Dashi is the secret to Japanese cooking, but Safeway doesn't know it

Contrary to popular stereotypes, the most important staple secret ingredient in a Japanese kitchen is not soy sauce. It is dashi, or bonito fish broth. Apparently, most mainstream American supermarkets have not caught onto this important distinction. I was at Lucky supermarket during lunch today buying groceries and thinking that surely a modern grocery in the diverse city of San Francisco would have dashi, but was surprised to find that their "Asian Foods" section had a dozen different brands of soy sauce and not a single box of dashi.

When I got home, I called the neighborhood Safeway to try my luck there.

Me: Hi, do you sell dashi? You know, bonito fish broth.
Safeway lady: Excuse me?
Me: It's a staple in any Japanese kitchen.
Safeway: Hold on, let me get someone to help you with that.
(She puts me on hold forever. I get sick of waiting and hang up.)

Interesting... I guess I have to go to Japantown to get some.

Comments

[exvaxman]

I scored a major amount last weekend. I went into one of my usual Asian stores and found 60 of the same pictured Dashi containers for $1.25 each. Needless to say, I bought them all. I do not understand why the price was so low.

[Korean Avenger]

That wouldn't surprise me in the least that you couldn't find bonito fish broth at a Safeway, even one on the west coast. I'd be willing to bet that you could find it at a Whole Foods but at more grossly inflated prices than in Japantown.

[Saint Isaac]

Luckly, in Brazil, we don't have this kind of problem. At least in Sao Paulo where there is a big Japanese community.
Unfortunatelly, people here still think that the secret of Japanese cuisine is monosodium glutamate.

[jonathan]

If for some odd reason you can't find it at JapanTown, try the Sunset Super way out on Judah street - the biggest Asian market in SF.

[Kiyosada]

You guys don't have a Mitsuwa or Marukai within your area? We Japanese Americans or our Japanese friends (and many non-Japanese, judging from the daily customer diversity) living here in the L.A./Santa Monica area love them.

http://www.mitsuwa.com/

http://www.marukai.com/

[CypherAK]

I guess I am pretty luck. We have several Asian Grocery stores here in Alaska that stock Dashi.

[Sean Sakamoto]

I posted a video on my japan blog of a chef from Gifu showing how to make your own dashi, if you're interested...

http://www.idratherbe.tv/injapan/2008/12/autumn-cooking-in-japan-great-cooking-starts-with-good-water-shuji-ozeki-told-me-most-chefs-might-say-that-good-food-begin.html