shiizakana (appetizers eaten with sake) mukouzuke (mainly sashimi)
kuchitori (side dish) suimono (soup)
nimono (simmered dish) aemono (Dishes dressed with sauce)
kounomono (pickles) hassun (morsels from the mountains )
sunomono (vinegared dish) yakimono (broiled fish)
mushimono (steamed dish) nabemono (pot dish)
rice miso soup
dessert (eg. ice cream).
Although each dish holds only a small serving, it is customary to take your time eating, enjoying the presentation of the food and the atmosphere of the room. Most Kaiseki restaurants are high class and formal. The Kaiseki Ryori meal is usually expensive, since it takes so much time and skill to prepare. If you eat in a Kaiseki restaurant, it can cost more than 20,000 yen ($150) per person.
Japanese food is fresh, healthy, and low in fat. The Japanese believe that food should satisfy all the senses. Food is always prepared with great care and is presented beautifully. The freshest ingredients are combined in ways that delight the eyes as well as the taste buds.
The Japanese enjoy a wide variety of vegetables in their diet, including Daikon (Japanese radish), Hakusai (Chinese cabbage), and Nasubi (Japanese eggplant), as well as many others. Although the Japanese eat little red meat, they are known to have some of the best if not the best beef in the world. Japanese Kobe beef is fattened with beer from the port of kobe and Wadakin or Matsuzaka beef is raised in dark sheds, fed hot mash and even massaged regularly.
One of the most exotic foods in the world can be found in Japan, the infamous Fugu. The Fugu is a deadly puffer fish that is served in certain licensed establishments. Several people die every year from eating this delicacy. This fish contains deadly nerve toxins in its liver so licensed chefs must be very careful not to score the liver at all when preparing the fish.
One of the most widely known types of Japanese food is sushi. Sushi combines seasonal seafood and rice, the staple diet of the Japanese people. A wide variety of vegetables can be used. Sushi is eaten with the fingers, often as a snack. The three types of sushi are: "Nigiri-Zushi, vinegared rice with raw or cooked fish, seafood or eggs, garnished with wasabi; Norimaki-Zushi, vinegared cooked rice and tiny tidbits of fish, seafood, or meat and edible seaweed or laver rolled up like a jelly roll and cut into into bite sized pieces; Chirashi-Zushi, the most artful and complex sushi of all, made from nine ingredients prepared in nine special steps."(Saber, 274)
The staples of Japan are clearly recognizable to anyone familiar with Japanese food. The staple grain of Japan is definitely rice although noodles are also very popular. The main protein in Japan is fish. "Each Japanese adult eats more than 154lbs of fish a year" (Ridgewell, 9) Tofu or soybean curd is so popular that it rivals fish as the staple protein. The Japanese use very little fat in their diet and when they do it is usually in the form of seed oil.
Desserts are popular in Japan but they are not the desserts we are accustomed to. "Confections do have their place in Japanese cuisine but the manner of their making and the style of their eating is totally different from what we understand in the west as dessert. If they are cooked they are most likely steamed and are eaten in between meal times as an accompaniment to green tea.(Booth, 233) Some common desserts for the Japanese are Manjyu is a steamed cake and Kushi-dango which is a skewered sweet dumpling. What the Japanese eat as dessert are mostly fruits such as oranges, loquats, persimmons, summer mandarins and pear apples. These items are also frequently enjoyed as snacks and are often available from street vendors.
Some of the typical dishes found in Japan are:
- Kobu-maki which are kelp rolls with chicken
- Hiyashi chuka which is a noodle dish made with chuka soba noodles and is served with lots of toppings
- Curry Udon is Udon noodles in curry soup
- Kaki-tama-jiru is a Japanese egg drop soup
- Kimpira-gobo, which is burdock root braised in sake and soysauce.
- Yakitori is chicken, usually skewered like a kabob served with leeks.
- Shiro-ae is a mashed tofu salad.
Tea is the number one drink in Japan. Green Tea is the most popular type of tea in Japan. There are several types of green tea: "Matcha is the fine powdered green tea reserved especially for the Chanoyu, while gyokuru is considered next to matcha. Other green teas include aoyagi or aoyanagi, sen-cha and ban-cha, which are coarser, and habu-cha. Kombu-cha is a tea made from seaweed, while mugi-cha is a tea brewed from toasted wheat or barley grains and taken cold." (Saber, 275)
Matcha tea is only made from the finest leaves of the first harvesting days. They are ground into a fine powder, which has a bright green color. This tea can become very bitter because of its fine consistency so the Japanese have found two ways to prepare it. This tea can also be enjoyed informally for those who do not wish to take part in the tea ceremony. Gyokuru is made by a special process from plants in shaded gardens. Only the tender top buds of the plants are plucked for Gyokuru, which means “pearl dew,” and special care is taken to prevent bruising. Steaming, rolling, and firing are done by hand. Its sweet flavor has made Gyokuru the title of the white wine of teas. Sen-cha is Japan's most popular tea. It has a clean, light, vegetal taste. The leaf is steamed, dried and rolled. The resulting infusion is a pale, greenish yellow with a high Vitamin C content. Because of it's minimal processing.
Sake is the most popular alcoholic beverage in Japan and is drunk at all meals. Sake is made from fermented rice, is served in tiny cups called sakazuki, and is poured from an individual porcelain or pottery flask called tokkuri. The legal drinking age in Japan is 20, but alcoholic drinks are readily available in public vending machines, which carry a variety of drinks including cold beer and hot or cold sake.
The most apparent connection between food and religion is vegetarianism. It is the result of the Buddhist prohibition on killing living things. Interestingly, vegetarianism in Japan does not preclude the eating of fish.
Food in Japan plays a big part in holiday celebrations. New Year is the most important festival celebrated in Japan. Special foods called osechi-ryori, are eaten during this time. Zoni a soup made of pounded rice cakes, vegetables and fish or chicken and toso served with spiced sake is very popular. Sweet black beans and pink rice made with red azuki beans are New Year favorite. New Year foods are served in lacquered boxes called jubako.
February 4 is Stesburn during which, "people throw roasted soybeans from their doorways and say oniwa soto or 'Go away devils’ and fukuwa uchi or 'come in good fortune' and then eat one bean for every year of their lives."(Ridgewell, 28) March 3 is the girls festival. "Special colored rice cakes and amazake a sweet drink made from rice." (Ridgewell, 28) May 5, Childrens day features "rice dumplings filled with sweet bean paste and a rice dumpling wrapped in bamboo and tied with string." (Ridgewell, 28)
Bibliography
Bourdain, Anthony. A Cooks Tour. New York Bloomsbury, 2001
Booth, Shirley. Food of Japan. New York: Interlink Books, 2002.
Cost, Bruce. Asian Ingredients. New York William Morrow and Company, Inc., 1988
Fusillo, Patrice and Noriko Araki. Japan Guide. Cold Spring Harbor: Open Road Publishing, 2000
Jaffrey, Madhur. Far Eastern Cookery. New York: Harper & Row, Publishers, 1989
Shelly, Rex Cultures of the World, Japan. New York: Marshall Cavendish, 1990
Statler, Oliver. All-Japan: The Catalogue of Everything Japanese. New York: Quill, 1984
Ridgewell, Jenny. A Taste of Japan. New York: Thomson Learning, 1993
Sarber, Stein, Thelma PH.D. You Eat What You Are, People, Culture and Food Traditions.
New York: Firefly Books, 1999
Shimbo, Hiroko. The Japanese Kitchen. Boston: The Harvard Common Press, 2000
Takada, Noriko, Rita L. Lampkin. The Japanese Way. Lincolnwood: Passport Books, 1993
http://www.hikyaku.com/gallery/english/tsukiji.htm
Japanese Cuisine
Michael Del Signore
International Cuisine
Chef Berry
October 20, 2003