Event Report: Japanese Food Expo Los Angeles 2024

By J.D.

The folks at the Japanese Food Culture Association (JFCA), and Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO), recently held the Japanese Food Expo 2024 at the Loews Hollywood Hotel. We were lucky enough to receive two tickets to cover the event, so I grabbed my cousin Matt and headed to L.A. to check out all the tasty dishes they had to offer.

As we entered the expo, we were in the room for fruits and sweets. We got to try fruits from Ikigai. Both Matt and I had samples of persimmons and Japanese pears and thought both of them were delicious. Next to that booth, was the Press Butter Sand. Despite the name, a butter sand is actually a combination of caramel and cream sandwiched between two cookies. The booth had both a regular butter sand and a matcha flavored one. Towards the end of the expo, I got to try both of them, and they were among the best sweets I got to try at the event. The filling was the right amount of sweet and creamy while the cookies were crisp and buttery. I honestly regret not buying some of these to take with me.

After exiting the sweets room, we moved out into the hallway with a few booths showing off Japanese beers and sake, along with red shiso products and tofu skin soup. I really liked the red shiso mixer I tried, and the soup was good as well.

I seem to be either blessed (or depending on your point of view, cursed) with an absolute distaste for all things alcohol. It all just ends up tasting like hand sanitizer to me… Not that I’ve ever consumed hand sanitizer. It just tastes like hand sanitizer smells. I did my best to try at least one drink from all of the vendors, but none of the drinks was able to overcome my distaste for alcohol. Matt, however, seemed to like all of them.  

After trying everything in the hallway, we moved into the main room of the event dedicated to what they called “premium tastes from Japan.” This was the most varied of the areas. One of the first things we tried after entering was fried pike conger. It was available two ways: a more traditional, American style deep fried, and a tempura fry. There were also a variety of sauces to dip our samples in, like ketchup and barbecue sauce, but Matt and I both stuck to Japanese dashi salt. They were both delicious, but I think I liked the tempura version the best.

At the end of the first row, there was also a vegan meat substitute being showed off by Bando Foods and Fujiya. Matt and I have a few vegan and vegetarian family members so I’m always looking for options that can work for everyone, so I grabbed a sample of this and it tasted just like a roast prepared by my aunt. I even told the woman working the stall that if I had not known it was vegan, I would have easily believed it was meat. 

We moved quickly down one of the aisles towards the main stage where the night’s big events would be happening. The expo had apparently opened up with a taiko drum performance. We hadn’t gotten inside the expo in time to see it, but I could hear it and we saw some of the performers leaving the hall when we were tasting the products in the hallway.

The big event I wanted to see was the filleting of a giant tuna performed by legendary chef Andy Matsuda. It was very entertaining and informative to watch. Matsuda-sensei is a very skilled chef and, with the help of his assistant, was always keeping things moving and showing off things for the audience. I just wish I had arrived sooner so I could have gotten a better view for pictures and video of the event. The chefs would later take this tuna and turn it into sushi for everyone to try. Matt and I had to wait in line for a bit just to try it but it was well worth the wait.

Later, Matsuda-sensei also had main stage workshops for making curry onigiri and a giant, 20 ft. sushi roll. I didn’t get to be a part of that last one but just seeing all those people working together was a lot of fun.

After watching the tuna filleting, Matt and I proceeded to try more of these premium goods. One of the first things I saw as we were leaving the mains stage area was a booth giving out one of my favorite Japanese treats: takoyaki, or fried octopus balls. The company Gindaco apparently prides itself on being “Japan’s No.1 Takoyaki” and after trying it, I can’t dispute that it was one of if not the best takoyaki I’ve had in the United States. It was perfectly crispy on the outside while hot and creamy on the inside. Thankfully, it wasn’t too hot because I know I’ve burned my mouth too many times trying to eat takoyaki that have just been made. Except for maybe the fresh sushi, this one takoyaki was the best thing I ate all night. The company seems to have a place in California that I will have to check out the next time I’m in the area.

After that, we continued to explore the premium tastes room. There was a whole section of tables dedicated solely to soy sauce. It was interesting to taste and compare the different brands available. Another highlight was a spicy kombu jerky from Tsuku-shin. It was a bit too chewy even for jerky, but the spiciness of it was just the right level or pleasantly hot but not too overpowering.  

The company Kaishindo had a variety of delicious yokan. They were kind of like little blocks of jelly available in different flavors. I tried the red bean paste and the matcha flavors while Matt tried the walnut one as well and we were both impressed by them. They weren’t too sweet but they were perfect bite size snacks that might go along well with tea.

Speaking of tea, I finally got to try mugicha or roasted barley tea from Sanei Kosan and now, I wish I had tried it sooner. It didn’t taste like much at first but after a few seconds, I could taste a rich, nutty flavor from the roasted barley that was just so pleasant. They gave us free samples and I am probably going to be using that one as soon as possible.

Another little snack that I really liked was these roasted soybeans from Odagaki in the Hyogo Prefecture. They were small and crunchy like the wasabi peas you can get at supermarkets but without the wasabi flavor. They seemed like a perfect thing to just buy a bag of and snack on while I’m working.

After working our way through the premium tastes room, Matt and I went back out into the hallway and entered the room dedicated to beer and sake. There were a few different vendors in here offering their own variations. As I noted before, I don’t like the taste of alcohol, but a few of the fruitier sake brands I tried were things I probably wouldn’t refuse if someone offered it to me.  For his part, Matt seemed to like all of these as well, especially some of the darker beers shown off Wismettac Asian Foods.

After visiting most of the booths, we wandered around the expo finding the few we hadn’t visited, and trying a few more things. We got the sushi made from the tuna that had been filleted before our eyes, and Matt bought us both these udon bowls from Inaniwa Udon. Udon is one of my favorite Japanese noodle dishes, and this one was a cold dish with crispy bits, green onion, and a fish nugget.  It was a bit difficult to eat with just chopsticks especially all the crunchy bits which were so small that I didn’t get a lot of them with anything else. I just slurped them up with the rest of the broth when I was gone.

And, with that, our time at the Japanese Food Expo 2024 was done. I like to thank the JFCA and JETRO for having us. There were honestly so many other good dishes in this room that I feel like I can barely scratch the surface in the article. If you have a chance to attend one of these, please consider it. You can also find a list of retailers and products from these events online and some of them may be available in supermarkets around you. 

For More Information on JFCA:
https://japanfoodculture.org/

For More Information on JETRO:
ttps://www.jetro.go.jp/en/