June 2, 2025
The Best Meal Is the One After a Hard Day's Work: A Real Take on Food
Let's be honest--everyone loves good food. Even watching someone else eat can be strangely satisfying. That's why food content is always a sure bet, from glossy magazines to TV shows and social media. But here's what I'd like you to think about next time when you come across such information: What really makes a meal "the best"?
Some might answer, "A famous restaurant with a Michelin star" or "Where celebrities eat." But I'm here to tell you something different--and I'll say it with confidence: "The best meal is the one you eat after giving your all at work."
Imagine this: You've just finished a tough day, drenched in sweat, your body aching. On the way home, you stop by a hole-in-the-wall joint and order a humble gyoza set meal. That's the stuff of legends!
Maybe that sounds crude, but honestly, I don't care about fancy ingredients or who the chef trained under. If you haven't experienced the pure joy of eating after real work, all the gourmet talk in the world means nothing. This isn't about being jealous of people who eat like royalty. I'm not pretending I don't enjoy good food. I just happen to believe that context is everything. Let me explain.
What you should savor is not "gourmet information"!
I used to be a magazine editor, working on publications for middle-aged men (the dad crowd). We'd often interview celebrities the same age as our readers. I'll never forget what one famous figure told me:
"People think being on variety shows is easy, but it's not. You've got to eat something on a food segment and say something smart about it, or comment on sports stuff you don't care about. Honestly, sometimes I want to say, 'This isn't even good,' or 'I don't know who this athlete is.' But I can't. It's work. Also, we go to multiple restaurants in a day for those food shows. Even if it's amazing food, I'm just not hungry. I can't enjoy it."
This part of the interview never made it to print--his manager cut it immediately--but his words stuck with me. What this veteran was saying hits the core of the problem with the gourmet information flooding the streets. Just because a celebrity says, "It's delicious!" on TV or in a magazine doesn't necessarily mean it's good.
Of course, media outlets cover these places because they have value as information, and they are undoubtedly high-quality restaurants. But tastes vary depending on who and the circumstances, so opinions will naturally differ. At the very least, blindly accepting gourmet information as fact--thinking that a dish must be the best because a certain person or program said so--is not the mark of a true food connoisseur but rather of a mere trend-follower, in my opinion.
The same goes for criteria like "it's expensive," "it's popular," or "it's trendy." When people use such standards to talk about their best gourmet experiences, it feels to me like they're consuming information rather than food...! (This might sound even more envious, but...)
What I'm trying to say is that whether you can feel moved by a meal isn't necessarily determined by the absolute superiority of its taste. Ever gone hiking or camping? Then you probably know what I'm about to say: After a long trek, that curry at a mountain hut or cup noodles in a cold tent taste like heaven.
Or take my friend who works as an electrician. He often talks about the early morning soba (Japanese noodle) shop he always stops by after finishing an all-night outdoor job in the winter. In the freezing cold, you walk into the shop, place your order, and within a minute, the soba is served. Taking a sip of the hot broth, it warms your tired body from the inside out. He says, "Once I know that taste, even if someone takes me to a 100-year-old shop that even connoisseurs rave about and tell me its hand-made soba is authentic, I just think, 'Oh, really?' It doesn't really move me..."
After working hard all day and being hungry, and when your body is craving food, even a meal that seems ordinary can become an unforgettable culinary experience. To me, someone who understands the joy of eating in this way is a true food connoisseur, worthy of respect, more so than someone who knows all the famous restaurants across Japan.
Don't Compare Your Meals to Someone Else's Instagram
These days, social media is full of flashy food posts. Sometimes they're inspiring. Casually scrolling through them, you might discover new places or feel tempted to try something new. But sometimes they make you feel a little down thinking, "They're eating something so delicious, while I'm just..."
I live in China right now, so my social media connections naturally tend to be with other expats. As a result, I often find myself unintentionally observing the eating habits of people who regularly dine out at restaurants costing over 10,000 yen per meal or enjoy a lifestyle of free meals through business entertainment.
I used to feel bad about my own low-key meals, thinking "What am I doing, just getting by with cheap meals?" But not anymore.
There are folks who genuinely want to share great finds. Then there are those who just want to say, "Look at me, eating fancy meals every day! Look how awesome my life is." These two types aren't always clear-cut, but either way--it's their thing.
This is true in the real world, but comparing your meal to someone else's curated post is even more meaningless. "No matter how dazzling others may seem, such brilliance is nothing but an illusion!", I won't go that far, but at least there's no need to envy them. Because even if you do, it won't make your dinner tonight any tastier.
Instead, focus on your work or studies and give it your all. Then, when dinner time comes, enjoy the meal in front of you with a big smile, thinking, "This is the best meal after a hard day's work!" That's undoubtedly happier.
...Having said all that about my personal views on food, some of you might think, "That's just your opinion," while others might not agree at all and even wonder if I'm okay. That's perfectly fine.
Ultimately, what constitutes the ultimate gourmet experience is an extremely subjective matter, and this is merely my opinion. But I hope that those who are working hard every day on the front lines can at least relate to some of what I've said.
Hard work is the ultimate seasoning.
...I'll wrap things up here, admitting--that was a pretty good line.
