Forum - View topicAnswerman - What Are Those Flavored Breads In Japanese School Lunches?
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leafy sea dragon
 Posts: 7163 Location: Another Kingdom |
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I ought to mention that the most famous of these is 85 Degrees Bakery, which has several locations dotted throughout Los Angeles and Orange Counties. The one in Irvine, in particular, seems to be the most popular (and is either the original or one of the oldest locations), though there seems to be a really popular one in Pasadena too. For the record, it's named after the temperature of the coffee in Celsius, not the temperature that they bake their bread at. I think it's actually Korean, but it's very similar to a Japanese-style bakery.
Red bean paste is something of an acquired taste, however. It may be a bit disorienting if you're not used to beans used in dessert. Most taiyaki joints have chocolate-filled ones too though.
I've been in many of these kinds of bakeries, at least in the United States, and it really is like that, though again, they're in the United States... The two main factors are that 1) They're pretty crowded, meaning people are going to talk over each other constantly, and 2) The store layouts are nonlinear, as you can grab the snacks from anywhere in the store any time you like, so there will be people walking every which way and screaming to their comrades about where they are or what to get. Since availability changes daily, and even the same item can be at different locations on different days, regulars will do a scan of what the bakery has, then plan a route to pick up what they want and tell their friends about these items.
Japanese bread tends to be softer, sweeter, and has a higher moisture content than western breads, which are valued for their flakiness and rough texture. It really affects the way their sandwiches taste too. It's basically the direct opposite of the sourdough. I don't mind, but it's also not the sort of thing I'd want to eat every day. In particular, this sort of bread clashes with savory stuff if not done right.
That's a pretty widespread mindset, known as food neophobia. It can definitely cause problems when traveling to foreign countries in groups if someone is neophobic but someone else is neophilic. It goes the other way too: I was in a bus tour in 2011 that was geared towards Chinese tourists. Every stop for food along the way was at a Chinese restaurant or, if one didn't exist in a town for whatever reason, a group of fast food restaurants. In those cases, almost the entire group would flock to McDonald's. I was getting tired of it after some time, as we traveled to cities in the northeastern United States known for their cuisine like Philadelphia, Boston, Brooklyn, New Haven, and Buffalo, and never got to try any of their signature foods, instead just going to Golden Dragon or Sam Woo or somesuch. There was a trio of young men from Romania in this group too, and I could tell they were getting quite annoyed at it themselves. Turns out the guide herself was highly neophobic to non-Chinese food and knew next to nothing about the local foods due to a total lack of interest. She lives in Manhattan and did not know about her hometown's pizza or clam chowder, for instance. Yeah, I tried asking. (There were other reasons we were annoyed at the tour, but that's a discussion for another day. Suffice to say the tour guide was a total ditz.)
There are indeed some melon pans like this. Korean bakeries usually have something simply called "melon bread." Some are done Japanese-style like what is described in the article, while some others have honeydew flavor, either artificial or natural. If you ever find yourself in a Korean bakery, a good rule of thumb is if it's yellowish or green. The latter will taste like honeydew.
A bit of a tangent, but you're missing out. |
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shiranehito
 Posts: 793 |
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I don't think I've seen any anime/manga where the school sells taiyaki for lunch... Taiyaki is more a street food or snack, or even traditional cake.
I think the most popular bread-base lunch in school is cutlet sandwich (katsu sando). In most anime/manga I've seen, this type of bread is usually the one to be sold out first. |
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Zin5ki
 Posts: 6680 Location: London, UK |
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From what I recall of the shop's frontage, I believe they offered chocolate as the default filling. Bean paste was presumably relegated to a mere alternative offered on request. Given the sheer competition that exists for passing tourist trade, the decision seems a sensible one. |
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Covnam
 Posts: 3650 |
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I know for sure that I once saw a green colored melon pan that clearly said it was melon flavored in a Family Mart or Lawson. So they do (or did) exist. I think that was the only time though :/ |
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