Radies and radishes: Part 10

Posted on 28 January 2010

A sojourn in the land of cows and kiwis

… the journal of a South African vegan in Japan, by Carey Finn

12 January 2010

Akemashite omedetou gozaimasu! Happy New Year, in case you were wondering. I celebrated the dawning of the Year of the Tiger (myself born under this Chinese Zodiac sign) not in the Far East, but a bit further east … so to speak. I spent the festive season with family in Hamilton, New Zealand, and soaked up some much-needed sunshine!

I know I promised an entry on Bossa Nova, breyani and the like, but I’m going to keep that for a rainy day and ramble on about my vegan experiences in Kiwiland instead.

I’ll begin with the in-flight meals. I know these words strike dread and terror in the hearts of many travellers, but I can honestly say (and I swear Cathay Pacific didn’t bribe me in any way) that the meals were delicious. Shocking, I know. But since I’ve been vegan, eating onboard has changed completely.

Gone are the days of cardboard cow cutlets and bread rolls you could kill someone with. I dined on curry, grilled vegetables, salad, foccacia, and even chocolate pound cake for breakfast. The rolls were soft and fluffy, and to make things even better, I got served before everyone else. Makes you want to request a vegan meal on your next flight, doesn’t it?

New Zealand offered decent vegan grub, although some of the breads and pastries had some suspect fats on their ingredient lists. At the popular tourist spots, eating vegetarian was easy enough, but there weren’t always vegan options.

However, everywhere (and I do mean everywhere – even at the garages) I went, soya milk was offered with drinks. It was a little luxury that I don’t have in Japan, and I took full advantage of it; guzzling soya chai lattes (and yes, that’s latte with an “I”), mochacchinos and anything else I could squeeze in.

I found soya ice cream and yoghurt at the supermarkets, but had no luck with cheese. I did find Fry’s frozen foods though, which was a nice familiar taste. I was really hoping for the faux chicken patties, but alas, they were nowhere to be seen. I tried the local veggie polony, which was pretty good; crumblier than the Fry’s version, and with a filling of corn and peas. It went down a treat with hummus and sprouts, in wraps.

What I struggled with, surprisingly, was the size of the portions. At restaurants, and even at home, everything just seemed so big! Here in Japan, portion sizes are a lot smaller, and I think my body has adjusted to that. I understand now why my students complained about Australian food on their school trip; they too struggled with the amount of chow they were served!

The biggest, and one of the best, things I ate while in New Zealand was this burger at Burger Fuel. It’s a fast food franchise and they seem to have at least 1 store in each big city. They have a good range of vegan and vegetarian burgers on their menu, and. you can get them with regular or sweet potato chips (kumara chips), if you want to try something different. The burger was the size of my head, and really tasty. Oishikatta! I’m sure I gained a kilogram during that lunch alone.

I also had some great curry from a veggie Indian restaurant in Hamilton. I kicked myself, because while I was waiting for the takeaways, flipping through the local veggie magazine, I saw that “vegan potlucks” were held once a week, just down the road from my sister’s house! It was too late for me, but inspiring to read anyway. Maybe next time.

For now, it’s back to mochi, udon and all things tofu as I carry on my adventures in Japan.

Good wishes for 2010.

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