Japan Envies Giant American BBQ Meat: "It Wouldn't Even Fit Through the Front Door"

What's going on

A Japanese user sighed that the giant slabs of meat at American barbecues looked enviable, adding that in Japan a cut that size wouldn't even make it through the front door. It's only half a joke. Homes in Japan tend to be compact, refrigerators are smaller, and supermarket meat is mostly sold in small trays, often pre-sliced thin. Few people have a backyard, and a smoking grill in a tightly packed neighborhood can quickly turn into a complaint.

Several American grillers answered with posts addressed to their "Japanese brothers and sisters," including one who showed off a 6.8kg Texas brisket that was about to be cooked. Some of those messages were written in Japanese.

Japanese replies then went through every obstacle one by one: the fridge, the oven, the smoke, the trip home from the store. A few also wondered why a big slab of meat still says "America" so strongly.

Comments

Man, I’m so jealous of those giant hunks of meat at American barbecues

In Japan a slab like that wouldn’t even make it through the front door

アメリカのバーベキューのデカイ肉ほんと羨ましいな日本ではあんなデカイ肉はまず玄関を通らない

@Avenger0820 · View on X

To my Japanese brothers and sisters Getting the brisket ready. Cooking starts now. This brisket comes from Elkins Cattle Company, a family-owned outfit in Texas. It’s 40cm long, 20cm wide, and weighs about 6.8kg (roughly 15 lbs). Today and tomorrow I’ll post clips showing the whole process start to finish. I don’t have much video editing experience, but I’ll stitch it together for your viewing pleasure.

日本人の兄弟姉妹へブリスケットの準備をしています。これから調理します。このブリスケットは、テキサス州の家族経営の会社「Elkins Cattle Company」のものです。このブリスケットは長さ40cm、幅20cmで、重さは約6.8kgです。今日と明日、最初から最後までのプロセスを見せるクリップを投稿します。ビデオ編集の経験はあまりありませんが、皆さんの視聴の楽しみのために動画を繋ぎ合わせて仕上げます。

@emridog · View on X

To my brothers and sisters in Japan Barbecue is about sharing, good friends, and family. I’m doing a brisket this weekend, but before that, here’s one last cook. Hope you enjoy it. Much love and respect to everyone in Japan. Peace

日本の兄弟姉妹の皆さんへバーベキューは、分かち合い、良い友人、そして家族と共に楽しむものです。今週末はブリスケットを焼きますが、その前に、これが最後のクックです。楽しんでいただければ嬉しいです。日本の皆さんに、心からの愛と敬意を。 Peace

@emridog · View on X

Japanese brothers would rate this 10/10? 😋

@Amazingeyes89 · View on X

Greetings to everyone in Japan checking out posts from America. I hear you all love a nice thick American slab of meat.

アメリカからの投稿をご覧になっている、日本の皆さんに挨拶です。皆さんは、アメリカらしい分厚い肉の塊がお好きだと聞きましたよ。

@thecookinglane · View on X

For my Japanese bros. Skewered beef… and Bachan’s Chili Sesame (Bachan’s is an American brand of Japanese-style barbecue sauce; “bachan” is Japanese for “grandma.”)

For my Japanese bro’s. Skewered beef… and Bachcans Chili Sesame

@ScottRo83866595 · View on X

Just casually getting your hands on a nearly 7kg hunk of meat is so America……. No way that happens in Japan…… lol

7㎏弱の肉の塊用意出来るのが、さすがアメリカって感じよなぁ……。日本だと無理だよぉ……(笑)

Wouldn’t even fit in the delivery box.. 😭📮 (Many Japanese apartment buildings have lockers where couriers leave packages.)

宅配ボックスにも入らないや・・😭📮

Don’t have a fridge that would fit it either

あれを入れる冷蔵庫もない

Let alone anything to cook it in

ましてや、あれが入る調理機器がない

Try cooking it and the smoke would bring both the cops and the fire department

調理しようものなら煙で警察と消防が来る

Yeah the smoke alone sounds like trouble

煙とかヤバそう

Try driving home with meat like that and you’d get pulled over for an overloaded vehicle

あんな肉買って帰ろうとしたら過積載で捕まるよな

Fine if you drive to the supermarket, but if you go on foot or by bike you’d be worn out just getting it home lol

スーパーへ車で行く人なら、まだしも、徒歩や自転車で行く人は、運搬だけで疲れてしまうよねw

Someone Japanese asked how people actually buy those ridiculously huge American BBQ cuts, and a real American answered “well, first you call up a ranch.” Totally different scale

アメリカBBQのくそデカ肉の買付、日本人の「これどうしてるの？」って質問に本場のアメリカ人が「まずは牧場に連絡してみろ」って回答しててやはりスケールが違う

Why do you think we’re so fat?

BANZAI!

Why do you think we're so fat? BANZAI!

Is a big hunk of meat just cheap in America? Or is it about the same price as here and they just buy big for BBQ without thinking twice?? Or is Japanese meat pricier because you’re paying for someone to slice it thin?? (Japanese supermarkets mostly sell meat pre-sliced thin for dishes like sukiyaki, shabu-shabu and stir-fries.)

アメリカって肉の塊が安いの？それとも値段は日本とそんな変わらないけどBBQのために気にせず豪快に買ってるだけなの？？日本の肉が薄切りの手間代かかってて割高なの？？

FYI, Japan has much stricter meat quality regulations than the US, closer to Europe in that respect.

ちなみに、日本は米国に比べて肉の品質に関する規制がはるかに厳しく、その点は欧州と似ています。

The reason Japanese people get so excited watching American BBQ is that, even now, that giant slab of meat is a symbol of the whole “wealthy America” image. Giant supermarkets, loads of groceries going into a giant fridge, that kind of thing.

日本人がアメリカ人のバーベキュー見て喜ぶのって今の時代になってもあのでっかい肉の塊ってのが、豊かなアメリカというイメージの象徴なのよね。でっかいスーパーマーケットでたっぷりの食材をでっかい冷蔵庫にとか。

Watching American big-meat BBQ makes me hungry

アメリカのデカ肉BBQみてるとお腹減る

All these videos and pics of Americans cooking stupidly huge slabs until the outside’s pitch black and the inside falls apart, and I can’t stop being hungry

アメリカ人が表面真っ黒になるまで焼いて中がホロホロになってるクソデカ肉を作る動画と画像で空腹が止まらない

Heading home now, but I love how American food reminded me of the first rule of every fatty: “big meat is good meat”

もう帰るけど、アメリカの飯は「デカい肉は美味い」というデブの基本を思い出させてくれて好きだよ

lol at the people going “just move then”~~~~~~ if moving were that easy everyone would’ve done it already

引っ越せよって言ってる人いてわろた〜〜〜〜〜〜簡単に引っ越せるならみんなやっとるわ

American size meets Japanese minimalism

アメリカンサイズとジャパニーズミニマムの交錯

No meat! No grill! No great big backyard either! Shove it in! Swallow it down! And my stomach goes round and round (A parody of Ikuzo Yoshi’s 1984 comic song “Ora Tokyo sa Iguda,” in which a country boy lists everything his village doesn’t have: “No TV! No radio!…”)

肉もねェ！グリルもねェ！だだっ広いあのお庭もねェ！口に入れ！飲み込んで！オレの胃そん時ゃぐーるぐる

My take

It does seem that a lot of Japanese people have a real soft spot for this kind of big, bold, quintessentially American excess.

Source & translation note

Comments loosely translated for tone. Reactions collected from Togetter and X threads.

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