Okonomiyaki and Eel

My recent post about the Haggis I didn’t eat has made me think of the foods that I have eaten around the world.
I had the good fortune to be a guest in several Japanese homes. I had carefully read up on Japanese customs, not wanting to offend anyone with a thoughtless action or remark. One caution was not to completely clean ones plate unless you want it to be replenished immediately. My appetite is small so I was careful to eat most but not all of a meal. It didn’t matter, my plate continually piled high with food.
I had also read about the fabulous fish market in Tokyo and begged my friend Shizuko to take me there. She thought I was crazy. Finally she took me to a whole street of fish markets, not the big one that I had read about, but lots of smaller ones.
She bought some eel for our dinner. It looked like a small filleted fish and I expected it to taste like fish. The flavor was good but the consistency was soft and mushy, a unpleasant sensation in my mouth. Miso soup and octupus were also new foods for me. I can’t say that I came home planning menus including either, but I enjoyed trying new flavors and textures.
One food that was a winner is a dish called Okonomiyaki. My hostess called it a Japanese pizza. It’s round and has a variety of foods piled on top but I’d say that’s the only resemblance. It is a sort of crepe or pancake cooked on a griddle along with a mound of cabbage and assorted other vegetables and meat. When all is cooked, the pancake is slathered with the dark, thick, sweet and pungent Okonomiyaki sauce. Then the meat (or fish) and vegetables are placed on top and it is served. I liked it so much that I carried a quart of the sauce home with me but have never opened it.