As the saying でべる(“eat with your eyes”)goes, food presentation is considered to be veryimportant in Japan. Japanese culinary tradition is built upon the idea that eating should be a full sensory experience. Apparently, this is backed up by several scientific studies that demonstrate how eye-pleasing meals can influence both the speed and amount that you eat.
The wonderful world of wagashi
Japanese traditional sweets, known as wagashi(), are a perfect example of how Japanese food culture is about so much more than filling your stomach. Made from wheat, rice, beans, and sugar, wagashi come in all sorts of shapes and flavors—but are always absolute works of art.
After the Meiji era, Japan was quick to adopt western sweets and these days we’re probably more familiar with popular choices like Pocky, Koala’s March cookies and, of course, regional Kit Kats.
To keep up with the competition from mass producers, more and more wagashi shops are breaking with tradition and starting to get pretty creative. And sometimes, they can count on their clients for inspiration—however weird the request might be!
Sweet teeth?
First confused as hell during this phone call, this confectionary maker decided to make his client’s wish for a new wagashi product come true.
おとのにて
「 はをっていただきたいのですが… 」
「 ですか？のならがですよ。 」
客「 そっちのではないです…のです。 」
私「 は・・・！？ 」
ということでは【いい歯の】です
はこし
までいたします
= A previous phone call with a client
Client “I’d like you to make teethplease…”
Me “You mean leaf? In this season, red leaves are surely really exquisite.”
Client “Not that “ha”, I’m talking about teeth in a mouth.”
Me “Ha… ?!”
Well, today’s November 8th which is “Good Teeth Day”
I’ve filled them with bean paste and will sell them until the end of the month.
In a highly contextual culture that relies on implicit, non-verbal communication, Japanese homophonesare far too common and even native speakers get confused once in a while. In this case, the customer requested はwhich can actually mean “tooth/teeth” or “leaf.”
November 8 is in fact “Good Teeth Day,” a faux holiday generated by teeth-whitening services and dentists to market their products.It comes from 1 (i) 1 (i), the 11th month, which makes “ii” (good) and the 8th day (hachi) to make “ha” (teeth.)
How to agree on context in Japanese
When you want to use a contextual conditional—basically saying something will happen given the right conditions—you can use the particle ならwhich translates to “if” or “in this case” “if that’s the case.”
ならuses the clause stating the conditions and is followed by the conditional results:
- のならがいいです = For a summer trip, Okinawa is good
- くなら、私も行きます！= If you go, I’ll go!
Vocabulary
和菓子 wagashi Japanese traditional sweet 以前 izen previously, before お客様 o kyaku sama client 電話対応 denwa taiou telephone support 作る tsukuru make いただきたいのですが・・・ itadakitai no desu ga … would like… 私 watashi I, me 葉 ha leaf 今 ima now 季節 kisetsu season 紅葉 momiji red maple leaves 素敵 suteki splendid なら nara if, in the case 口 kuchi mouth 歯 ha teeth/tooth ということで toiukoto de therefore 今日 kyou today いい歯の日 ii ha no hi Good Teeth Day 中 naka inside こし餡 koshi an fine-grained sweet bean paste 今月末まで kon getsu matsu made until the end of this month 販売する hanbai suru sell 夏の旅行 natsu no ryokou summer trip 沖縄 okinawa Okinawa 行く iku go
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