Parfait? Sundae?

I wrote that the corn dog is called American dog in Japan. And Cream puff is called "chou cream" in Japan. Today I found a difference regarding Parfait.

In Japan we call this kind of food Parfait: Typically, it consists of a dish of ice cream topped with sauce or syrup (often chocolate, strawberry) and in some cases other items such as chopped fruits, peanuts, whipped cream, etc. Yes, it is called a Sundae in North America. In wikipedia, American Parfait is described like this. French parfait has no article. I did not know that only Japanese call it parfait.

In the nature of "topping type food," Parfait can be a kind of "challenge menu". Sometimes it is too huge, sometimes it has unmatching topping. However basically we have an image for parfait, it is girl's sweet, cute desert. Actually some parfait has a cute name like "the glass shoese of Cinderella" . ha ha ha.

Then Nifty Portal Z has a series "Men's parfait." Its project is "Let's go to eat parfait with only guys." Incongruous guys went to a pretty cafe and ate big parfait, that all. But it's funny. They ate tall one, funny one, then huge one in  in tough guy mood. They call them parfait samurai because of  the eating way with long spoon. Ha ha ha, you have the same image for Sundae? It is embarrassing to eat it alone or with guys only? I hardly eat parfait because it 's so high in calories, maybe after I'm 70years old, I won't care about weight so much and eat parfait as much as I want. :-) Ah! As a mischievous trick, how about  this?, fallen sundae food model.

By the way, Speaking of corn dog, I love "THAT part".   Nifty Portal Z has the post  "let's eat  THAT part of corn dog as much as I can, It's not the main body, I love crispy bottom part.  We say "Kari kari no tokoro"

Comments

[Cath Lee]

Haha... why are the men wearing sunglasses? Are they shy and do not want to be recognised?

[Mari]

Hi there thank you for your comments.
Ice Cream is okay. Actually it is very popular in Japan and not only women, guys love to eat it. So I wonder eating sweets in the table is embarassing for guys. It will be easier to eat in standing and having it by single hand.

In the USA, I never see "parfait" with ice cream. Parfait always have layers like the "tall one" but no ice cream. Layers in normal, US parfait are made of gelatine, whip cream and, fruit. They are not so high in calories.

At my work place, they have strange parfait made of yogurt (plain, not sweet), fruit and granola (sweetened rolled oats). I sometimes have it for lunch, and nothing else. It is not so large as a Nippon parfait so calories are okay (for a guy ^^').

For dinner tonight, I drank soybean protien drink. Jack Daniel's and I are having a neat conversation.

There are many reply posts today. Is this topic so controversial? I like it... Sundae.

[bshock]

I have always been mildly surprised that ice cream is so popular in Japan. More than 80% of the world's adult population suffers from lactose intolerance, with the primary exceptions being Northern Europeans. Even as someone with primarily European heritage, I find in my middle age that more than a tiny amount of any dairy product will make me ill.

Oh well, I suppose if something tastes good enough, human beings will tolerate the side effects.

[bingobangoboy]

I dunno, Japanese parfaits are just the same as the desserts we called parfaits in Canada (my home country). The wikipedia "American parfait" article text describes a parfait as I know it, but the picture is just of a sundae. To me, the wikipedia definitions are backwards.
If it has layers, to me it's a parfait. If it's just ice cream with toppings, it's only a sundae.

Also in Canada, same as Japan, usually men don't order such fancy desserts, but I noticed that Japanese men often order drinks that most men would never order in Canada. (EG drinks with lots of fruit, fruity frappachino with whipped cream, etc)

[CS]

I like this tonkatsu parfait (see URL). But the very tall one might be even cooler.

[Sakurako]

Nifty Portal Z!! MY FAVOURITE ^-^

a man eating an ice cream... from comments, i can see the culture difference

the culture here i cannot get used to, is kiss. i go to a Gymnasium(junior high & senior high school) in Germany. and girls here kiss "on lip" every day everywhere... as a greeting.

before i left Japan, i saw a TV program with Kazuko Hosoki. a 5yr old boy said, "my mama kisses me. i like her but i dont like kissing"
i could understand him. but now, i cannot. why does he not like kissing with family? i see my host family, my friends kissing each other every day.

[Ryan A]

That's quite a man's dessert; the stack is so high ^^ Well, usually eating ice-cream at a shop is a social thing, but not strange to eat alone. Very relaxing.

It is not difficult for men to eat ice cream, here. It is always better to share ice cream with a lover but there is no problem to eat a sundae alone.

Sometimes, I visit this place.
http://www.culvers.com/
My favorite sundae is this Turtle. I don't know why it is called that but can guess pecans resemble a turtle's shell when flat on ice cream.
http://www.culvers.com/NutritionalInformation/ChoiceCalculatorResults.aspx?IdMenuItem=196
There are too many calories to visit often so I go only 1 time in 2 months.