remember that.
Speaker 2Kaori had that. I ever recall kauri had it real bad yeah, I had a real bad okay, is there anything else?
Speaker 3they also have like different types of bowls oh yeah, it's called donburi, topped with fried pork cutlets. There's one with eggs.
Speaker 2Usually with a bed of rice Right and then something on top.
German Food Specialties
Speaker 3It's with beef Thin sliced beef. There's eel With seafood, so there are different types. I think with seafood it's typically it's a vinegared rice, I believe, just like sushi right, but other ones it's typically it's a vinegared rice. I believe, just like sushi, right, but other ones, it's just, you know, steamed rice. I feel like there's so many dishes. There are so many dishes, yeah, but I feel like these are kind of like things that maybe people might know.
Speaker 2Okay, what about Germany?
Speaker 3Germany. I'm sure people know that it's known for sausages, and it's very true. I read that there are about 1,500 different types. What and I think only because of you know where it's made different ingredients, prep style, seasoning, and then I think you know their original specialties, but the most common ones here in Bavaria is white sausage. It's called Weisswurst. It was eaten as breakfast with wheat beer before noon.
Speaker 3So it's looks fatter and shorter. It's not shorter than most sausages, it just looks fatter, and what's special about it is that you have to peel the casing before you eat it and it's quite soft.
Speaker 2And somehow, these German people, they are so good with their fork and knife, they peel it off with their fork and knife right, not with their hands.
Speaker 3Yes, and I used to struggle so much when I came and you pair it with a soft pretzel which is also, you know, very original here for breakfast. This was like used to be like a breakfast meal in Bavaria with beer. I love it. That's funny. Before noon.
Speaker 2So it's not very common for people to drink coffee with that, but more common to drink beer with it. Yes, yes, that's so funny.
Speaker 3It's made with veal pork, back fat and herbs, onions, spices like ginger and cardamom, mace and then lemon zest. It's not citrusy, though, at all I think it's just like a hint of it and typically you boil the water. When it boils, then you put the sausage for about 10 minutes, you just take it off the heat and you let it sit in there for 10 minutes, and then you that's how you serve it, and you always eat it with sweet mustard Again. That's there's like a special mustard that you use to eat it.
Speaker 2Okay, I want to say I think I, I think I remember it like what it looks like. I don't know if I actually ate it, but I think it's like the grossest looking sausage in my opinion, because it's like looks like it's not cooked, you know, because of the color oh, is it the white ones?
Speaker 3yeah, oh yeah, I remember that yeah yeah, yeah, I typically the sausages here. There are white ones too. Okay, so maybe yeah, you don't take off the casing or anything. And yeah, I mean, there are so many different kinds. And then also in Berlin, currywurst, which is basically like a curry sausage, is well known, just a regular sausage with curry ketchup sauce.
Speaker 2Curry ketchup, ketchup Wait. Just a regular sausage, um, with curry, ketchup sauce, curry, ketchup wait. Oh so the curry is not infused in the sausage, but you dip it in in the sauce, yeah, in the sauce. That do you taste? It tastes like ketchup, but curry too.
Speaker 3Yeah, it's like ketchup sauce or whatever it's called like. That's interesting, yeah, but then you put also curry powder too on top. So, and a lot of kids love this in general, like you can find it everywhere here, okay, nuremberg also. It's not very far from munich, actually. They're known for their sausage as well, nuremberg sausage. It's white, thinner and funny because Lucas loves German sausages.
Speaker 3We went to Japan, I think back in 2017 or so, when Sumi introduced us no, it wasn't 2017. Sorry, it was 2019, when she introduced us to the Japanese sausage that was the most popular there and Lucas tried it, but he did not like them, which shocked me, because I think it's very good. It's so good. Um, there's also bratwurst, and I think when you think of bratwurst in the us, you think of white sausage, right, usually, no, no, okay, so they're white and red here, so you can find them. You know, sometimes you just have to say, oh, I want the red bratwurst. People take bread very seriously here, even on Sundays when everything is closed, like grocery stores, retail stores, all that is closed. Of course, restaurants are open, cafes open, the bakeries are always open. I want to say they're open on the public holiday as well, but I don't visit often, so I don't know.
Speaker 2So a bakery is like a sacred thing in Germany.
Speaker 3Yeah, it's like rice in Japan, yeah, staple. So a lot of people go to the bakery every day to pick up fresh bread.
Speaker 2Yeah.
Speaker 3And again, there're about 300 different types and they're not soft like japanese bread or a lot of the asian bread or pastries. It's hard. I love hard bread, texture wise, like baguette. I guess everybody knows what baguette is oh, I love hard bread yeah, so the common ones are like rye, uh, pumpernickel.
Speaker 3Obviously in Bavaria pretzel is very common, the soft ones. Let's see what else. Dumplings that's also well known. When you think of dumplings, I guess traditionally Japanese dumplings are gyoza, right, I guess we didn't really talk about that, but here it's in the shape of a ball, a sphere, and they also have different types, like the major ones are potato, potato dumplings, bread dumplings, pretzel dumplings.
Speaker 2There's one made with what are pretzel dumplings.
Speaker 3What the heck is that? Wait, are they filled with these? So the main ingredient is torn up pretzel or bread. Potatoes is a little bit different, but sometimes it has spinach. Sometimes it's combined with cheese, so they serve it differently.
Speaker 2So is it actually? Does it kind of look like a dumpling because it has a wrap on the outside of the sphere?
Speaker 3No, like I said, it's a ball, it's a sphere, it's just a ball, so it doesn't really look like a dumpling from what we understand, but they call it gun playing over there. Oh, got it right. Oh then, maybe I've seen it. You've probably seen it, and it's more like a meatball but not always with meat at all. Yeah, and it's much bigger.
Speaker 2Okay, it's like uh, I don't know size of a tennis ball, maybe how is it steamed, or?
Speaker 3boiled interesting also maltation. It's from where Christoph was born in the state called Baden-Württemberg, which is near Bavaria. One of their specialties it's kind of like a ravioli you know, in Italy. It's filled with meat spinach. Sometimes you fry them, Some people put it in soup and I think a lot of people know about schnitzel. It's like similar to Japanese tonkatsu, which is fried pork.
Speaker 2But you don't put sauce on it. Like Japan, right? You don't put sauce on it. I can't remember if I had it or not. It's like thinner, right? Is it thinner? It's very thin, yeah it's pounded thin.
Speaker 3Typically it's common Pork. You can also use veal chicken as well, originated actually in Austriaria, but it's very popular in germany. And speaking of austria, there's also apple strudel, which is apple strudel it's dessert and that also originated in austria, but it's very popular here in germ as well. You can eat it with its pastry. You wrap diced apples, raisins, cinnamon, sugar, lemon juice, wrap that basically in a sheet of dough and then very thin you just wrap it and then you bake it and some people eat it with vanilla sauce and it's not so sweet. There's also black forest cake. I think everybody knows that it's like chocolate.
Speaker 2Is it made with some sort of alcohol too Like?
Speaker 1salt.
Speaker 2It's like a very rich, I think, taste. Is it chocolate? Yeah, it's chocolate.
Speaker 3It's all chocolate. Yum, so it's chocolate sponge cake and then there's whipped cream and cherries on top. Yummy, Filling is cream cherries. And then for alcohol, traditional versions use Kirsch, but some modern or non-alcoholic versions you can use cherry juice and it's layered.
Speaker 2I didn't know that was German cake, though at all. I made it for one of the kids' birthdays and I wasn't crazy about it. Of course I didn't do alcohol version, but I wasn't crazy about it, but the kids loved it at the time. I've only made it one time.
Speaker 3Also Spätzle. People know I think in the US as well. It's egg noodles, it's like short egg noodles, kind of like pasta. I guess there's also Flammkuchen, which is. There's also flam kohan, which is it's like pizza, except you use creme fraiche as the base and then you put green onions, ham or bacon and that's very typical at fairs and such. I think also people know about sauerkraut which is made with cabbage, and potato salad which is vinegar based. It's very good, I like them both.
German Drinks and Eating Habits
Speaker 2Alcohol-wise. Oh wait, wait, wait, before you go to alcohol. Sauerkraut there's a sweeter version. Matt really likes the sweeter version.
Speaker 3Okay, so sauerkraut in general in Germany is not super sour like the ones that I've had in the US. So, normal sauerkraut. The one that you're thinking of is white, but there's also a red cabbage version, which is usually called blau kraut.
Speaker 3It's sweeter yeah, that's the one he really liked traditionally the blau kraut is made with the red cabbage, sugar apples or even red currant jelly. I have a question do people in germany typically eat sausages like every day? No, okay, yeah. What do they eat? Okay, so what do people eat here typically? When I first started going to German class, the teacher told us a term Brotzeit. It means Brot is bread, zeit is time like bread time, and I also learned through, you know, just sending Lucas to school that some people say that I want to give my child warm lunch, which I thought okay. That's interesting because I've never thought meals as warm and cold. In Germany it's very common to have cold breakfast and dinner Bread, very similar for breakfast to what they eat in dinnertime. It's basically bread with variety of cheeses, with variety of deli meats, sometimes sort of pickles, sometimes smaller side dishes, but generally that's what traditionally I think people eat here.
Speaker 3That's what traditionally I think people eat here, and so that's why when parents talk about kids eating warm lunch, it's because they eat cold breakfast, that's just. There's nothing cooked, basically in the morning or at night. Okay, so the alcohol everybody knows about Munich and beer. The oldest brewery in Munich started in 1328. Bavarians consume beer more than any other state because it's just the culture here. You know, liquor-wise, I think a lot of people know Jägermeister. I really dislike it.
Speaker 2I love it.
Speaker 3We realized that in Austria, if you go skiing, you can drink tea with a shot of that.
Speaker 2Like together.
Speaker 3Together Wow.
Speaker 2It makes it kind of minty, maybe Interesting. It's like Irish coffee, but a tea version with Jägermeister.
Speaker 3Yeah, so, Sumi, you don't know what Jägermeister is right.
Speaker 1No.
Speaker 3I think you would vomit because it smells horrible. It's from anise, I think. It's like that strong smell. Taste yeah, like the one you were saying Licorice yeah, licorice Tastes like licorice Smells like it I won't like it. There are like 56 different herbs and spices in it, so it's yeah, it's more medicinal, I feel.
Speaker 2It does kind of taste like medicine and don Another drink that's popular in Germany.
Speaker 3Okay, so soft drinks I don't know what you're thinking, but drinks. What's interesting here is a lot of times people like to mix. Example you don't drink just straight juice, you mix it with sparkly water, like half juice, half sparkly water. You'll find beer with Coca-Cola, half Coke, half beer, or Radler or Shandy, which is like half people call it lemonade here, but like sparkling lemon juice with beer, coke and orange soda, coke and orange soda yeah, mixed, but they like to do a lot of like mixture drinks.
Speaker 3So if you order, like you know, mixed, but they like to do a lot of like mixture drinks. So if you order, like you know, sparkling juice, it comes out usually it's like mixed in with sparkling water and concentrated juice yeah, and you also told me about like tea and juice mixed together, in germany like fruity yep, so like during christmas, maybe that's what you were saying.
Speaker 3There's glue vine, which is milled wine. You drink it warm, but kids version. They usually do like they mix all these different kinds of juice, I think, sometimes tea also, and you warm that up. That's interesting. There's also what's called schnapps. I think in Austria, too, this is something that people drink. What is schnapps? It's a clear, strong, distilled spirit From fermented fruit or grains with no sugar added. Why is it?
Speaker 3so sweet, though maybe it's american schnapps is different okay, oh yeah, it says american schnapps is sweet yeah often used in cocktails, but here it's like 38 to 40 percent alcohol wow. And sometimes you drink it before or after the meal.
Speaker 2Okay.
Speaker 3That's it for Germany. Let's go to the U?
American Food Culture
Speaker 2S everybody probably knows yeah, U S. I don't think it's like a. I mean, it's food that's eaten everywhere else too, so I don't feel like I need to elaborate too much. But hamburgers and cheeseburgers, um hot dogs. We have French fries. Some like to dip in ketchup, Some like to do it in mayo. Okay, can I say?
Speaker 3something Okay. So I think French fries are the best in the US, and I think it's the potatoes. It just does not taste the same here. It's so much better in the US, and I also think that the burgers are better. You know why? The buns here are just not the same.
Speaker 2Oh yeah, you told me Somehow it's crumbly. Yeah, it's like gluten-free style maybe. I love curly fries. Oh yeah, curly fries are pretty good, but as I get older I just don't care for the fried food as much. But I still will. I still like French fries, if it's the thin kind. I don't like wedges, I don't. I don't want to taste a lot of potato at the same time.
Speaker 3You know what I love is tater tots. Oh me too, ash browns.
Speaker 2Yeah, fried chicken. We got mac and cheese and coleslaw. I love mac and cheese.
Speaker 3Mac and cheese and coleslaw.
Speaker 2I love mac and cheese. Casseroles are pretty big in the US.
Speaker 3That's true.
Speaker 2I think paired with dinner rolls.
Speaker 3A lot of things are paired with Mashed potatoes. Oh yeah.
Speaker 2Mashed potatoes and gravy yeah, or without gravy, just butter. A lot of people like pancakes for breakfast.
Speaker 3That's right. What I realized is the pancakes in the US is thicker than Germany. I think people think pancakes is American.
Speaker 2Oh, over there in Germany. Okay, so they're like having American breakfast if they were to order pancake, okay.
Speaker 3Correct yeah.
Speaker 2Yeah, and pies. I don't necessarily like pies, but there are a variety of different kinds of pies in the us that's very milkshakes. Wait, is that not a thing in germany? No, it's the us thing. And I did not know barbecued foods are. I mean, I knew that that's american, but I didn't know. It was not that popular. And other countries like Japan and Germany, and I don't know what other countries.
Speaker 2I didn't know. That was like not that common Like we were discussing before that. Ribs are like so common here in the U S but it's like a specialty where you guys are, If you ever saw ribs, which is crazy to me wings, pulled pork, sloppy joes, those are all American.
Speaker 3I miss barbecue chips.
Speaker 2You can't buy barbecue chips in Japan, no way. Okay, well, if I come to Japan I have to bring that, and then Okasan likes Funyuns, and then what, what else? You guys want some of these like random American, but they have Lay's chips In Japan.
Speaker 3You bought some. Yeah, we have a lot of different flavors of Lay's. Yeah, so if you can get Lay's, I'm sure you can get Lay's barbecue chips, don't you think, yeah, but you have to go to like a special store where they oh.
Speaker 2I see it's not very common, yeah, they. Oh, it's not very common, yeah, okay, so I guess barbecue flavored things are american, very american.
Speaker 3Yeah, I don't think um japanese people will. I don't think they would know what barbecue flavor is.
Speaker 2Yeah, okay, that's interesting because it's so common here that it seems like it common everywhere else, but I guess that's not regional specific foods. Or, like you mentioned, grits, which I'm not that familiar with grits, apparently, depending on which region, you can have sweet grits or savory grits.
Speaker 2And I and I tried the savory version that was made to me by a friend of mine and it was so good. The whole time I was wondering like what am I eating? What is this? And then cornbread. I did make some cornbread when the kids were gluten-free, like I would make it from scratch, but I don't really care for the sweetness of it. Yeah, there's New England clam chowder Baked beans. I don't think is a. It's a very common US. I don't like it at all, or no, what is it called?
Speaker 3Refried beans US. I don't like it at all, or no, what is it?
Speaker 2called Refried beans. I don't like those. Isn't that more Mexican Sweet? No, I think it's American.
Speaker 3I just don't like it. I don't think it's called refried beans. Okay, what is it called? What kind of beans? I thought they were just called baked beans.
Speaker 2Maybe I don't know, I don't like any of the beans here. I don't think.
Speaker 3It's yeah. So if it's baked beans, it's made with white beans, I think. Brown sugar, ketchup, mustard, onion, sometimes bacon.
Speaker 2Oh yes, I think that's what it sounds like it, because I feel like it's all sweet stuff and ketchupy and I don't like it. Whiskey, bourbon, our American thing, whiskey is also Japanese too.
Speaker 3Yes, it's good. Yeah, but bourbon is from the US. Yeah also, ted Max is big in the U? S. I have yet to find good Mexican restaurants here, yeah.
Speaker 2But I think it's like okay, so we have. You know, where I live, at South Florida, we have a lot of Hispanics, jamaicans, haitians, whatever, like a mix of people. They all say that these Mexican restaurants here are not authentic, not even close, apparently. So the American version of Mexican food margarita is huge. The American version, american margarita.
Speaker 3I love American margarita.
Speaker 2I have had the authentic version and it's not sweet.
Speaker 3Not as sweet yeah.
Speaker 2Yeah, it gives me heartburn when I drink margarita in the US. It's just I can't drink it.
Speaker 3Isn't banana split an American?
Speaker 2dessert, that's true, I love.
Speaker 3Yeah, so the peanut butter is also big. I love American food.
Speaker 2Peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Oh my gosh, when I first had it. I couldn't stand it. I was like what am I eating? Oh my gosh, I thought it was so good yeah.
Speaker 3Lucas loves peanut butter, so he loves Reese's Cups. He loves peanut butter and jelly Me too.
Speaker 2Okay. So Japanese peanut butter I like, because it's not as sweet or it's not as artificial. I mean they do have the natural ones here in the US too, but it's not as sweet. You know, the common ones that are used in the US are really sweet and I don't like that. And the taste, I don't know. Processed, yes, Probably ultra processed. It tastes very processed and artificial and I don't know. But the natural I like, which to me doesn't taste like anything like the peanut butter.
Speaker 3Yeah, it's called peanut cream in Japan.
Speaker 2Oh wait, I don't think it's the one I'm talking about. That's not the one I'm talking about. Oh, it's not the one that you spread on your no, no, no, no no, it's not.
Speaker 3Nerigoma is what I was talking about Is that Sesame?
Speaker 2Is that sesame Seed? And then, but then there's also yeah, I think it might be sesame seed, maybe it's not peanut butter. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3I might be thinking of sesame. I like that, yeah, but there is peanut cream, yeah. Yeah, that one I don't like. Like you spread it on the bread.
Speaker 2That also tastes very processed and artificial, looks it too.
Speaker 3Okay, I guess we're done. Can I say one thing about sushi?
Speaker 1Dozo Okay, so sushi, is it true? Is?
Speaker 3it not true? Well, okay, so it says sushi has its ancestral roots in ancient Chinese fermented fish and rice dishes, but the light vinegar style of sushi we know today was developed in Japan over centuries. So, while its origins are Chinese, sushi today is fundamentally a Japanese. Okay, okay.
Speaker 2Good to know.
Closing and Call to Action
Speaker 3Okay, lucas was right, okay, okay, good to know. Okay, lucas was right. In the next few months, we'd love to hear from you. We want to gather your questions and ideas for future episodes. In fact, in one of our upcoming shows, we're doing something special.
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