I’ve been to Japan twice, and both times have been experiences in new food textures, tastes and presentations. My first trip was in 1992 and earned me the nickname bento-san, literally, “Mr. Box Lunch.” The guys from Nihon Sun hosting me discovered that I loved the equivalent of New York City hot trucks, except in Tokyo they are bento lunch places in subway stations. My typical bento box included sushi, meatballs, noodles, and radishes. My typical lunch included multiple bento boxes, hence the nickname.
My second trip was much less relaxed, much more “big tent” presentation focused and included almost no time for sampling local cuisine. Even my thoughts of going out to the Hard Rock Cafe in Roppongi were washed out by jet lag, a bad rain storm, and a fear that I’d had beginner’s luck navigating the Tokyo subway fifteen years earlier. But this trip didn’t let me down in terms of textures and tastes, as “western sandwiches” were provided for me in between meetings.
Let me say up front that I’m a huge fan of potato products mingling with meat. Hamburger on a potato roll: satisfying. Gnocchi with bolognese sauce: always. Primanti Brothers sausage sandwich with on-board fries: required Pittsburgh consumption. However, these sandwiches fit the pattern but perhaps not the intent. The meat in the center sandwich was ham (or possibly smoked turkey?) and the white salad in the far left was — drum roll — potato salad. It was definitely the most creative mixture of potato and protein I’ve seen. The yellow salad mixture was obviously egg salad, although it was made with Cheez Whiz or the Japanese equivalent as definitely lacked the creamy consistency of mayonnaise. I found that even more troubling than the potato salad, because cheese is just not part of Japanese cuisine, Western-influenced or otherwise. My only previous experience with cheez-u was ordering a slice of cheesecake during the bento expeditions, and explaining to my Nihon Sun office mates that “New York Cheesecake” had nothing to do with New York but everything in common with cheez-u. “Fear” is not too strong an adjective for their reaction. The new Sun office cafeteria gets points for being adventuresome, nice presentation, and creative use of potato salad, but Primanti Brothers has nothing to fear.
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