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sidjameson
Joined: 11 Jan 2004 Posts: 629 Location: osaka
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 3:08 am Post subject: vegetables |
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I often get my veg from Super Tamade supermarket, but I'm beginning to believe that they are covered with chemicals. I mean, and without going into too much detail, going to the bathroom isn't not what it should be.
In fact it is uncanny how how every time I go on holiday this problem seems to clear up or should I say, firm up.
I do consider buying organic, but those prices........
Anybody else having this problem? Do you think that the more expensive shops have less chemicalised veg?
Oh......and back in England I remember carrots lasting weeks, here they go soft as rubber in a few days. What's up with that? |
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Quibby84

Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 643 Location: Japan
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 5:46 am Post subject: |
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The vegetables getting rotten fast, in my opinion, is a good thing...vegetables arent suppossed to last forever. When I bought my carrots in the states they were in a bag...and they lasted a long time...the chances of those having chemicals is pretty high.
I buy many vegetables here and we dont have a problem, I think they are MUCH better than at home because all of them are shaped right, etc. They also taste a million times better.
Maybe it is what kind of veggies that you are buying that makes you have "trouble".
But if you are super worried you should get a family member (or find it here) to mail you that stuff used to clean vegetables... |
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wabisabi365

Joined: 04 Feb 2007 Posts: 111 Location: japan
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 6:46 am Post subject: |
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Quibby,
Take a moment to ponder why it is the vegetables here are perfectly formed. The word "natural" does not immediately come to mind. The 99 yen shops, now they've got the goods. Crazy shaped carrots, potatoes with the face of Mother Theresa, eyes, nose and all, staring back at you... those are veggies just like the ones I'd pull out of my garden in Canada. I very rarely had a perfect carrot or cucumber grow from seeds I planted, but they sure were tasty! Perfectly shaped is NOT natural. Now go eat yer veggies!
ws365[/i] |
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groothewanderer
Joined: 14 Sep 2007 Posts: 33
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 12:35 pm Post subject: |
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Avoid Super Tamade. It is the worst supermarket in Osaka. |
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Mahik
Joined: 12 Sep 2007 Posts: 89
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 6:50 pm Post subject: |
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This is a little OT but still somewhat related. What're the prices and quality of fruit like in Japan? From what I've read they tend towards expensive and high quality since they're viewed as mostly a desert(?). This would be serious blow to my diet since fruits are my favorite snacks, esp. Gala apples. They do sell those don't they? I hope they aren't all Fuji and RD. |
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Quibby84

Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 643 Location: Japan
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Posted: Sun Oct 21, 2007 11:48 pm Post subject: |
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When I mean nicely formed I mean no bruises, flies arent flying around. I heard that in Japan they monitor what is sold, like they wont sell a bad apple. They only sell the ones that look nice and look normal, this is why the price is so high. In America it was basically a gamble whether or not I would get a good sweet crunchy apple, in Japan I have only gotten a bad apple once, and I have been eating apples here for 9 months.
I eat so much fruit here, MUCH more than in the states, because everything you buy is almost always good...
Talking about apples, there is this yellowish apple with brown specks that tastes amazing. It sort of tastes like pears with the texture of apples...it may not be an apple..I dont know, but it is super tasty..hehe.
I will say that they have some weird food here, food that is super processed, but I think that the fresh vegetables and fruit are great....the best I have ever had. I think that the fruits and vegetables here taste as good as the ones bought at Whole Foods in the states (the price is the same to). |
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chollimaspeed

Joined: 11 Sep 2007 Posts: 120
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 12:18 am Post subject: |
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Quibby84 wrote: |
Talking about apples, there is this yellowish apple with brown specks that tastes amazing. It sort of tastes like pears with the texture of apples...it may not be an apple..I dont know, but it is super tasty..hehe.
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It's a nashi. It is like a pear but apple-shaped.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pyrus_pyrifolia |
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bonyE
Joined: 28 Jun 2007 Posts: 8 Location: Australia
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 2:50 am Post subject: Re: vegetables |
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sidjameson wrote: |
I often get my veg from Super Tamade supermarket, but I'm beginning to believe that they are covered with chemicals. I mean, and without going into too much detail, going to the bathroom isn't not what it should be. |
What's your diet like? Are you eating more vegetables then when you go away on holiday, or different kinds of vegetables? Perhaps you should try and add a little more protein and carbohydrates into your diet. It could be bad vegetables, but it could be that you're just not eating a balanced diet.
sidjameson wrote: |
Oh......and back in England I remember carrots lasting weeks, here they go soft as rubber in a few days. What's up with that? |
That's probably chemicals making 'em last. When you eat your vegies, do you wash 'em properly? Perhaps they vegies don't have chemcials on them, but good ol' normal bugs and stuff. You should wash 'em really well before eating them, to get off any chemicals or bugs or dirt or whatever. |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:24 am Post subject: |
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I find the opposite- I can't believe how long stuff lasts here. We had carrots in our fridge for about 2 weeks that I had forgotten about and they still looked normal a few weeks later.
On the subject of chemicals, I was talking a while ago to a Japanese man who grows veges in New Zealand for the Japanese market. He says that he will not eat fruit and vegetables grown in Japan unless he has grown them himself, due to the amount of pesticides used.
I am not impressed by all the perfectly-shaped fruit here either- one reason for this is is that the imperfectly shaped or blemished ones that would be perfectly acceptable in other countries are just discarded here- it is a phenomenal waste and the main reason why fruit is so expensive.
Yes, nashi are good. I recommend peeling them to get rid of the chemicals though. Also try the persimmons (kaki)- they're in season right now.
All the kiwifruit sent here by New Zealand are the perfect oval ones- in New Zealand they come in all shapes and sizes. It's far more natural. |
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chollimaspeed

Joined: 11 Sep 2007 Posts: 120
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 3:35 am Post subject: |
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Fruit and veg are expensive because they are flown around the country. They are flown around the country in order to service the airports which are built in order to give construction firms something to do. Flying the produce puts the price up and the price is kept high by having excess produce destroyed.
Marvellous!
Also, genetically modified fruit? Have you seen the size of those big shiny symmetrical apples? |
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cornishmuppet
Joined: 27 Mar 2004 Posts: 642 Location: Nagano, Japan
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:13 am Post subject: |
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Where I live is really popular for apples, and even though they're grown practically everywhere they still cost like 300yen each in the supermarkets. However, if you wait long enough you get some random old woman neighbour knocking on your door and offloading on you all the holey, rotten apples that her farm can't sell. Its a nice enough gesture I suppose and if you cut them up there are some good bits. I hardly ever buy fruit though because of the price. Having lived in Europe (not England) I can hardly bear to part with a small fortune just for a peach or something but like everything else the price varies from place to place. |
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Quibby84

Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 643 Location: Japan
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 4:33 am Post subject: |
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I have noticed that the prices of fruit changes with the months. For example like in April apples were 100 yen each and then they skyrocketed to 150ish. Last month I could get peaches for 100 yen and now I cant even find peaches. Two months ago the kiwis were very cheap and about three months ago the oranges (the US ones not the Japanese ones) were 100 yen. Now the price of apples seem to go down. One good thing is that bananas are always cheap and there is usually one fruit that you can full your fridge with for the week.
The fruit is super expensive, but so worth it, the peaches tasted so good here I almost cried...haha...I had never tasted that good of a peach!
So pear apples eh? Oishi des neeeeeeee!?!?
By the way, arent persimmons suppossed to be super soft? I cant get used to the hard ones although I wish I could because they are practically everywhere. |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:09 am Post subject: |
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That's because fruit have harvest seasons Quibby. Peaches are summer fruit, so they are gone now. Apples are autumn/ winter fruit and they are currently in season. Kiwifruit are mostly imported from New Zealand, and our (Southern Hemisphere) winter is the harvest season, so they would have been cheapest around August. Bananas are grown year round in the Philippines so the price doesn't vary. You will no doubt have noticed that watermelon and canteloupe were much cheaper a few months ago than they are now, as they are summer fruit. Early next year strawberries will appear as they are a spring fruit.
Do the prices changes and availability start to make sense now?
At our house we eat what's in season, plus bananas. It saves money and kind of goes with the natural flow of things (apart from the bananas, possibly). |
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Quibby84

Joined: 10 Aug 2006 Posts: 643 Location: Japan
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:27 am Post subject: |
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It makes complete sense but in the states we got everything all the time, I never noticed a real difference in the taste or anything. I guess Japan was weird to me about that because the US has the same things year round, in the same sections at the store...I dont really know how they do it....
I was told about the prices of watermelon dropping, and I waited, but i never saw it...sad sad sad...
Yeah, we eat what it is season now to...but in the states we would eat what didnt look rotten or gross...lol. |
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Apsara
Joined: 20 Sep 2005 Posts: 2142 Location: Tokyo, Japan
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Posted: Mon Oct 22, 2007 5:45 am Post subject: |
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America is a lot bigger than Japan, and with the help of hot houses and probably Canada and Mexico, I imagine it is possible to grow everything somewhere on the continent which has the right conditions at that time of year so that it is available all the time.
Actually though, in New Zealand I never paid much attention to the seasonal availability of fruit, but Japanese people make a much bigger deal about the seasons (to the point of many people thinking only Japan has 4 seasons ) so I'm more aware of it myself and I bet I would notice variations in NZ if I went back now. You might find you also notice it more when you go back to the States. |
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