What to Eat When You Can't Eat Anything at All: Living Gluten-Free in Japan

This entry could be an entire focus of a blog, so I'm going to limit it as much as I can without glossing over the important details.  Many people ask in online forums about what it will be like traveling to Japan and following a GF diet.  Before I came to Japan, I thought it would be easy to adjust my diet here seeing as rice is their main dietary staple.  What I didn't expect was that soy sauce would be found in almost every dish they serve.  It should also be considered one of their main dietary staples as well and as most of those on GF diets know, soy sauce has wheat in it which means it is off limits and any food seasoned with it is as well.
 
Well, that's puts a bit of a damper on being a gourmand in Japan.  I mean, you can buy a bottle of wheat/gluten free tamari soy sauce, but you're still not going to be able to eat most of the foods that are prepared for you at restaurants, at the staff parties, at BBQ's, at izakayas, at festivals, etc. Yes, some restaurants will prepare foods without wheat for you, but if you're severely intolerant or celiac, or if you're allergic to other things besides wheat/gluten, you'll need to realize that you won't be able to eat all of the delicious foods that you see everywhere.  There is so much wheat in the Japanese diet that it's misleading to say that rice is the main staple here.  Yes, rice is served with almost every meal, but so is a form of wheat. 

Delicious foods that you cannot eat.

Welcome to the Eigo Cafe! Lessons in Cooking with English

Let's make pancake!

I just want to say that cooking and teaching ESL almost always perfectly accompany each other.  It's one of the easiest ways to utilize all learning styles (Speaking, Listening, Reading, Kinesthetic and Tactile).  I suppose writing isn't in there, but it could be if you had the students write out the ingredients in English, which is what I do.

Breaking the eggs, breaking the eggs...

We Climbed a Mountain (part of the Golden Week series)

On May 5th, one of my last Golden Week holiday days off, I and several other friends landed on Iriomote island with the goal of kayaking and visiting the Pinaisara waterfall.  This waterfall is the highest in all of Okinawa prefecture and it has a stunning 55m drop that you can see from a long distance.  It's been a goal of mine to kayak and see parts of Iriomote island that aren't accessible via car.  Iriomote is the island I wrote about that looks like a land before time with dense jungle and tall mountains (though the tallest mountain in Okinawa prefecture is actually on Ishigaki island, and yes, I've climbed it).  Iriomote is one of my favorite islands in Yaeyama and I'm planning on going back for another tour, next time to snorkel and sea kayak in the Funauki area. 

The gang, on our way up the mountain

The day started out after our guide picked us up at the Uehara port.  (You need a guide to take you into Iriomote.  About 7 or 8 years ago, a young Japanese adventurer went hiking into Iriomote and never came out.   There are posters of him and his details at the ports on the island, warning travelers that they need to report their travel plans to officials if they plan to go inland without a guide.    So, if you plan to go into the jungle, don't go by yourself.  It's a very big island with no one around for many, many miles.  There are dangerous animals that live on the island and the jungle is very thick.  It's easy to become disoriented.) 

Our guide, the owner of Iriomote Osanpo Kibun, was really awesome and knowledgeable about the area and the animals and other wildlife that live on Iriomote.  He also impressively and skillfully climbed a slick mountain in flip flops carrying our lunch, large amounts of water, a canteen of hot tea, a grill, butane and a first aid kit on his back.  Kudos to him!