Moving to a new country is a very difficult thing to do and it’s not for everyone. Moving to a new country that you have never been to before is even more difficult, but exhilarating at the same time! One of the most difficult things to do when you find yourself living in a new country that you know next to nothing about is cooking the foods that you grew up with in your home country. For many of you out there, cooking is not a major concern, but for me, a person who loves to cook, it was. I’m from America, and in America when you want to cook something like roast turkey dinner, it’s pretty easy if you understand what ingredients are necessary to make the dish. You go to your local supermarket and buy all of the ingredients, bring them home and cook! However, in a country like Japan turkey (shichimencho in Japanese) is not readily available. There are only certain places that even sell them.

Not only are turkey’s difficult to find, but finding all of the ingredients that you are used to using to make a turkey are difficult to find as well. Places like Costco are a miracle for expats like myself. A lot of things can be found in supermarkets like Costco, but some things you just need to figure out for yourself. I like to brine my turkey and usually I use a homemade chicken stock as a base. You can find pre-made chicken stock sometimes at places like Costco, but it isn’t always available for one and secondly sometimes places like Costco only sell it in bulk. Even though some things like turkey are more difficult to make in Japan, it’s made me a much better cook in my time here. It’s easy to buy the ready made cans of stock or other ingredients that come in a can, but it tastes way better when you make it homemade! If you are thinkiing about living somewhere like Japan in the future, being able to cook and eat your favorite foods from home shouldn’t hold you back.