味な副音声 ～voice of food～currently outside the Japan top 100
むしろ嫌いな食べ物の話をしよう。編集者・岡本仁さんの嫌いな(好きな)食べ物の話。
When editor Okamoto Hitoshi (岡本仁) was asked for his top three favorite foods on the podcast Aji na Fukuonsei ~voice of food~, he fired back: "Ask me for three dislikes and I can answer instantly." What followed was a rare episode built around soy milk, oysters, and beef — the three things he cannot eat — and why, as host Sakiko argues in her book Born Already al Dente (生まれた時からアルデンテ), knowing what you hate is the clearest window into who you are.
What this episode answers
What foods does Okamoto Hitoshi dislike, and why does he dislike each one?
His three dislikes are soy milk, oysters, and beef. He loves tofu but cannot abide soy milk, oysters repel him visually regardless of preparation to the point where he cannot hit 'like' on an Instagram photo of them, and his aversion to beef — especially fatty marbled cuts — traces back to a mountain upbringing in Hokkaido where the local butcher carried no beef at all.
What foods did Okamoto name as favorites?
Anko (and Japanese sweets generally), kimchi, and instant ramen; his current favorite is the Hokkaido miso instant ramen Kuma Shutsubotsu Chui with kimchi added, and he consistently chooses his favorites without hesitation — ordering kimchi bokkeumbap at a restaurant famous for konguksu because the soy-milk broth is off-limits.
What is Okamoto's position on whether coffee and anko go together, and how has it been shaken?
He had long been certain they do not go together, but at a talk event four coffee professionals — Tsurumi-san, Tashiro Shota of Merci Bake, Kajihara-san in Fujiyoshida, and Otani Minoru in Kyoto — unanimously said they do, and Otani even makes coffee zenzai at his shop every New Year; Okamoto has begun to experiment but admits he feels an odd reluctance to let the old conviction go.
How does the Korean drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo connect to his food philosophy?
In episode 12, Woo Young-woo explains she needs gimbap because bibimbap's unpredictable flavors and textures startle her; Okamoto saw his own behavior in this — ordering kimchi bokkeumbap at a konguksu restaurant without a second thought — and took it as proof that knowing what you dislike is precisely what lets you know what you love.
Who holds the view that 'losing a dislike is sad,' and in what context was it expressed?
Host Sakiko wrote it in her book Born Already al Dente, arguing that because she cannot eat certain things, she can only imagine the joy they give others and that imagination becomes limitless; a dislike is part of one's identity, so losing one feels like losing part of oneself, and she said that view has not fundamentally changed.
Rebelling Against "Your Top 3 Favorite Foods"
The show's regular opening asks each guest for their three favorite foods. Okamoto Hitoshi pushed back the moment the question landed: "Everything delicious qualifies, so I can't narrow it down to three. Ask me for three dislikes and I'll answer on the spot." That single reply flipped the episode. What was meant to be a conversation about favorites became a rare deep-dive into dislikes — a pivot only a first-rate editor could pull off.
Three Dislikes — and Why
Okamoto's three are soy milk, oysters, and beef. With soy milk he draws a peculiar line: he loves tofu but cannot abide soy milk, which rules out konguksu — the Korean cold noodle dish served in a chilled soy-milk broth — even at the most celebrated shops. Oysters are a no regardless of preparation; the look of them is enough, and he says he physically cannot bring himself to hit "like" on an Instagram photo of oysters.
Beef is rooted in biography. He grew up in the mountains of Hokkaido where the local butcher carried no beef at all — sukiyaki was pork, curry was pork. His first steak arrived as a celebration meal at a Western-style restaurant in town after passing his university entrance exams, and he found it entirely unappealing. Fatty, marbled cuts in particular disagree with his body. The point was made vividly at a high-end restaurant in Karatsu: surrounded by Saga beef on the menu, he ordered the one outlier — an imported Australian lean cut, the cheapest item listed. His companion asked whether he was worried about the cost. His answer: "I like this, so I'm having this."
Woo Young-woo and Bibimbap — Dislikes Define the Self
Okamoto recently rewatched the Korean drama Extraordinary Attorney Woo (우영우 변호사는 천재야) and found something that clicked. The protagonist Woo Young-woo, a lawyer on the autism spectrum, eats nothing but gimbap. In episode 12, at a rooftop party where gimbap is unavailable, she explains: "Bibimbap brings unexpected flavors and textures that startle me — that's why I need gimbap." Okamoto connected that logic directly to himself. At a restaurant famous for konguksu, he doesn't hesitate: soy milk is out, so kimchi bokkeumbap goes on the table without a second thought. Knowing what you dislike, he said, is exactly what lets you know what you love.
Host Sakiko's book Born Already al Dente carries the same idea: being unable to eat something means the pleasure those who love it feel can only be imagined, and the imagination has no ceiling. A dislike is part of who you are, so losing one is a kind of loss — "losing a dislike is sad." Revisiting the book now, Sakiko said she still holds that view.
Anko, Kimchi, and Instant Ramen — The Loves Make Their Appearance
Coaxed gently, Okamoto named his favorites. Anko came first and fastest. Asked why, he said simply, "Because I like it." The cover of his book Boku no Oyatsu Chizu (僕のおやつ地図) features the taiyaki from Wakaba in Yotsuya, and his attachment to Japanese sweets runs deep. Alongside anko he drinks roasted tea — genmaicha or hojicha — and for years he has been certain that coffee and anko simply do not go together.
Then a talk event upended that certainty. Four people from the coffee world — Tsurumi-san, Tashiro Shota (田代翔太) of Merci Bake, Kajihara-san who runs a shop in Fujiyoshida, and Otani Minoru (大谷実) in Kyoto — told him unanimously that he was wrong. Otani even said he makes coffee zenzai at his shop every New Year. Okamoto admits he has started to experiment, but has not arrived at full conviction. More revealingly, he wondered aloud whether he would even feel happy if that old conviction finally crumbled — a hint that his dislikes have become something more than preferences; they are part of his identity.
Kimchi is a firm love. His current routine is to add kimchi to the miso-flavored instant ramen Kuma Shutsubotsu Chui (熊出没注意), made by Asahi Foods in Hokkaido. He used to stir butter into miso ramen; now it's kimchi. He also keeps Sapporo Ichiban on hand from any convenience store or supermarket, and laughed that every Korean drama he watches makes him want instant ramen — especially scenes where characters flip the pot lid upside down and use it as a bowl. "That's lovely," he said.
An Invitation to Podcasting
Sakiko told Okamoto she has long been waiting for him to start his own podcast. He demurred: as an editor, he feels a strong resistance to putting out anything unpolished, and said he instinctively asks whenever invited onto a program whether it will be live or recorded — because he simply cannot imagine an unedited take being interesting. His wife Okamoto Keiko (岡本敬子) has told him he could do it himself, but he remains unconvinced. Sakiko offered to walk him through microphone setup whenever he is ready, closing the episode on a note of hope that fans are quietly banking on.
Takeaways
- Okamoto Hitoshi can name his three dislikes — soy milk, oysters, and beef — without a moment's hesitation, with his beef aversion rooted in a Hokkaido mountain upbringing where beef was simply never on the table.
- His attachment to his dislikes goes beyond taste: even when four coffee professionals unanimously told him coffee and anko do go together, he found himself reluctant to accept it, sensing that a dislike lost is part of himself lost.
- The episode's central argument — that knowing what you hate is the clearest map to what you love — appears in both Okamoto's own behavior and in host Sakiko's book Born Already al Dente, where she writes that losing a dislike feels like losing a piece of who you are.
This article is edited from a machine transcript of the first 30 minutes of the episode. It is not an official summary — please listen to the episode itself.