Every season in Japan brings a large bounty of fresh fish, crisp vegetables, fruit, and a plethora of unique sweets! Today’s article is about winter vegetables!
What kind of vegetables are in season in winter?
There are surprisingly a lot of them! Try using these in your winter dishes for a fresh taste.
Why not practice some Japanese while you are at it?
Below are the translations for each of the winter vegetables. You should be able to find all of these at any grocery store in Japan. Read about them, practice the language, and go out there and experiment with all these flavors!
Finally, try making a list in Japanese! Write down both English and Japanese on your list. You can copy the words below to get started. Then, try a little scavenger hunt at your local grocery. What kind of vegetables can you find? Are they the same ones from your home country? Are they a little different?
Finally, I’ll share a little story about one of my mistakes at the grocery store in Japan.
When I first came to Japan, I had very little experience with Japanese and especially had difficulty recognizing kanji. But, I love home-cooked meals and I decided to give the grocery store a try.
I tried to shop just by looking and made the grave mistake of picking up Japanese mustard spinach instead of normal spinach. There’s nothing like tasting the bitter spice of mustard spinach in your “spinach” cream pasta, trust me…
Good luck!
onion 玉ねぎ たまねぎ
potato じゃがいも
broccoli ブロコリ
Japanese white radish 大根 だいこん
carrot にんじん
Chinese yam 長芋 ながいも
Japanese mustard spinach 小松菜 こまつな
spinach ほうれん草 ほうれんそう
lotus root れんこん
celery セロリ
turnip かぶ
edible chrysanthemum 春菊 しゅんぎく
rapeseed blossom 菜の花 なのはな
