Things I Miss: Bread

Here in Fukushima, there are not a lot of options for bread. Bakeries (known as panya) are very popular here, and often carry a lovely assortment of bread. Maybe even some of the types pictured above. Unfortunately, the grocery stores only seem to carry one type of bread:

I've been subsisting solely on white bread since I came to Japan. There is no panya in my village, so I don't have any other option. Once, while visiting a grocery store 40 minutes away, I managed to snag some cinnamon-flavored bread, but it was short-lived (I devoured it).

It's hell, coming from a society where bread is eaten every day for nearly every meal. In Japan, rice (kome) is the equivalent of bread. On average, it contains about the same amount of protein as white bread, more carbohydrates, and less fat. On average. It's much easier to find varieties of rice here than varieties of bread. I miss being able to select my favorite types of bread at the supermarkets in America, but since rice isn't going out of fashion anytime soon, I guess I need to hop on the Japanese Express to Multicultural-ville.