|
Job Discussion Forums
"The Internet's Meeting Place for ESL/EFL Students and Teachers from Around the World!"
|
| View previous topic :: View next topic |
| Author |
Message |
Yawarakaijin
Joined: 20 Jan 2006
Posts: 504
Location: Middle of Nagano
|
 Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 4:38 am Post subject: |
 |
|
Oooooo, never thought of that. Room temp egg salad sandwiches mmmmmmm.  |
|
| Back to top |
|
 |
JimDunlop2
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Posts: 2286
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 4:49 am Post subject: |
|
|
| User N. Ame wrote: |
It's not the calories in conbini food that worries me, but the various unknown preservatives and chemicals needed to get it from factory to inaka Lawsons, plus the 2-week shelf life required maintain is "fresh look" to sell.
And what about those meat, egg and cheese sandwich buns that sit on the room temp rack... ? ...
... calories are the least of your worries. |
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, my friend.... Quite the contrary. It's actually quite the opposite that is true. Most conbini food has a shelf life of several HOURS... In fact, the next time you go, take a gander and you'll find that many of the items not only have a a "Best Before" DATE by a "Best Before" TIME too. It's happened to me on countless occasions that I've gotten into arguments with store clerks about "old food" that was "too old to let me have."
"Are you sure you want those gyoza?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Why wouldn't I?"
"But the expiry time is two hours ago."
"Yeah, so? I don't care."
"I really shouldn't be selling that to you."
"Sure you should. Trust me, It hasn't gone bad YET. I'll survive."
"Well, OK... But if anything happens, I DID inform you that the food was old...."
"Don't worry. I won't name you in the lawsuit."
Actually, the amount of waste and unpurchased, uneaten food, most of which is still perfectly fine has often been the subject of news stories and TV spots in the last little while. Conbinis, country-wide tend to generate a LOT of wasted food, and usually only because the expiry label is ridiculously short. Even out in the inaka, several trucks a day pull into the local Quick-E-Mart full of fresh food to replace the stuff from earlier in the day. The Yomiuri once showed a photo of ALL the food that was thrown out at a single 7-11 one day. It was shocking, needless to say. Enough to feed a small African village.
We ARE very fortunate in first world countries. Recently, TIME Magazine featured a cool photo essay entitled, "What the World Eats?"
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519,00.html
They have excerpts from a book called "Hungry Planet." Here are two of the pictures. Quite shocking when you compare the Japanese family's weekly groceries to those of the African family.
 |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
User N. Ame
Joined: 11 Dec 2006
Posts: 222
Location: Kanto
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 4:54 am Post subject: |
|
|
| JimDunlop2 wrote: |
| User N. Ame wrote: |
It's not the calories in conbini food that worries me, but the various unknown preservatives and chemicals needed to get it from factory to inaka Lawsons, plus the 2-week shelf life required maintain is "fresh look" to sell.
And what about those meat, egg and cheese sandwich buns that sit on the room temp rack... ? ...
... calories are the least of your worries. |
Oh no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, my friend.... Quite the contrary. It's actually quite the opposite that is true. Most conbini food has a shelf life of several HOURS... In fact, the next time you go, take a gander and you'll find that many of the items not only have a a "Best Before" DATE by a "Best Before" TIME too. It's happened to me on countless occasions that I've gotten into arguments with store clerks about "old food" that was "too old to let me have."
"Are you sure you want those gyoza?"
"Yeah, I'm sure. Why wouldn't I?"
"But the expiry time is two hours ago."
"Yeah, so? I don't care."
"I really shouldn't be selling that to you."
"Sure you should. Trust me, It hasn't gone bad YET. I'll survive."
"Well, OK... But if anything happens, I DID inform you that the food was old...."
"Don't worry. I won't name you in the lawsuit."
Actually, the amount of waste and unpurchased, uneaten food, most of which is still perfectly fine has often been the subject of news stories and TV spots in the last little while. Conbinis, country-wide tend to generate a LOT of wasted food, and usually only because the expiry label is ridiculously short. Even out in the inaka, several trucks a day pull into the local Quick-E-Mart full of fresh food to replace the stuff from earlier in the day. The Yomiuri once showed a photo of ALL the food that was thrown out at a single 7-11 one day. It was shocking, needless to say. Enough to feed a small African village.
We ARE very fortunate in first world countries. Recently, TIME Magazine featured a cool photo essay entitled, "What the World Eats?"
http://www.time.com/time/photogallery/0,29307,1626519,00.html
They have excerpts from a book called "Hungry Planet." Here are two of the pictures. Quite shocking when you compare the Japanese family's weekly groceries to those of the African family.
|
I surrender! You got me!...
But what about those meat, egg, cheese, and pizza sandwiches that sit on the room temp rack? Do you eat those? I wouldn't touch one with a a ten foot bamboo pole.... |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
JimDunlop2
Joined: 31 Jan 2003
Posts: 2286
Location: Japan
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 5:01 am Post subject: |
|
|
No.... Cause they just LOOK grungy.... Even if they may be safe to eat. I usually head straight to the refrigerated section, pick out something that looks decent, and have the clerk nuke it for me when I pay for it.
I have had some of the pizza slices and curry buns on the room-temp rack, and to me they tasted no different than the breakfast pizza I used to eat back in college after some of those term-end parties where there's usually a half a Domino's box left on the counter and everyone else is still asleep, having crashed on the couch, in the bathtub and in the closet.
Sigh. Fun times.
P.S. They also don't refrigerate eggs in Japanese grocery stores (or Mexican ones for that matter). In North America that's unheard of. But I'm sure it all ahs to do with much shorter shelf life. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
J.
Joined: 03 May 2003
Posts: 327
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 10:52 am Post subject: |
|
|
Somebody must be refrigerating eggs because all the refrigerators, except maybe the small bar ones, have egg racks. I know I sure am keeping them cool, especially this time of year.
About the mayo thing:
Most Japanese mayonnaises have egg yolks (saturated fat) in them; not sure of the proportion but if many that would tend to balance out the monounsaturated fat, maybe from olive oil in a good mayonnaise. Also egg salad sandwiches out of refrigeration, while not exactly healthy MAY be better than you expected because the vinegar in the mayo acts as a bacteria/mold etc retarder.
Conbenie food may be a necessary evil, but homemade anything is much better. Having said that, I agree that it's of better quality here than in most similar stores in North America, and certainly much fresher. I've seen those trucks filling up the shelves daily. If you have to go for conbenie food, my picks are the salads, onigiri, or summer noodle salads. The one with ramen, vegetable toppings and a spicy wasabi creamy dressing is actually rather good. Probably thousands of calories, though. |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
Eva Pilot
Joined: 19 Mar 2006
Posts: 351
Location: Far West of the Far East
|
| Posted: Thu Jun 21, 2007 12:14 pm Post subject: |
|
|
I've been living off combini food for 13 months now.
I assume I've taken 10 years off my life expectancy? |
|
| Back to top |
|
|
|
|
You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot vote in polls in this forum
|
This page is maintained by the one and only Dave Sperling.
Contact Dave's ESL Cafe
Copyright © 2018 Dave Sperling. All Rights Reserved.
Powered by phpBB © 2001, 2002 phpBB Group
|
FAQ
Search
Memberlist
Usergroups
Register
Profile
Log in to check your private messages
Log in
