Have you ever tried a food or drink specifically because it was a vocabulary word you wanted to associate with a sensation?
My biggest success with doing that is 柚子 - it took a little while to grow on me but now it’s my favorite citrus.
たこわさ came up in a game the other day and while I’m probably not going to seek it out, if the opportunity came up… for the 暗記, you know?
Is there anything you’ve learned the name of first and eaten later?
I can’t recall having intentionally done this, but I think it’s cool how much easier it can be to remember things that you have personally experienced - when I was in Japan as an exchange student it felt easy to learn&remember the names of foods and drinks after just trying/having them once.
Even food that I didn’t actually try myself, but that others who I hung out with were having!
On the other hand I am way worse at remembering things like foods&drinks that I just learn through SRS, even the ones that I actually go out of my way to watch random YouTubers consume/review or that I see in anime/media as well 
Ramen 
Luckily I first tried ramen in Japan, and it didn’t let me down even in the slightest - but the ramen I’ve had at a couple places in Norway afterwards has been very mediocre 
普茶料理 or 精進料理
First time I visited Japan I was still eating red meat and seafood, but since then I have started a vegetarian diet. I was a bit skeptical if I’d find any good vegetarian options on my second trip with my sister, but it turned out to be quite easy in the end. Nowadays there are quite many vegan and vegetarian options available, at least in the big cities.
I guess Japan has long history of vegetarian food and there are many traditional dishes that do not include meat. One of the best experiences we had was at this restaurant called Fucha Bon in Tokyo. It was on the pricier side, but I can really recommend it for those who are interested in Chinese and Japanese Buddhist vegetarian food or just enjoying a nice meal in a traditional restaurant.
Since then I have found a few books on 精進料理 and tried to cook some dishes, but I’m not very good with that yet. I wish on my next travel I could visit more Buddhist temples and experience their local cuisines.
P.S. My work computer seems to display the kanji I write in their Chinese form, I wonder if it shows like that to others as well.
EDIT. Guess I didn’t understand the topic that clearly 
Me trying these Buddhist temple cuisines had very little to do with the kanji per se, but I do find them interesting nonetheless. I also love to see these expressions of drinking tea together, which seem to be very common in China as well.
I tried to eat 金玉 Noggins but then I was banned from the WK forum
And here I am、 just happy knowing 食べる and 食う。
@nikosant
Maybe this chrome extension may help you ?
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/%E9%83%A8%E5%88%86%E5%BC%B7%E5%88%B6%E3%83%A1%E3%82%A4%E3%83%AA%E3%82%AA%E3%81%A1%E3%82%83%E3%82%93/kmjcmncjhdnaealenhoohllicfkdojpb
I’d say tons of words. I mean, we’re currently watching Oishinbo and there are so many things I’ve never tried before in that show. Most of them are still on my bucket list of “Japanese food I wanna try”, but I’ve managed to tick off some of them: 豚カツ, 親子丼, 茸御飯, お握り, 卵焼 to name a few dishes I’ve first heard mentioned (somewhere in Japanese media, so not just Oishinbo), but then made myself as I just had to try them.
Though, to be fair, it was never as an attempt to correctly associate the words and kanji with the dishes: I just wanted to eat them! 
.
I did order Zarusoba for the first time after watching that Oishinbo episode. I had eaten soba before, but not that way. It was quite perfect for a hot day because it’s a cold dish, and it was also perfect for a FoodPanda lockdown delivery because it doesn’t have to be delivered steaming hot
ooh this is a great idea
We need more theads about specific vocab and situations
I thought of one other - 食パン!
There’s a bit in サトコとナダ where Satoko laments the quality of white bread in the states and tries to find some shokupan, and that was the first inclination I’d got that it was any much different from say, wonderbread. Now it’s often my go-to for sandwiches.
こんにゃくcame up recently in my anki deck… I think I tried some once without knowing what it was - perhaps it’s time to give it another shot now that I have the resources to know something to do with it.
I’ve eaten a great many dishes in Japan. Could not say how many of them I tried specifically because I’d heard the name of them before. Though I do distinctly remember only learning the name of 茶碗蒸し after I’d eaten it.
Wonder if it’s worth listing out every single thing I’ve eaten in Japan. 
I was wrong about (knowingly) having had こんにゃく before (I think I was maybe thinking of ようかん).
I tried doing this:
And it came out pretty good! A nice little dish that certainly gives me a more vivid association with the word.
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