Any "like to cook" foodies here?

[Aleh]

Random question.

Are the carrots available in Japan different from the ones in the UK (and I presume the US)? Because I find carrots sweet and there are lots of scenes in Anime of children complaining about how bitter they are.

There are differences in carrots even here in the US -- nevermind heirloom varieties and the like. Publix, for instance, almost never carries the thicker varieties (which are better for soups and roasted carrot recipes), for instance... but that's only a superficial thing.

Broadly, there are five or so varieties (or categories of varieties) of carrots that people think of: Danvers, Nantes, Imperator, Chantenay, and Ball or Mini. Most grocery stores sell the Imperator varieties over the others -- perhaps because they're the sweetest. I mean, seriously -- if you get into the actual cultivars, they have names like "Sugarsnax 54."

Or it could be about their physical durability, comparative uniformity of shape, and length. Some of the product descriptions suggest that might be it.

Based on this conference presentation, which is admittedly not the best source, carrot production in Japan tends towards the Kuroda or Kuroda-Chantenay varieties... which kinda confuses me, given that Kuroda is a Chantenay variety (although it may just be an issue of different classification and taxonomy systems coupled with my only passing familiarity with the subject). I do suggest watching at least the first bit, as he has multiple pictures of what the carrots actually look like at market.

(I stopped watching about three minutes in; even though he's talking about some reasonably interesting things, I'm tired and his accent makes him hard to follow. Plus, well, YouTube video from a conference I've never heard of.)

Further research does generally back that point, however... so the short answer is "yes" -- Asian and American markets tend to prefer different carrot varieties. The somewhat longer answer is "kinda", given that other varieties of carrots are available in both types of markets.

Oh, and I have no idea about carrot sales in the UK.