Hello there, sorry if the picture isn't in high quality, I just took it last night watching the series "Like a dragon: Yakuza".
In this scene, there are in a club in 1995 and looks like they are eating melon with ham, that I'm pretty sure it's an Italian "summer aperitivo".
Please, can someone that lives there or knows better than me, if is something common to eat in Japan or if was some crew joke?
Thanks,
by Bartoccio84
31 comments
It’s not unusual pairing melon with Italian ham
I’ve only ever had this dish at Italian restaurants in Tokyo.
In the late 80s and 90s (I guess during the boom) Japanese people were starting to get into Italian food.
Looks like prosciutto
Italian food is common in Japan. Italian food is also maffia food. Not a very unusual connection to make. Ham and melon has been a global hit regardless.
Prosciutto and melon is popular in the summer. I’ve only seen it being served in Italian places in Tokyo (this was in 2016)
Common pairing aceoss the world, especially Italy. Add small mozzarella balls and a drip of thick red wine vinegar for extra extravagance
To the contrary to some of the comments, [Prosciutto and melon (生ハムメロン)](https://www.eataly.com/us_en/magazine/culture-and-tradition/history-of-prosciutto-melone) is actually from Italy.
Basically, Italian food became the “trendy food” (ナウい) in the 70-80’s taking over French food, as pasta were easier for Japanese people to familiarize to (since there are various noodles in Japan), as well as the fact that the menus were often translated into much easier languages for people to understand. Hence, Italian food = pasta in the minds of many Japanese, especislly from that generation. So it was served at places including clubs that were considered to be a trendy/hipster place for young people to go to, also easy to serve in such places because you don’t actually have to cook to prepare this dish.
Ham (commonly a ‘country style’ ham) and melon is a common pairing. It derives from Italian cuisine, but like many other Italian foods, it’s popular and found across the globe.
And Japan hasn’t been an isolated society with no exterior influences on it’s culture since at least the early Jomon period (5000–3520 BC). Arguably, since it was colonized from the mainland, it’s *never* been free of such influences.
I serve that all the time. It’s common like a tornado, you don’t seem them everyday but no one is surprised when it happens.
It’s not like people have them everyday here, but in places where they serve European food, they may serve them. Or they may serve them at hotels, clubs, etc.
Yes ? It’s a summer classic in France.
Super common to pair prosciutto with melon. Delicious 👌🏼
Prosciutto and melon is a common pairing.
Common in Germany as well. Never had a canary melon without it.
A classic pairing, I also love pairing grilled summer peaches with proscuitto!
[sciutto and Melon Salad Recipe](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/1025351-prosciutto-and-melon-salad)
In Greece proper sliced cured ham is served with melon.
This is a mediterranean classic. Very common in Spain in the summer months
This is a common food eaten in Italy and Italian households worldwide 🙂 my cousins had it at their wedding. Prosciutto and melon, usually cantaloupe in my family’s case 🙂
I had this in Italy. It was good
Prosciutto and Charentais Melons are a great pairing here in Switzerland.
Again and again I see how similar we are…
Italians
Prosciutto and melon: Delizioso! Wow fantastico!
Ham and pineapple: I will kill you! Bastardo!!
Classic pairing in Belgium as wel, pimp it up with a drizzle of port wine.
It’s tasty . also raw salmon and melon
Prosciutto and melon is a common summer dish in Italy. It is very good it has that whole sweet salty thing going on.
That’s an italian thing too. Or maybe italian american, i’m not sure. But Prosciutto wrapped cantaloupe is thing.
I think the point of the scene is more that they’re eating melon at all. Even today, melon is sn expensive delicacy, starting from $20 or $30 in the supermarket, going up to hundreds of dollars for an upmarket gift-boxed fruit from a Ginza department store.
It shows the Yakuza flaunting their money in a high-end hostess club, and it might have been the first time these two orphans ever got to try it. Prosciutto was also probably pretty rare and expensive at the time.
Here’s a site showing some gift melons you can buy online and their prices.
https://s.kakaku.com/ranking/food/0028_0015/0004/
We do this a lot in France at summertime, most of our meals actually
Ive always eaten melon with prosciutto, delicious!
In Japan, there is a culture of eating watermelon with a pinch of salt.
There is also a sweet called Shio daifuku, sweet bean paste in salted mochi.
Salty chocolate is also popular.
Melon with prosciutto is well accepted as it is similar to those.
This is a typical dish in countries that produce both ingredients (mainly Spain, Italy and France). It also became popular in Japan, to the point of having its own Wikipedia article in Japanese. Interestingly, the article itself has the katakana for Italian and Spanish, explicitly mentioning it’s eaten in both countries.
[https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%94%9F%E3%83%8F%E3%83%A0%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AD%E3%83%B3](https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E7%94%9F%E3%83%8F%E3%83%A0%E3%83%A1%E3%83%AD%E3%83%B3)