reading on eating out

[Rob_Hugo@PortNW]

The reading on Eating Out- At Home by Naomichi Ishige basically talks about the trend of Japanese people ordering takeout food. The spread of takeout food was due to the emergence of commercial restaurants. Basically, there are two types of meal delivery system, shidashi and demae. According to the author, shidashi "refers to delivery of a proper full-course meal," this is the equivalent of having some restaurant catering a meal. Often, this type of meal service is seen in present day with families having big events such as birthday parties or marriage. The author also states that many Japanese hotels at the time had no room for a kitchen so they will choose to have have shidashi. The other type of takeout is demae where it is a "single, filling dish such as noodles, sushi, or donburi-mono." This type of food is similiar to fast food such as McDonald's except the restaurants will deliver. The author also mentions modes of transportation in which food is delivered such as walking or the use of motorcycles. In the end, the author mentions the developments of instant noodle and the diminishing stores that are willing to offer demae service.

In Los Angeles, it is more likely that a family will order takeout food and pick it up. In my family, ordering takeout is very common. With my parents busy working, I often have the chance to order a dish or two from a nearby Chinese restaurant and have my parents pick it up on the drive home. I am sure many may also have had similar experience. I think the only occasion where I have seen a restaurant willing to deliver is at UCLA. Due to the lack of transportation, I have noticed that some restaurants by Westwood are willing to deliver. Yet, not only do I have to pay extra for transportation, I also have to give a generous amount of mandatory tip. I personally think that it is better to walk down the hill and enjoy a good meal instead of spending so much extra money.

[Anonymous]

something in the reading stuck out significantly , as it greatly influenced my being.
the origins of ramen.. aite so maybe not that...impacting.
first off i didn't know ramen was of chinese origin; i guess it had always been stapled in my mind that it had origined of japanese foodstuffs. also how about that. japan gets a high five in drastically shortening my dad's life span .. as instnat noodles connect dierectly to demae eating of the edo..
instant noodles were, quite, the awesome food; i coudln't get enough of it as a kid... until i found out it was pure msg... and liked the soup too. but hey, those small carrots and peas make it nutritious right?... -___-;
but supposedly we are supposed to take 2-3 packages a month for a healthy regularity, if at all. this of course shocked my friend from harveymudd.
"2 a month?... i eat like 4 a week..."
but here's some stats for you: 4 billion packages a year consumed by japan alone. i mean just add [hot] water. its cheap too (making it an instant hit with college students)

[Anonymous]

I'm was kinda confused about this. Didn't the article say in the last paragraph that ramen originated in Japan? Anyways, ramen is the best!

Well, personally I found this article to relate very much to my life before college. Since my mom was usually very busy and exhausted by the time she got home, we often had the "bachelor chickens" that Dr. Dube mentioned in class plus some type of salad or vegetables. I thought it was actually pretty funny that he brought it up because I've had so many varieties of this: Costco, Ralphs, Albertsons, Lemon Pepper, Barbeque, etc. I remember someone in my family saying that the Costco kind was the best.

Before I moved to LA, we almost never ate out or had delivery. After living here for awhile, we probably ate out around 2 times a week. I think eating out is very common in Southern California. Where I live, there are many restaurants and shops that deliver food, so sometimes we would order delivery or just walk some place to eat.

It's pretty interesting to see that the same applies in Japan, which had this service way back in the Edo period.

[Anonymous]

If you think the ramen consumption in the states are incredible, I suggest heading across the Pacific Ocean to see how much of a staple food it is.
When I was in Taiwan the past summer, there were 7-11 stores around EVERY corner and stocked hot foods, cold foods, and an entire wall dedicated to a shrine of instant noodles. East Asia has the most variety of instant noodles, and the quality is hands-down better than that 48-pack at Costco. Students would keep a stash near their desk for a quick snack or meal. However, the ladies in Taiwan scoffed at our worshipping of instant noodles and asked us, "How can you eat that?? Wouldn't you gain weight because of all those carbs and be unhealthy because of the preservatives??"
If you head to 99 Ranch market in Diamond Bar or similar cities, you can find aisles and aisles of Japanese snacks and ramen. They are sold in bulk, and next to the hot take-out foods. That portion of the market seems to be the "bachelor aisles" and the equivalent of the rotiessiere chicken aka "bachelor's chicken" at Costco. You can also look at it as simply a quick and relatively inexpensive meal to serve the family after grocery shopping. I noticed that my family ate together less often as time progressed, because I would be busy with after-school sports, my brother would be out with his friends, and my dad would be working overtime to make sure the family business was on track. Eating together became a treat, and it often took place at restaurants on Friday and Saturday nights. Apparently this is common, because Thursday, Friday, and Saturday nights in my city are PACKED with people waiting 1+ hours to get a seat in a restaurant.
I'm wondering how my own life would be like when I have my own family. Our family has several friends where they are young-couples and have children that are just starting pre-school or just learning to walk. The fathers are mostly doctors or engineers, and the mothers either work or keep house. Many of these young couples have hired a maid to clean the house, cook dinner for the kids and family, and keep house for a few hours each day. They pay around $1000/month for the maid, and look at it as buying "leisure time" to spend time with the family, rather then getting flustered over keeping house and finding time for a family outing.

[Anonymous]

eating out isn't that bad, especially nowadays when everyone is so busy with school, work and whatnot. for the sake of eating together as a family, my family would try to cook certain vietnamese dishes together, and it's only when my mom is too busy/tired to cook that we go out to eat. i personally like eating out simply because it's hassle-free, meaning, there are no dishes to wash at the end of the night for the girls. =P

[Anonymous]

I think the eating out has its pros and cons. For most families, it might take away the bonding time, especially if the whole family is not eating out together at the same time. On the other hand, of course it saves a lot of time, especially when people's busy schedule these days. In my family, I don't think it would make a lot of difference, because we never really sit together for meals. Instead, my family's "bonding time" is actually Chinese movies. A lot of times, we would just watch a few episodes of translated (dubbed) Chinese movies. I don't think we ever called it our bonding time, nor do we even realize that it really is. But looking at what we do together as a family, I think that it IS our bonding time.

[Anonymous]

How about this. . .it doesn't matter at all in my family whether we order take out food or if one of my parents decides to cook up a meal or a combination of the both because my parents, especially my dad, has already designated family dinners as an important evening event for the family in which EVERYONE (okay so there's only my parents and myself; my sister is 13 years older than me and has lived away from home for years) must be present to partake in family dinner time. Regardless of how the food is prepared we all must sit down together and eat TOGETHER, so family bonding time is independent of where the food comes from.

However, I have noticed that when my family goes OUT to eat together there is a heightened sense of family time because of the time spent travelling to and from a restaurant and all the exra waiting time associated with eating out. You have all ate out before so I won't insult your intelligence but "extra waiting time" like waiting for food to arrive, waiting for the check to arrive, etc. . .

[Anonymous]

I think my family is similar VanLin's in that my parents strongly believe that that we need to eat together, whether we eat at home or go out to eat. Also, my family does not eat out very often, because my parents think that it is healthier and cheaper to cook at home. When I was growing up my grandma would usually apend half the day cooking a delicious dinner (my mom was a lucky one!) and my mom would be able to work full time and come home around 5-6 pm to dinner. However, since my grandma became sick, my mom has taken on the responsibility of putting dinner on the table after coming home from work at night. As a result, dinner has become more simple and sometimes my family eats leftovers. Sometimes, when my dad comes home earlier than my mom he helps to start dinner, even though my mom seems to have the primary responsibility. Nevertheless, my family still eats together whenever they can.

[Author]

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