Many people from other countries visit Japan to enjoy its delicious food. There’s a lot to try, like yakiniku, sushi, ramen, and okonomiyaki. But one dish I’d like to suggest is “Oden.” It’s made by boiling ingredients like eggs, konjac, and processed fish in a hot broth. People in Japan love to eat it during the cold winter nights.
Oden is not only a popular homemade dish but also something you can buy at convenience stores. In fact, when these stores start selling oden, it’s a sign that winter has come for the Japanese.
If you’re a foreigner visiting Japan in the fall or winter, you should definitely try oden from a convenience store. Let me explain how it works. The oden at convenience stores is usually near the cash register, so you don’t have to search around. Most people get three or four pieces, not ten, even if they’re really hungry. If you’re trying oden for the first time, getting three or four pieces is a good idea.
Now, when you’re picking the ingredients for your oden, you might wonder whether to go with what you like or choose the traditional ones. Traditional oden ingredients are things like daikon radish and eggs. For many Japanese, these are the first things that come to mind. So, when they order oden, they often pick radish, egg, and konjac to have that classic oden experience. Of course, you can choose whatever you like too.
For foreigners trying oden for the first time and sharing their experience on social media, the most “oden-like” choices would be daikon radish, eggs, deep-fried tofu, and konjac. Convenience store oden comes in containers with tight lids, so it’s easy to take as a late-night snack from a store close to your hotel.
To enjoy the winter season even more, you can have oden with hot sake. It’s a great way to warm up and have a taste of Japan’s winter culture.