That's because most, if not all, dairy products are made in the northern island of Hokkaido. The climate there is very similar to that of the UK, cool summers and cold, cold winters - which I assume is good for cows.
Milk:
In the UK, organic (cows) milk is not only common, but we actually have several brands/types to choose from. It is slightly more expensive than regular milk of course, but it's there.
In Japan? Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Even pasteurised milk isn't that common, Japanese people prefer the UHT variety it seems.
The taste? Well many foreigners coming to Japan comment that Japanese milk is overly creamy and too sweet. People accustomed to "semi-skimmed" milk, which balances taste and healthiness, may be discouraged to learn that no such milk exists in Japan.
When I first started buying milk in Japan, before I could read Japanese it was a literal "lucky dip" with each kind that I bought!
I now stick with the "Takanashi" brand, which is pasteurised and tastes good, it comes in a white and blue carton.
When sampling milk in Japan, get the smallest size and keep trying till you get something you like!
It's not all bad news though for people who buy organic, in my local 'Aeon' supermarket there is 1 kind of organic Soy Milk which is very good, I'm sure vegans are happy to learn that!
Flavoured Soy Milk (such as the Alpro brand in the UK) is hard to come by, pretty much all of them are filled with chemicals and taste awful. I'd stay away.
Cheese:
A more dire situation than milk I'm afraid! As a vegetarian, I'd become used to buying cheese with the "V" symbol on which means it doesn't contain animal rennet. (cow stomach lining)
In Japan, no such system exists of course, so every single Japanese brand isn't vegetarian. Yikes.
Unfortunately that also spreads to imported cheese, for example if you were to buy an English Cheddar, it has to be re-branded with Japanese stickers/ingredients etc when it reaches Japan, which removes any sign of if it was vegetarian or not!
Anyway if it's being exported to Japan it is highly unlikely they would ship over vegetarian varieties, which would be a specialised cheese in their home countries anyway.
But there is some good news! There is one brand that gets imported to Japan from America called Natures Valley, which offers organic (and veggie friendly) Mozzarella and Cheddar cheeses! They are both delicious, but weigh in at about 1,200 Yen each, (£8.50/$12) and can only be found from certain organic shops or online.
For those that don't care about anything I just said, Japanese cheese unfortunately isn't that good anyway, mostly processed sliced cheese or balls of cheese in the shape of Pokemon!
You can buy French and Dutch cheese from some supermarkets, if you can find a Carrefour you should be OK as they have lots of imported cheeses.
You can also get Philadelphia cream cheese and Kraft cheese slices. I mention those 2 because they are the only commonly found foreign brands in Japan.
They are Japanese versions however and have slightly different ingredients and are no longer vegetarian.
Butter/Margarine:
Hokkaido butter is generally excellent, not too much to complain about here! You can get salted and unsalted brands without too many problems as well.
If you find an organic shop, you should also be able to get several organic versions too.
Margarine on the other hand is a bit more tricky, for anyone concerned about food additives/chemicals then I'd stay away from it completely.
Anyone accustomed to brands like "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" etc, will be disappointed to learn that no such things exist in Japan.
Final Word:
For vegetarians, the choices are few and expensive for most dairy products.
For those that aren't, they should still be wary of additive-filled products that are below the standard you may be used to in your home country.
As organic products are not that widespread in Japan yet, it is very hard to get an dairy that is organic, the ones you do find will no doubt be British or American and cost significantly more than you are used to.
VERDICT: LOW POINT
Recommended
Organic Valley Soft Cheese:
No animal rennet, absolutely delicious, soft creamy cheese, way better than Philadelphia.
Organic Valley Sharp Cheddar Cheese:
Veggie-safe rennet, lovely mild taste, perfect for sandwiches, grated on pasta etc
I bought both of these at my local organic shop, but can also be order at certain import shops like Alishan
Useful link for veggies in Japan! Alishan Online - "Tengu Foods"
2 comments:
You are very courageous! I can so much understand. I've lived in Poland for one year and at the beginning I really had troubles reading ingredients to see whether there were any tiny bit of meat. It wasn't well know there either but at least they had a long history of communism and meat privation which let me with a lot of vegetarian options. People were quite open minded (at least they didn't try to shovel meat in my food). I even found two veggies fast foods. Polish people seemed to like to go there: cheap, god and plenty to eat. It was organic by the way. And I think UK influenced the polish supermarkets as you could find some veggie options in some (such like tofu or soya pellets).
Good luck to you!
Thanks for the comment Zoe!
Things are hard in Japan, but nothing is ever impossible!
Nice blog by the way :-)
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