Happy Birthday KyotoFoodie!

KyotoFoodie is now one year old and we are throwing a party with presents of Japanese ‘classic’ and ‘summer’ junk food!

Oh how time flies when you are blogging foodie. KyotoFoodie is now a yearling!

Continuing on the theme of our Win Fine Junk Food Help Improve KyotoFoodie Survey, we are going to give some Japanese junk food prizes to readers that subscribe to KyotoFoodie via email.

What should you do? Just go to that ‘Subscribe’ box at the top of the right column of the site and sign up. Be sure to confirm your subscription via the link sent to your email.

After 1 month we will randomly choose several subscribers to receive a present (see below). Winners will be contacted via email.

The Present — Classic and Summer Theme Junk Food

Japanese ‘Summer’ Junk Food

It looks like the theme is watermelon this year. Watermelon and salt KitKat, now that IS funky!!

Summer Theme Junk Food – Watermelon and Salt KitKat!

The package says to serve this KitKat chilled.

Summer Theme Junk Food – Watermelon and Salt KitKat!

Notice the salt shaker on the lower right.

Summer Theme Junk Food – Watermelon Gummy

This gummy comes in regular and sour watermelon flavors!

Japanese ‘Classical’ Junk Food

Bontan Ame (ぼんたん飴) – An Unusual Japanese Fruit

Bontan Ame Package

Bontan Ame Candy

About Bontan Ame
This candy (ame) is made from the bontan, also buntan (ぼんたん、文旦) fruit. This fruit is similar to a grapefruit but larger. Large specimens are the size of a volleyball. This fruit came to Japan from Southeast Asia so it grows in the southern-most island of Kyushu where the climate is most suitable.

Bontan ame was has been made by a company in Kagoshima City, Kyushu since 1926. It is said to be inspired by caramel. It is made of mochi, gyuhi, mizuame (traditional sweetener) and the bontan fruit juice.

Interestingly, each piece of candy is individually wrapped and is eaten with the wrapper on. The wrapper is made of oblaat which is gelatinous, transparent film that melts immediately on contact with the tongue. Oblaat originally came to Japan with Dutch medicine, it was used to wrap up bitter medicine in a package like modern-day gelatin capsules. In bontan ame it is utilized to prevent the sticky mochi-based ame pieces from sticking to one another.

Bontan ame is one of Paku’s favs.

Miyako Kombu (都こんぶ) – Kelp ‘Junk Food’

Classic Japanese Junk Food – Miyako Kombu

Miyako Kombu – Strips of Flavored Kelp

Miyako Kombu is a very rags-to-riches, entrepreneurial story. A poor, elementary school educated apprentice laborer from Kyoto at a kombu company in Osaka worked at a machine cutting kombu. The edges of the kelp leaf were cut off and could not be sold. He often chewed them while working, both to pass time and to combat hunger pains and he thought that with some flavoring added he could create a product like chewing gum. In 1931, when he was 19 he started out on his own and began selling flavored kombu.

Unlike imported chewing gum, the flavor of Miyako Kombu was well suited to Japanese tastes. Miyako Kombu uses fine kombu from Hokkaido and is flavored with vinegar, sugar and bonito extract. It is quite sour.

The package is small, a little larger than a package of chewing gum and the kombu comes in strips. It is easily transportable and can be kept in a pocket, briefcase, school bag etc. Miyako Kombu sold especially well at train stations and quickly became popular throughout the entire country.

In an economy where the life of a product in a convenience store is about 6 weeks, Miyako Kombu can still be found in any convenience store, supermarket or station kiosk in the country and in its original 1930′s package!

Hello everybody out there in FoodieLand and BloggieLand!

Hello from Peko and Paku at the ‘Gosho’ Imperial Palace

KyotoFoodie has been a lot of fun for us! We have enjoyed writing about the culinary culture of Kyoto and have learned a lot in the process. We have also made friends with some interesting people from all over the world and discovered some incredible foodie blogs and recipes!

Thanks so much everyone!

Judging from our stats, over the last months KyotoFoodie has become a big hit.

Our next step is to refine and fine-tune the site and to do this we REALLY need to hear our readers.

To help us understand how to make the site more interesting, useful and relevant to you, we are conducting a survey AND will award prizes for great feedback and ideas.

Please take this survey!

The survey is short, just 4 questions. Please tell us what you think!

Details:

• Survey ends May 16, 2008 at 11:59pm (Kyoto time).
• Several prizes consisting of ‘fine’ Japanese junk food will be awarded. The more great ideas, the more prizes!
• For ‘insanely great’ ideas, fine Japanese junk food AND something exquisitely ‘Kyoto’ will be awarded.
• The value of the prize will be about $20-25USD.
• Winners will have their prizes sent to them by post.
• The ‘fine’ Japanese junk food will be candy, chocolate and so on, nothing fresh. So it ought to be deliverable to your country. If it is not, our sincerest apologies.
• Multiple entries are permitted.
• Winners will be notified via email. We’ll ask for your mailing address then.
• If we announce the winners on the site, we will ask your permission first.