Japan is notorious for having a high standard of living, but if you are wealthy, then there won’t be a lack of pricey meals to feast on. Some of the world’s most expensive dishes are served on Japan, where the lack of arable lands mean that only the high-end food items can afford to be grown inland whereas staples and commodities are cheaper if they are imported from nearby China and the South East Asian countries. But meals that do survive in this tough market are very good indeed, a combination of rare ingredients infused with a Zen-level attention to detail and beauty. And beyond the bento meals that are shaped into visual artforms and sushi that are served on a naked woman’s body are cuisine that are meant to impress visitors and clients, the culinary equivalent to a membership in a Japanese golf course.

Let’s start with appetizers like sushi, and the deadliest of all Japanese delicacies has got to be fugu, or puffer fish. One pinhead from this highly toxic species can kill a grown man, yet sushi and other dishes made from this creature are highly prized, with several restaurants in Osaka specializing in fugu. Fugu chefs must take a highly rigorous examination to acquire a license, such that there are only twelve fugu masters currently working in the US. Because of the rarity of the fish and the skills needed to prepare it, a full-course fugu meal can cost between USD 100 to 200. Fugu meat itself is white, denser than most sushi fish, and has a mild taste. Recent developments have led to the development of toxin-free fugu, but really, if you wanted to eat safe sushi, you would just order tuna, right? Remember: avoid the liver, which is the most toxic portion of the fish.

Another sushi delicacy is whale meat, which has come into considerable controversy as environmentalists and heritage conservationists battle out on the dwindling number of whales throughout the world. The older Japanese population still remember a time when whale meat is a traditional meal, whereas the younger crowd is more inclined to save the marine mammals.

The main course in this princely feast is Kobe beef - up to USD300 a pound. This is beef from Wagyu cattle, particularly from the black-haired Tajima-ushi breed in the Hyogo Prefecture that is predisposed to marbling in its fat-muscle content. Additionally, Wagyu cattle are fed organic grains, Japanese beer, and even sake mash (with sake brushed against their coats), and massaged all over by their attentive handlers to really tuck that fat in the meat. All that effort results in beef with a buttery, melt-in-your-mouth quality you don’t even have to use a steak knife with to portion. What’s more, the fat is the unsaturated kind, which lessens the bad cholesterol in the human body.

A nice side dish to this pretty penny meal are Matsutake mushrooms, edible fungi that grows wild among pine forests and is harvested during autumn. Due to difficulties is harvesting, annual worldwide Matsutake production is now less than 1,000 tons. Harvest from the first batch of the season can go up to USD 2000 a kilogram.

Finally, the dessert of choice for this posh feast is boutique fruits. You may be familiar with the space-saving square watermelons at USD 170. But apples are also becoming a delicacy; the Takayama “Japan’s Best” brand are as large as softballs and priced at USD 15 in the Ginza district. It is starting to export these “Rolls Royce of apples” to fast-growing China, with the finest samples marked with Chinese characters on their peels fetching prices as much as USD 100. Other boutique fruits are musk melons and strawberries, bought as gifts to business associates and friends during auspicious occasions.

So that’s it, a full-course meal that will leave you in the best-tasting state of debt you will experience in your life. If the fugu doesn’t kill you, the credit card surely will. Bon apetit!

Posted in Food, Japan

This entry was posted on Thursday, January 8th, 2009 at 5:43 pm and is filed under Food, Japan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.