After several decades of pescatarianism (fish and seafood but no meat), I decided to go plant-based (i.e. vegan, which doesn’t appear to be the word of choice for vegans these days) a couple of years ago. The initial motivation for this was the fact that, thanks to my free bi-annual health check (most Japanese people and Japan residents have an annual health check, but I can’t be bothered to do it that often), I found that my cholesterol was high. Very high? Dangerously high, even? Well, perhaps not, but it was a fair amount higher than the recommended zone – for LDL cholesterol, at least; everyone here says that HDL either doesn’t matter at all or is less important.
Like a lot of people, I was surprised to find out after an online Ecosia search that, rather than being something vaguely to do with fatty food, cholesterol is all about animal products, and based on this revelation, it seemed like a no-brainer to go vegan. Sure enough, within the two years to my next health check, my LDL fell by about 50 points (I should say here that the Japanese way of measuring this seems to be different from the British and probably American way(s), too, but anyway, 50 points is pretty good, as I’m sure you can imagine). I have since become even more – although not, it has to be said, 100% – strict about the relative plant-based-ness of my diet and, largely under the influence of my calorie-free addiction to slightly hippy-dippy, west coast, health-and-wellness-oriented podcasts, realised how important protein is, and how, if you happen to be a veganarian, finding and consuming plant-based sources of protein will become one of the most obsessive aspects of your everyday existence.
So, one of the things I’m planning to do with this all-new, all-revamped version of the Muzuhashi blog is to bring you lovely people – some of whom may well be plant-based veganites such as myself – some ideas for foods and ingredients to enhance your eating habits. However! Perversely, this post is about something you probably won’t want or need to eat much of in Japan, even as a vegan-based plantarian, and that’s fruit.
Gone, sadly, are the days of square watermelons (as featured on The Simpsons and elsewhere), but the rumors you may have heard really are true, namely, that fruit tends to be stupidly expensive here, as exemplified by these specially bred, specially packaged, specially priced strawberries (at the current exchange rate, about 6.50 GBP for six). Speaking of which, there was a TV show the other night about a newly opened branch of Japan’s everything-but-the-kitchen-sink store Don Quijote that recently opened in Hawaii, and where you can apparently buy a single, luxury “brand” strawberry for the wallet-emptying, credit card-draining price of 15 USD (more than a tenner!).
Addendum: Two varieties of fruit that I do sometimes eat here are bananas, which are, interestingly enough and in the same way as the UK, the biggest selling product in Japanese supermarkets, and mikan – that is, what the King’s English calls satsumas and the Trump’s English calls (I think) clementines or mandarins.
