Eating fish is nothing new; I think you all have eaten it too! But here in Japan, it is often prepared a bit differently than back home. In Hawai’i, I would eat fish that was made into poke, which was all covered in sauces and toppings, or fried for fish and chips. Here in Japan, there are all sorts of other ways to prepare fish that I get to try!
Recently, I got to try a bunch of different types of fish and seafood that were a part of a great big sushi plate. I also got to try little fish balls that were part of a soup.
In the sushi plate, I got to try salmon eggs, which looked like little orange pearls, sea urchin, which looked like shavings of orange peels, a clam, which was a tangerine color and had a ruffled edge, and so many types of fish! To eat the sushi, you dip it into soy sauce and dab a bit of spicy wasabi onto the fish (all while using chopsticks, which can get tricky).
The soup that I ate which had fish balls in it is called onabe, which is pronounced oh-na-be. This soup is usually made during the winter months to help stay warm and healthy. It is made in one big pot with broth and a bunch of ingredients thrown in, such as mushrooms, leaks, carrots, cabbage and fish balls. The fish balls are made by grinding up fish and then forming them into little balls which can then be boiled, fried or cooked however you want!
