I tend to put a lot of pepper in my dishes but I noticed that the restaurants in Japan tend to not have table pepper, other than ramen places.
A few times when I asked for pepper the staff were somewhat taken aback after which they brought some powder from the kitchen. One chef once asked me whether I have the habit of putting (more) pepper in my food, as if it was something unexpected.
I was thinking, maybe in Japan asking for more pepper gives them the impression that their food is not tasty enough so I have to add an ingredient myself? Would some chefs be offended or not happy that I ask for pepper?
by bahasasastra