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A Japanese yogurt label featuring Lake Bled.
Although this Japanese yogurt depicts what appears to be Slovenia’s most-famous and spectacular
landmark, Lake Bled, the text reads: "Scandinavian yoghurt - made with real milk." Clearly something is amiss here.
I
mean, if they’re lying about Bled’s true location, could they also be
lying about the fact that there’s real milk inside? Maybe it’s the fake kind
– the kind that causes what Chinese doctors refer to as "big head
disease." Maybe it’s not even yogurt but something else entirely, like expired goat cheese.
"Everybody lies," Nick Diamos once said, "but it doesn’t matter because nobody listens." A truer lie has never been spoken.
Have a wonderful weekend!
(Many thanks to Marianne!)
Comments
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Wow, I am constantly amazed at the gems you dig up.I wonder how
lactose intolerant the Japanese are. Perhaps the Lake Bled adorned
Scandinavian yoghurt does not smell so nicely on its way out.
I have been passing by this brand daily for the past five years and
it litterally never occured to me it might be Bled! My brain sort of
registered a church and some green background…..but it is not my
favourite brand, so I never buy it. But I definetely feel like an idiot
now! I will buy it first thing tommorow and give it a try….who
knows…that "real milk" thing might just as well be true! FYI,
the best yoghurt here in Japan (at least considered by most
foreigners)) is a brand called Bulgaria! It is possible to get it in
unsweetened form, which to me is the only way to eat it. Most of other
brands are disgustingly sweet! But my Japanese friends love it sweet
and can’t even swallow it plain.Tomorrow we’ll see how "sweet" good ol’
Bled is….
ka-ma: How cool! I’m itchin’ to hear your review — please do post it here.
Anybody who reviews the yoghurt may also want to pop a copy to McSweeney’s Reviews of New Food:http://www.mcsweeneys.net/links/newfood/
Hmmm… I can smell a good lawsuit here. A national symbol being used for commercial purposes… that’s $10 million right there.
Well to be entirely exact, the label reads “Yogurt from northern Europe”. Which is to say, maybe the Japanese just decided Slovenia is a northern European country now…
What with some politicians going on about how the northern Europe countries should be models for Slovenia’s social state, this could actually be meant as a compliment. On the other hand, it might just be a cock-up…
Btw, for some obscure reason, most Japanese yogurts *will* have Bolgaria somewhere in their name, and I never even realized Bolgaria was supposed to be famous for its yogurt until I went to Japan, heh. I mean, it’s not exactly an well known fact here in Europe, is it? And yes, the Japanese do like their yogurt sweet. Very sweet. Eegh. Good thing with the yogurt ka-ma mentioned is, the sugar comes in a separate bag, so you can chuck the little sugar bag out and be on your merry way. (btw, ka-ma, did you try the aloe vera yogurt? I thought that was pretty ok…)
freddie: you obviously haven’t been to Japan yet. national symbols mean squat in the land of Statues of Liberty in parking lots and Eiffel tower replicas in every self-respecting city…
Ooops. Blame me, or rather my Japanese sources, for the poor translation…
The translation is not bad, the two kanji characters used are frequently used
to describe Scandinavian countries as a whole, although they do have a name
Scandinavia in another script called katakana and used solely for foreign names
and words.
Oh yes…I forgot the Aloe Vera yogurt…I used to eat tons and tons of it. I
never saw it outside Japan, so whoever gets the chance to come here, put that
one on your must try list! Other than that the selection of fruit flavored
yogurts is pretty bad, especially for someone used to diversity of flavors.
There is Aloe Vera, apple, orange, pineapple, kiwi, strawberry, blueberry and
recently cherry (Danone). Occasionally there is something else, but definitely
not what you could get in Slovenia or elsewhere in Europe.
.
This Japanese blogger, who I think is living in Slovenia, also has some comments about this yogurt lid. Here’s an (unfortunately) impregnable Babelfish translation.
Finally….here is my report on the search for the holy
grail…aghmmm, famous Bled yogurt!
- It turned out, the yogurt I had in mind has a very
similar picture, but at the close inspection, it is definitely not Bled! My
mistake, and I sincerely apologize to all concerned!
- After some search, I found out that the before
mentioned yogurt was on sale a couple of years ago (from 2002 on) but not in the
supermarkets, only in so called Combini (convenience store like 7-11, Save on,
Lawson…) and I even managed to find a person who actually ate it at that time.
A friend of mine remembered it when I showed her a picture and she said it was
(her words) "alright, but nothing special" Yes, it was made of real cow milk and
it was apparently one of those so called "functional foods" or foods fortified
with different kinds of lactobacillus or other strange things to make them
healthier. And those kind of foods are in the last couple of years all the craze
here in Japan, so the products appear and soon being replaced with the latest
fashionable thing- they disappear just as quickly.
To summon up…..I wish I could find it…..and believe
me, I will keep on looking. Maybe someday, in some remote corner of Japan, I
will be able to find it. And the moment I do, I will let you know!
The Babelfish translation is not only impregnable, but also hilarious, even by computer translation standards. This entire mystery – which appears to be getting quite a bit of international attention – reminds me of the Simpsons episode in which Homer discovers his face on a box of Japanese laundry detergent and becomes obsessed with trying to figure out just how it got there. Maybe someone could call this yoghurt company? ;)BTW, if can’t figure out what a picture of Lake Bled has to do with "northern Europe," maybe you look at at it this way: How many Slovenes would notice anything unusual if, say, a packet of Chinese-style noodles featured a photo of a Japanese landscape (perhaps with a temple and some mountains) on its packaging?
^ The words "you" and "should" are magically missing from the second paragraph of my post, in case anyone is trying to figure out what I meant. I think I may have some sort of a disorder that prevents me from seeing any typos on the "Preview" screen, even though they immediately become visible the moment I click on "Post."
jeez, the babelfish just can’t wrap itself around this guys colloquialisms… basicaly, he does a short introduction to your blog (a blog that is focused mainly on the worlds ignorance to the jewel that is slovenia, and the ensuing blunders), then picks up on this post. the guy obviously did some research regarding the fantom northern-european/alpine yogurt, and he found a commercial introduction of it on some webpage. apparently the company is not too specific about why the yogurt is supposed to be northern-european in the first place, let alone explain the use of scenery from a country facing the adriatic… he wraps the post up with an apologetic tone - just because something goes in japan, it doesn’t mean it will go unnoticed in the rest of the world. oh, one more thing - he never heard of this yogurt, either.
Thanks for the report, ka-ma, and thanks Cornelius for the translation!I will resist the urge to quote from the Japan episode mentioned by AZ2SI..
mind you, i was scolded by the japanese blogger for using the word “apologetic” in the ad-hoc translation. i’ll admit, it was a wee bit unsolicited.
I thought it’s not fair if I myself don’t write something here, though I don’t feel easy in writing in English. First of all, as a fan of this site, thanks Michael for offering the interesting articles. And thanks cornelius for the translation and explanation of what I wrote. (No, I didn’t ’scold’ you, not at all!) Actually the company is rather notorious in Japan, because of a scandal some years ago. Though I didn’t mention it ostensively im my article, Japanese readers would sense the sarcastic undertone.