asian food at college, or lack thereof

[noriko]

They never, ever have any kind of Japanese food at my college, and we are all required to eat at the dining hall. So I was pleased to find that one of the professors here was having a Japanese dinner tonight....it was fantastic, but only made me miss actual food even more. i ate sooo many inari, and lots of natto, cos most of the other people there were scared of it:)

The dining hall is described as having "home-style" food, which I guess is supposed to mean food like we would eat at home....except for Asian students (and probably a lot of other people too), it's definitely not. It's like tons of bread and pasta and meat and cake and stuff.

Does anyone else get homesick for the food you usually eat when you're at college/etc.? what do you miss the most?

[princess]

japanese food is my comfort food. when im away from home i miss it soooooo much. i plan to take a rice cooker away to my apt/ dorm room when i move out. i dont miss any one food in particular. hm, well, maybe rice. when i go on road trips, i like to pack little asian snacks in my bag.

[BeTheReds]

I hear you.

Don't ever try any asian food in the dining hall.

There were a few koeran restaurants that sprung up near UMCP but they all failed because they only attracted Koreans, which were not a significant part of UMCPs population enough to support a business.


The only thriving asian restaurant there is Dannys, a grease pit serving all the basics like general tsos chicken and pork fried rice and all that other americanized non authentic sweet crap. But hey, they deliver.

[antimattah]

When I was at NYU I used to miss Filipino food, but then again, I really just had a flavor for my mom's cooking. Yummy yummy.

[lethal]

I never, ever ate what they called "Asian food" at the dining hall at UVa. It was horrible, poor imitations of real food...then again, all food there, regardless of supposed origin was pretty damn bad. There was one Vietnaese place in town. It was family run and the 12 year old daughter of the chef was the waitress. She did her homework between watching tables. However, I refused to eat there after a few times cause the food was so bad.

[amietron]

While I was at boarding school the summer before last, they never ever had Asian foods, either. And, it didn't help that the school was in the middle of nowhere. Whenever we left the school for the weekend to the city, we'd always go in search of Japanese or Chinese restaurants. We only ended up finding two, though. A Chinese one in Seattle, and a Japanese one in Ashland. My aunties and cousins sent me care packages with food-- instant miso soup, rice crackers, candy and pocky. Hopefully when I go away away next time, they'll do the same for me, unless there's an Asian market somewhere nearby somewhere. =)

[DonDaBomb2]

On campus we supposedly have "Asian food". We probably would be better off not having it, if you know what I mean. It's alright though because there's a lot of places near campus with decent food.

[axi0m]

Here at Clemson there are plenty of Asian restaurants around, although they aren't necessarily good. There is one nice Sushi Bar around here though. The sushi isn't made by Japanese people but it still tastes good and it looks nice most of the time. There is an AWESOME Japanese restaurant about 45 minutes from here and they have really nice Sushi. Let's see.. whenever my friends and I take a trip to Atlanta (2 hours away) we usually go eat Pho at some of the Vietnamese places there... it's really good too! So, I get my Asian food fix.

-Satoshi-

[BeTheReds]

Sushi made by japanese americans is not any more authentic than sushi made by hispanics, so I don't see what the difference is. Yellowface is a marketing tool for sushimaking in the USA.


Two dudes open sushi restaurants next to each other. One is black, and the other is filipino. The black guy studied about how to make sushi at one of japan's highest culinary schools. The flip bought his first ginsu knife yesterday.

Which one gets more customers?

It's sad isn't it.

[kimchee63]

Originally posted by noriko@Nov 21 2002, 03:42 PM
<snip> lots of natto, cos most of the other people there were scared of it:) <snip>
I'm a big Asian American boy that has prided himself on his culinary fortitude, but I have to draw the line at Natto. I've tried and tried and tried, but it still tastes like chopped roasted goat anus (ani?) in model airplane glue. Can someone please explain the appeal?

[noriko]

Originally posted by kimchee63@Nov 24 2002, 10:50 PM
I'm a big Asian American boy that has prided himself on his culinary fortitude, but I have to draw the line at Natto. I've tried and tried and tried, but it still tastes like chopped roasted goat anus (ani?) in model airplane glue. Can someone please explain the appeal?
Hmm...well, I've always liked it, so I guess maybe it's just something that's difficult to get to like if you haven't had it since you were a kid?

It's not something that's great to eat by itself, tho, but have you had it in sushi, or at least w/rice? i think perhaps that's the key.

but really, the weird thing about natto is that there are even some japanese people who find it horrifying (japanese as in from japan, not japanese-american). One of my cousins has never been able to stand it, but his wife really likes it. So he decided he would make himself like it too. So every day for lunch, for a couple of months, he just ate tons of natto. And then one day he decided he liked it:)

and hey, if nothing else works, keep in mind that it's really good for you:lol:

[luv]

What's natto? Really think I need to study up on Japanese food besides sushi.


I'm very thankful that Chicago has almost every type of food you can imagine within a 10 mile radius. So never really had a problem with not being able to find good restaurants or authentic food.

But my best friend recently moved to some suburb in LA and she says the Chinese food is digusting there. That seemed strange to me because I thought Asian population was so much larger there.

[amietron]

natto is fermented soy beans. not the soy beans that're big and green, that come in frozen bags, the dry kind that you have to soak overnight and boil. each serving comes in a little square styrofoam container with a packet of yellow mustard and soy sauce type liquid. the smell isn't appealing and neither is the presentation of the natto, itself.

[luv]

Originally posted by amietron@Nov 28 2002, 01:08 AM
natto is fermented soy beans. not the soy beans that're big and green, that come in frozen bags, the dry kind that you have to soak overnight and boil. each serving comes in a little square styrofoam container with a packet of yellow mustard and soy sauce type liquid. the smell isn't appealing and neither is the presentation of the natto, itself.
I actually like eating Chinese fermented soy curds ("fu-yue") with white rice, wonder if its the same thing.

[amietron]

Originally posted by luv@Nov 27 2002, 05:42 PM
I actually like eating Chinese fermented soy curds ("fu-yue") with white rice, wonder if its the same thing.
I dunno, but ham yu (?), the boiled pork with anchovies on top doesn't smell very appetizing but it tastes good.

It's a little different with natto, though. Natto doesn't really taste like anything. It's just slimy and lumpy when you eat it by itself.

[luv]

Yeah, I really like "ham-yue" fried rice (salted fish), but I really did mean "fu-yue" they're little square yellow pieces of fermented tofu that's actually pretty mushy and slimy paste. It tastes really good over white rice, or when stir frying veggies.

[amietron]

It just popped into my head because it smells bad and it tastes good. =)

Stuff that stereotypical white people wouldn't dare touch. Have you ever noticed that a lot of Americans smell foods before they eat them?

[luv]

Strange, huh?

in this day and age, I still have friends who won't try curry dishes, or order chicken fried rice (with lotsa soy sauce -- like their local Asian American eatery) when I take them to an authentic Chinese place.

Once, my boyfriend took our middle-eastern and white friends to Chinatown and ordered: curry crab, deep fried pork intestines, oyster omelet, garlic thousand year egg mustard greens, and sliced conch. They didn't touch a thing and made us take them to Wendy's afterward.

[kimchee63]

Originally posted by luv@Nov 27 2002, 06:50 PM
<snip> curry crab, deep fried pork intestines, oyster omelet, garlic thousand year egg mustard greens, and sliced conch.<Snip>
Stop! You're making me hungry and it's 12:30 am and nothing is open.

[angel nympho]

Haha, I won't eat a lot of that nasty crap that they serve at some places. Like, clotted pork blood? What the FUCK is that shit?!?

[iris]

Oh Christ, I hate congealed pork blood. It's served in cubes in soup. You think it's some kind of vegetable and so you put it in your mouth and then....yeah....I won't go on. :gross: