There was a thread earlier this year on foods you miss from your mission. I was in Fukuoka and we had something called okinawa tacos - made with rice, hayashi sauce, ground beef, sliced cabbage, plain yogurt, and some sort of chip/cracker (rice, or corn... idk...) - that I believe was indigenous to the mission (not real "Okinawa tacos" with taco sauce, ground beef, tomatoes, lettuce, cheese and sour cream). Does anyone from the mission have a recipe for this? Does anyone remember the chip/cracker that was used to make this recipe? The chip/cracker would soften up once mixed in with the sauce and rice. Thanks - Matthew

Hey, when were you there and in what areas?

I was 96-98, Taniyama, Dazaifu, Omuta, Oita, Sasebo, and Nagamine.

Anyway as for the tacos, we just made regular taco meat with seasoning (had to get it in care packages or expat shops), then threw it on rice with other taco toppings and ate it.

Personally I miss yakiniku tabehoudai more. ;)

I was in the Fukuoka mission from 97-99. Kumamoto (twice), Miyakojima, & Oroku.

I don't remember Okinawa tacos. But I sure do miss the food!!

Any chance you were in Kumamoto in Oct-Nov 98? If so we overlapped!

Yes. I had to look in my journal.....I transfered to Kumamoto the end of Oct. 98.

Hah, it warms my heart to know that someone from the McArthur days is also in the know.

Exactly. I actually really loved McArthur and his family. I'm friends with Sis. McArthur on Facebook and recently announced on Facebook that I'm out of the church. She didn't say anything. I don't get on this forum much, put don't see a way to private message. It would be fun to see who you are. If you want to email me, send an email to janesadamsion@gmail.com. It's a fake account I have to give out for spammers.

For those curious, it turns out we were in the same apartment, were on eachother's Facebooks, and had chatted recently as closeted exmos.

Love it!

Awesome. This has happened before. But Tommy and the boys will still be in denial when this is the best place to post mission reunion notices to get the best exposure.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/22/2014 07:52AM by NormaRae.

Still waiting for the "If you like Pina Coladas" experience where I walk in on my wife surfing RfM.

Just reading my Journal now that you got me into it. I'm guessing you were in Nagamine at that time. We probably road the train together up to Fukuoka on Nov. 19th when Elder Scott came and visited the mission.

Hah, just found mine. Yeah I have a couple of pages of notes from Scott.

I facepalm at this now:

"Although I haven't had too much of a tingly feeling, I still know that what Elder Scott is saying is true."

The way we made it in Okayama was just slightly different.

The chips WE used were simply a "consume" or a bbq flavored chip.

We would cook Hayashi Rice according to box instructions, using ground beef and onion.

Japanese cheese back in 1990 was pretty bad. Think American styled faux cheese, but white with a freakishly light flavor.

We would plate the rice, put the cheese on the rice so it could melt, then over the cheese, put the sauce. Over the sauce we put iceberg lettuce, then the potato chips.

Yuk.

Once a year or so, I'll be forced to make this for myself. And it is pretty damn good, but just once a year.

OMG, I've craved Okinawa tacos for years!! More specifically 20 years... I was there 94-95. I can't believe it's been 20 years.

The only times I remember having Okinawa tacos was in Oita. Don't remember much of it, but it was similar to what has been mentioned. We just had plain potato chips on it, or whatever flavour was available.

Nagoya mission 76-78. Never heard of Okinawa tacos, but we used to make a super good sweet? curry with potatoes, apples, and bananas. Over rice of course. I haven't had it since I left Japan, but have often thought how good it was.

I still (after, lo, these many years) make a pretty good oyakodomburi.

Fukuoka RM here. I was in Japan recently and bought those crackers. They are in my pantry and I'll look at them tonight and send the name. I don't think I've seen them in the US very often.

As for the recipe, we made them the same way but we could never afford the ground beef. We'd just use the chips, cabbage, hayashi sauce (with carrots, potatoes, onions, sometimes apples), usually some yogurt, and rice.

Edit: Change to ingredients... the memory is slow these days.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 11/21/2013 03:04PM by takafumi.

Sorry for the delay in responding. Thanks for all the replies. I was in Nakatsu, Kita-Kumamoto, Kagoshima, Miyazaki, Ijiiri, and Futsukaichi (missing one location... Going from memory here, and I served 1988-1990, so a long long time ago). The beef consume or BBQ chip post was helpful (thanks Levi), but Takafumi's (Fukuoka RM) post about having recently bought the required crackers in Japan and has the name of it... That'd be "sugoi to subarashii"! O-negai shimasu...

Maybe the Okinawa one has hayashi sauce, but there's a similar dish available nationwide throughout Japan, and seasonings to make 'Taco Rice'. Basically it's taco seasoning flavored meat and lettuce and such on top of rice. It may have gotten it's start in Okinawa, but it's not unique to Okinawa anymore. I know some Izakaya chains nationwide that have served it (or something similar to it.)

. . . a few months ago discovered near my home a sushi bar in an upscale food marekt that makes a daily, delicious variety of the stuff. Let me tell you, there is nothing like fresh seaweed; plump steamed rice; clean, uncooked tuna, salmon and eel; simple, pure vegetables, all rolled up in a sushi presentation, ready to eat and to feel good about. Natural, light, easy to ingest and digest--and, to top it off, incredibly tasty

I eat it almost every day. It not only tastes good, it fills me up and is amazingly healthy. For me, it serves (so to speak) as a daily reminder of what I truly liked--no, loved--about my mission. And that was, hands down, SUSHI!

The missionary discussions, on the other hand, gave me gas.
____


P.S.: I was in Naha and Oroku, Okinawa, during the first several months of my mission, where we regularly had Okinawa tacos. In Japanese, "taco" is the word for octopus. Those curled up petite, octopi arms with their cute little suckers were pretty tasty, too.



Edited 10 time(s). Last edit at 05/09/2014 05:33AM by steve benson.

That reminds me, I remember when I had been out for a couple of months, could read Katakana, and I was biking down the road when I see a roadside booth with a big sign over it that said in huge letters たこ ("taco" written in characters often reserved for foreign words).

I was so excited and biked my way there with all my strength, only to find out the guy was selling octopus. My jerk of a senior companion didn't bother telling me but instead let me hold onto that excitement and bike my brains out.