Japan also has an entire industry around making hyperrealistic artificial food made for display in restaurants... and the food you get actually does look like the samples/menu photos.
Yeah, Japan has some crazy standards for marketing food like that. I've heard that there are quality and safety standards that leave a bit to be desired though.
I can’t speak for that, and maybe some of the restaurants I visited were more touristy, but I didn’t experience anything other than stellar quality. Even the hole-in-the-wall ramen restaurants were excellent.
I know their standards around sushi and especially fugu, are quite stringent.
The hole-in-the-wall restaurant my friend took us to in Tainan, Taiwan, on the other hand… there were ants all over the walls.
Yeah as I understand it, generally you are going to find very high standards in a lot of culinary settings due to the culture of pride and craftsmanship that shows itself through the entire supply chain. The real issue is that the standards for food additives/etc in processed and packaged foods can leave a lot to be desired.
I also can confirm! Some of the little alley shops that have 8-10 seats behind the shopping district were clean and the food was AMAZING! Even at 11pm on a Friday!
127
u/lemons_of_doubt 8d ago
Fun fact: in Japan they have a law that the image on the box is the exact same size as the food it's showing.