Oishinbo - Vol. 13 Ch. 120 - Abalone Feast

[MangaDex]

 

[BippidiBoppetyBoob]

I mentioned in a note that I found it odd that Koizumi would not have been able to have abalone here in the United States or in Europe. Fresh abalone had been harvested in California (I assume he was in California, since the only US location that Kariya seems to ever have any characters based is Los Angeles) for more than a century, (I quite like fried abalone myself, even though where I live in Pittsburgh, the only way we're getting it is if it's been flash frozen, so it's never going to be 100% fresh) and it's been a delicacy in France (particularly in Brittany) for much longer. So, that was a bit odd, but overall, this is one of the more enjoyable chapters (at least to me) in this volume.

 

[tlst9999]

I mentioned in a note that I found it odd that Koizumi would not have been able to have abalone here in the United States or in Europe. Fresh abalone had been harvested in California (I assume he was in California, since the only US location that Kariya seems to ever have any characters based is Los Angeles) for more than a century, (I quite like fried abalone myself, even though where I live in Pittsburgh, the only way we're getting it is if it's been flash frozen, so it's never going to be 100% fresh) and it's been a delicacy in France (particularly in Brittany) for much longer. So, that was a bit odd, but overall, this is one of the more enjoyable chapters (at least to me) in this volume.

My guess is that California sushi joints weren't selling abalone sushi in the 80s. It's one thing to be near a farm. It's another thing to source and prepare it yourself. Much easier to take what's available at the sushi store.

But most likely, the author just took a trip to California for a few weeks and couldn't find a store which sells abalone sushi.

 

[BippidiBoppetyBoob]

My guess is that California sushi joints weren't selling abalone sushi in the 80s. It's one thing to be near a farm. It's another thing to source and prepare it yourself. Much easier to take what's available at the sushi store.

But most likely, the author just took a trip to California for a few weeks and couldn't find a store which sells abalone sushi.

No, that’s not something that could be correct. As I’ve pointed out abalone has been eaten in California at least since the turn of the 20th century. In fact, it became so popular that restrictions had to be placed on them in the 90s because they were being caught to the point of extinction. Granted, I’m the late 80s when this was written, sushi/sashimi was only just starting to really expand through the US (thanks to flash freezing allowing fish to be shipped across the country), but California (as well as the other coastal states) are a different story. It just strikes me as if this was real, it would be completely improbable…

 

[d_a_renoir]

I mean he did specify raw. He also said that boiled ones are no good. It might be that he did have the boiled ones, and then thought it wasn't great and then never wanted to eat any more. And then once he went back to Japan discovered that the raw ones are good. Or someone told him abalones are best eaten raw, and since he couldn't find any in the places he was stationed at in the US and France he never bothered to try any. Like, even if there were Japanese restaurants, maybe they were catering to Western tastes and don't have the raw abalone on the menu.

I kind of had a similar experience with Starbucks TBH. A friend gave me some, and it was a super fancy frappe, and I hated it. At the time I went to school literally only a few blocks away from the original Starbucks store in the US, and never ever had a single cup the whole time because in my mind I thought it sucks. It's only after I went back home that I found out that they have other stuff on the menu.