33. Good-bye TKG【Column: Leap Before You Look】

The simple joy of eating a bowl of steamed rice topped with a raw egg and a dash of soy sauce, known as TKG (卵かけご飯 tamago kake gohan) was abruptly disrupted the other day when I was afflicted by a 激しい腹痛と下痢 (wrenching stomachache and diarrhea).  I knew this day would come いつかは (sooner or later), but it didn’t come until just recently – way later than expected. 

I was almost 妄想にとらわれていた (delusional) thinking that day will never come, that I can enjoy my TKG 永遠に(forever).  I’ve been paying more to buy 放し飼いの有機卵 (free-range organic eggs), hoping that will help.  I was wrong.  Very wrong.  But if you can do it in Japan, why not in the US?

Here’s the 検索結果 (search results): You can eat raw eggs in Japan without getting sick because of strict, industry-wide safety measures and ultra-high hygiene standards. Hens are vaccinated against サルモネラ (Salmonella), which largely eliminates the risk of bacteria infecting the egg from the inside.  Eggs pass through automated “super egg machines” that wash and sterilize the shells, check for internal cracks, and use spectroscopic analysis to discard any with blood spots.  Japanese eggs come with a printed 賞味期限 (expiration date) (usually about two weeks from packaging) that assumes the egg will be eaten raw.  Eggs are kept refrigerated during transport and in supermarkets to prevent any potential bacteria from multiplying. 

A long time ago, I took a client of mine to a Japanese restaurant and he ordered sukiyaki.  When it was brought to the table, noticing there was no raw egg in a 取り皿 (serving bowl), he asked for it and was told by a Japanese chef, “Sorry, no can do – 法律違反になるので (it’s against the regulations).”  Apparently, restaurants in the United States are prohibited from serving raw eggs.  It is no surprise considering how litigious people are in this country.

What is so great about TKG?  The charm is in its simplicity – a bowl of freshly steamed short grain rice, a fresh egg, drizzle of soy sauce, mixed together and eaten on the spot.  Some people add extra toppings such as butter, bonito flakes, and natto, but they are 邪道 (not purists). 

If you know you are not supposed to eat something, you crave it more. I will reluctantly wait for my bowl of TKG until I visit Japan next time.  The list is getting longer the longer I stay in the US.  When I return to Japan, there’s only a limited amount of food I can consume during my stay there.  それまでの間 (In the meantime), I will work on maintaining my  消化器の健康 (gastrointestinal health) to the highest level while I live in the US.