I really enjoyed the Japanese barbecue experience, yakiniku, with Seika, her grandpa, her parents, and her uncle. Grandpa treated us to dinner. Thank you!

We had different parts of the cow.

Tongue

We began with tongue. It is seasoned with salt and sliced into manageable pieces. We each have a small plate of lemon juice to dip it in. It is pretty good flavor and texture. Nothing too scary.

Jaw

The jaw had more of a steak-like texture and I would consider to be a good middle ground between “normal beef” and “intimidating beef”.

Vein

It looked like what a vein would look like. The flavor was pretty good, but it took a while to chew it.

Cartilage

The most interesting option, the texture is one of a kind. It has a crunchy, popping sensation. It is also very chewy.

Stomach

I’ve had cow stomach before, and I wasn’t a very big fan of it. I remembered the last time that I tried cow stomach, it was very chewy, and I was chewing it for long enough to be unsettled by the fact that I was eating a “strange” part of the animal.

Now, mentally, I have overcome the strangeness. Physically, I still struggle a bit with eating the stomach. The cow has 4 different stomaches, so I made sure to try a variety of pieces. They are all a bit tough and chewy to me. I would chew a piece for at least 5 minutes trying to tear it into “easy to swallow” pieces, but I usually ended up washing down the whole piece with water, like a medicine.

Some parts were a bit more fatty than others, probably different stomach parts, but to me they were all very chewy.

“Normal beef”

“Normal beef” is a very delicious and tender version of beef that I am familiar with. It melts in your mouth and you do not have to chew it very much. It is no marinated and it good to dip into the plate of brown sauce after cooking.

After I was brave and adventurous by trying all the different types of meat, I was fed with more bites of “normal beef.” I prefer the normal beef, although I was very excited to have tried all the different cuts of meat!

Betsubara (別腹)

After yakiniku, they usually get ice cream or something sweet. Seika’s dad bought our sweets. Thank you! And, I accidentally selected another mochi! Surprise! This put me at 10.5 mochi’s consumed in the day. This one was super juicy and delicious as it was filled with a mandarin orange!

There is always room for dessert! The Japanese have a word for the second stomach that always has room for dessert: betsubara (別腹). My betsubara is very happy. My heart is also very happy.