japanese x-mas food
 

what christmas food do you have over there?

Christmas is a Christian holiday, and Japan is not a Christian country. So the short answer would be "nothing".

But if you were to ask a Japanese person the only answer you would likely get is "Christmas cake", which is basically sponge cake. Many Japanese think the western world eats cake on Christmas, though for the most part that isn't true.

oh yeh lololol i eat cakes on x-mas :3 but i like cakes XDD

'Christmas' cake in Japan always makes me sad. I'm sorry, it's not really Christmas cake if it's sponge underneath the icing. That's just birthday cake suffering an identity crisis.

And not a mince pie anywhere~

[quote=Columbine;783113]'Christmas' cake in Japan always makes me sad. I'm sorry, it's not really Christmas cake if it's sponge underneath the icing. That's just birthday cake suffering an identity crisis.[quote]

Lol, that really did make me laugh ;)

I read somewhere that - oddly enough - the Japanese tend to eat fried chicken as a kind of 'Christmas' food, so places like KFC are popular around the holiday. I can't remember where I heard that so I could be way off. . . in fact it sounds kind of odd so I probably am, but you never know I suppose, it could be right. . .

I was just about to reply to bring this up. You`re correct.

As there was no Christmas food in Japan, KFC launched a campaign pushing their chicken as the best alternative to the traditional meal of turkey in the US... And succeeded. A bucket of chicken and a Christmas cake is the norm.

The thing is though, Christmas isn`t really a real holiday here to begin with - no one gets the day off or anything. I`d say it`s on par with Valentine`s day in the US in terms of seriousness.
New Year`s is the Japanese counterpart to Christmas, I`d say. The family aspect is quite similar.

At real cake shops there is a trend these days toward making "real" Christmas cakes. We had an excellent one last year from a local shop. If you steer clear of conbini and department stores, you can find good cakes. I`d rather die that eat the common sponge cakes you can find about, even for a birthday. Too fluffy, too sweet, very empty feeling...

To be honest, it would have to be a pretty special cake regardless to be "better" than what I usually make at home but that is exciting news nonetheless! I will have to let my freind know; she's gearing up for her first xmas in Japan.

Some of the conbini/depato cakes are just down-right odd to my taste. I think they must steam them, because they're weirdly rubbery in texture. I couldn't eat them either.

I`m not familiar with the traditional UK Christmas cake - so I can`t really comment on how they would compare - but I have had a really delicious mincemeat cake and an excellent Yule Log style cake that wasn`t just a disguised sponge roll cake.
As strange as it may seem, it is usually the smaller cake places that have the truly good stuff. They spend their time making things that taste good rather than on mass production of sponge... So they don`t make tons of money and stay eternally small.

If I recall correctly, there is gelatin mixed into the batter itself to preserve shape and prevent crumbling during shipping. It changes the texture a bit but not the flavor itself - supposedly. I`ve never liked sponge cake to begin with, even the "real" and (so I`ve heard) good types - so the ones sold here are doubly unpleasant.

It's like a -very- hearty kind of fruit cake with mixed nuts, spice, and (in my house at least) a lot of brandy or rum. My mum typically soaks all the fruit in black tea to make it plump and keeps feeding it with brandy after it's cooked before icing it at the last minute.

I can believe that about the small shops. Some of the best patisseries I have ever been to were tiny little places simply run by people passionate about cake. :) I love my local market too; it's mostly small-holder's selling off surplus but they really care about their produce so it's all amazingly good.

Urgh, gelatin? That would explain it. No wonder it's so horrible. I can't see how it doesn't affect the flavor, it would surely stop the air from working through it properly when it's cooking. Oh well, Japan does good croissant; I can forgive them the sponge cake.