One week of Pop-Tart breakfasts – Can a Japanese man fall in love with the U.S. breakfast icon?
Watching foreign movies and TV series can provide you with unexpected insights into overseas lifestyles, and recently our Japanese-language reporter Takuya Inaba keeps noticing the same thing in works from the U.S. It's not the family dynamics or workplace norms that have been grabbing his attention, though. Rather, it's a piece of set dressing that keeps showing up again and again in kitchen-set scene, a little blue box with 'Pop-Tarts' written on it.
After doing some research, Takuya learned that they've been around since 1964, and are a beloved breakfast food in America. Here in Japan, though, they're almost entirely unknown, and completely different from the traditional Japanese breakfast of rice, fish, and miso soup, or even the standard Japanese image of a Western-style breakfast of eggs, bacon, toast, and/or salad.
And so Takuya set out to get a taste of this part of American culture for himself, and pledged to eat nothing but Pop-Tarts for breakfast for an entire week…provided, of course, that he could actually get his hands on some, since unlike in the U.S., they're not commonly available in convenience stores or supermarkets in Japan. Luckily, Amazon Japan had Takuya covered, and after looking over the various flavors available through the online commerce giant, he decided on a box of Frosted Strawberry Pop-Tarts (the one here).
Shipping was free and took about one week, and with 16 Pop-Tart packs in the box for a price of 1,650 yen (US$11.40), Takuya was looking at a cost of only about 100 yen a day for breakfast, provided these turned out to be a viable morning meal option.
Opening up the box on Morning 1, Takuya pulled out one of the shiny packs, discovering that each one actually holds two Pop-Tarts.
Tearing open a packet and pulling one out, he could see that from one side it looked like a pretty ordinary, if squared-off, piece of bread…
…but when he flipped it around…
…it looked like straight-up candy!
Now, it's true that you can find a variety of sweet pastries in the bread aisle of Japanese convenience stores. Those aren't usually marketed as breakfast foods, though, and they're also not nearly as sugar-encrusted as what Takuya now held in his hand. Not that he was complaining, mind you, as he took a bite and found a pleasing quantity of strawberry jam waiting inside.
The reviews from Japanese customers on Amazon had described Pop-Tarts' flavor as crazy sweet, but Takuya actually found it rather enjoyable. He wouldn't describe the taste as refined or balanced, but it wasn't as intensely sugary as he'd been bracing himself for. As a matter of fact, Takuya was startled by how unsweet the dough was in sections where it wasn't touched by sugar, frosting, or jam. Without any extra sweeteners, the flavor of the dough most reminded Takuya (who's a big burrito fan) of a tortilla.
However, as he chewed Takuya took a closer look at the packaging and learned that the recommended way to eat Pop-Tarts is to warm them up in the toaster or microwave first, so that's what he did for his second pastry in the pack.
OK, now this was getting good! The now warm, melty jam was amazingly tasty, and the dough had also become more flavorful, and gained a more inviting texture too.
It was starting to make sense to Takuya how these things could have become an ubiquitous part of breakfast culture in the U.S., and so he went on to live this particular version of the American dream with a solid week of Pop-Tart breakfasts.
▼ Left to right then top to bottom: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, and Saturday
▼ And then for the final day, Sunday, an alfresco Pop-Tart breakfast.
Upon seeing an actual Pop-Tart for the first time, Takuya figured it'd be sort of hard to commit to this diet, but that turned out to be easier than he'd expected, since they taste good and are surprisingly filling. He will admit, though, that by the end of the week he was getting a little tired of starting every day with the same simple sweetness, and he never quite got over the sense of subtle guilt he felt from eating what still felt like a dessert for his morning meal.
Curious as to whether or not a daily Pop-Tart breakfast ever starts to feel totally normal, Takuya headed to downtown Tokyo's Harajuku neighborhood, one of the most popular parts of the city among foreign sightseers, to find some Americans and get their take on the matter.
Without exception, they were all familiar with Pop-Tarts, and confirmed that yes, they're a popular breakfast food in the States. But when Takuya told them about his solid week of Pop-Tart breakfasts, even Takuya's new American acquaintances said that sounded like a bit much, and that a daily Pop-Tart pack habit is something only super-fans or little kids have.
Takuya had sort of developed such a hunch around the middle of his week, and so it made a lot of sense when the people he talked to told him that Pop-Tarts are more of a thing that people keep a box of in their pantry for mornings when they're too busy to make a regular breakfast or have particularly strong cravings for something sweet. That made even more sense when Takuya got back home and checked the expiration date for his Pop-Tarts and saw that they'll be good until April of next year, so he thinks he'll take his time and savor his remaining stock.
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