Throw the cheese! The cheesy facts? Part 1
High rates of lactose intolerance are often cited as the reason why Japan lacks “real” cheese. I had heard this explanation many times, and it contributed to my belief that cheese and dairy in Japan couldn't compare to what I was used to back home. I was told that true foodies and British JETs would notice this the most, and as someone who fits both descriptions, I certainly did.
The cheese selections in stores outside of the import stores like Kaldi and Jupiter are mainly limited to processed varieties and American cheese. Japan even sells snacking cheese packaged similarly to hard candy—small, round cuts of cheese intended for snacking. However, this cheese tends to be sugary and heavily processed. Bigger grocery stores in my city offered a slightly wider variety and I would often see Italian hard cheese and Australian cheese entering the picture.
However, my perspective changed when I started researching for this blog. After eight months of complaining about Japanese cheese, I finally managed to order English cheddar from Amazon Japan. The moment I tasted a small square, a wave of nostalgia washed over me, reminding me of what real cheese is like. Costco in Japan offers Brits the chance to get their hands on English cheddar the brand being Wykes farm. I intend to make a trip to the Costco on the boarder of my prefecture and pray to the cheese Gods that I can find my favourite Cathedral city! I am doubtful, but a girl can dream!
While the opening statement may be a generalization, it is true that traditionally, dairy and cheese were not part of the Japanese diet. The introduction of cheese and dairy products occurred shortly after World War II. There are several reasons why hard cheeses and cheeses from outside the USA are harder to find in Japan. The country has only a few cheese makers, primarily located in Hokkaido. One reason for this is the lack of suitable land for grazing cows, while Hokkaido offers more open space for dairy farming. Lots of open space in the mainland is used for growing rice a staple of Japanese cuisine. Japan also has Wagyu which I wrote a blog on awhile ago. These cows are pampered and treated like Kings and Queens they are not for diary use.
Dispelling the diary myth further, Japan’s diary especially ice cream gives a lot of ice creams from around the world a run for their money. Japan in recent years has also become a large consumer of coffee including dairy variations. Check out my 7eleven ice cream blog for more. Japan consumes a lot of milk; the government has a program which supplies elementary and junior high school students with free milk. The Japanese milk industry is reportedly thriving and reported that less than a fifth of the population was intolerant.
The more I dug, the more I fell down the rabbit hole. But the consensus seemed to be yes! A large portion of Asians are lactose intolerant the severity varies from person to person. Self-reported intolerance in Japan was around 45 percent. However, one could find it embarrassing to report an intolerance, so this number could be higher.
With the introduction of diary in the 1940’s this number has fallen slightly, lining up with the fact that cheeses popularity in Japan has grown. Italian food is very popular in Japan in my city there is a whole street dedicated to Italian food. Many of my students said they wanted to visit Italy if they could fly to one country. Mainly for the purpose of eating the food. Cheese is popular! it’s a trendy new product that offers variation to dishes. It is also Western and Western things in Japan are seen as cool and exciting. It also helps that cheese is diverse and generally tastes good. So, it is easy to see why it is growing in popularity.
I will be cutting todays blog here as this blog turned out to be a very wide topic which deserves to be broken down and looked at carefully. The second half of this blog will focus on what cheesy offerings Japan has and how it is different from cheeses elsewhere.
