Design Practice Blog: Japanese Food

Rice

The national total of rice eaten in Japan was 8.18 million tons in 2011, which was a 46,000 ton increase from the 2010.
An estimated 4 out of 5 Japanese people eat rice daily.
In Japan it is not uncommon to eat rice at every meal, including breakfast.
Ovens are not nearly as commonplace as rice cookers in Japanese households.
Japanese word for cooked rice gohan (御飯) or meshi (飯) also has the general meaning of "meal"
It is not only consumed daily as a staple food but also used to brew sake, a traditional alcoholic drink.
The Yangtze delta in China is considered to be the original source for the practice of rice cultivation in Japan. Continuous waves of migrants bearing knowledge of the technique reached Japan from the continent around 2,400 years ago via two major routes.
Japanese have more words for rice than love. Children have traditionally been told that the rice they eat was grown meticulously by hard-working farmers and not a single grain should be wasted.
Japanese tend to eat their rice in a bowl separately from the main dish. They often take one bite of rice and then one bite of the main dish so it mixes in their mouth. Common rice dishes include katsu-don (rice topped y a fried pork cutlet), oyako-don (rice topped with egg and chicken), niku-don (rice topped with sliced beef), ten-don (rice topped with tempura shrimp and vegetables).
Rice balls (origiri) are very popular in Japan. They are made from rice mixed with fish flakes molded together in a pyramid shape. They often contain grilled salmon or a pickled plum in the middle. They are sold at convenience stores and are popular with busy people on the go.
Mochi os a soft, chewy blob-shaped rice cake which can be eaten raw, boiled, toasted or grilled or placed in a soup. Along with sake, it is one of the most popular offerings to the Gods.

Japanese Dining Etiquette

Japanese food is usually served in sizes suitable for picking up by chopsticks, the use of which is thought to have been introduced from China in the seventh century.
That the Japanese ate with the fingers prior to the introduction of chopsticks was recorded by a Chinese mission in the early third century.
When dining out in a restaurant, the host will guide you to your seat and it is polite to wait to be seated.
The honored or eldest guest will usually be seated at the center of the table farthest from the entrance.
When sipping soup it is not considered bad manners to make a slurping sound.
In Japan, it is customary to say itadakimasu, いただきます (literally "I [humbly] receive") before starting to eat a meal
When saying itadakimasu, both hands are put together in front of the chest or on the lap.
Another customary and important etiquette is to say gochisōsama deshita, ごちそうさまでした (literally "It was a feast") to the host after the meal and the restaurant staff when leaving.
It's considered rude to waste soy sauce so moderation should be used when pouring into dishes.

Chopsticks

As a diner’s personal table is very low, vessels containing food are handheld and lifted close to the mouth, to which the food is delivered with chopsticks
As a rule, everyone eating a meal has his or her own chopsticks and a set of tableware.

If there is a food on the table being shared, then an extra pair of chopsticks is required, or alternatively, someone can reverse their chopsticks to transfer food from the shared plate to their personal one.
Chopsticks are never left sticking vertically into rice, as this resembles incense sticks (which are usually placed vertically in sand) during offerings to the dead
Using chopsticks to spear food or to point is also frowned upon
Hold your chopsticks towards their end, and not in the middle or the front third.
When you are not using your chopsticks and when you are finished eating, lay them down in front of you with the tip to left.
To separate a piece of food into two pieces, exert controlled pressure on the chopsticks while moving them apart from each other.
Do not pass food with your chopsticks directly to somebody else's chopsticks, as it is said to resemble passing bones at a funeral.
It is considered very bad manners to bite chopsticks.

Japanese Fish

Tsukiji market in Tokyo is the world's largest fish market.
The most popular dishes include all types of fish as well as shellfish, squid and octopus
Fish is the primary source of protein in Japanese food
Though Japan accounts for only 2% of the world's population, its people eat 10% of the world's fish.
Sushi began centuries ago in Japan as a method of preserving fish
Cleaned, raw fish were pressed between layers of salt and weighted with a stone. After a few weeks, the stone was removed and replaced with a light cover, and a few months after that, the fermented fish and rice were considered ready to eat.
In the 1700's a chef named Yohei began to serve raw fish combined with vinegared rice, and sushi as we know it was born. It became very popular and two distinct styles emerged. Kansai style, from the city of Osaka in the Kansai region, and Edo style, from Tokyo, which was then called Edo.
Sashimi is fresh seafood, served raw, chilled, and sliced. The art of sashimi is in its elegant arrangements. Sashimi, unlike sushi, does not combine the fish with vinegared rice, therefore only the finest cuts of fish are selected by the sushi chef.
There are four primary cuts used in its preparation. The first, Hira zukuri is a rectangular cut, and is primarily used for fish with fragile flesh. Ito zukuri is a very thin cut (perhaps a sixteenth of an inch thick) for fillets such as squid. Kaku zukuri is a cube cut, approximately three-quarters of an inch square, and is used for tuna and yellowtail. Finally, Uzu zukuri is a paper thin cut, so thin the plate is visible through the fish.
More tuna is sold in sushi bars than any other kind of fish, and it is the fish most Americans associate with sushi and sashimi.
Traditionally, a sushi chef or itamae trains for 10 years before serving this Japanese food in a restaurant.
The general attitude in Japan is that the freshest fish are best enjoyed raw.

Traditional Japanese Food

A traditional Japanese home-cooked meal includes a piece of grilled fish, such as salmon or mackerel, a bowl of brown rice, simmered vegetables, a small bowl of miso soup, green tea and a piece of fruit.
Soy, in the form of tofu, edamame, miso and soy sauce is a staple, as are vegetables such as eggplant, cabbage, broccoli, cauliflower and kale
Seaweed, including nori and wakame, is another main component of the diet
A great deal of emphasis is placed on presentation and making the food look beautiful and appealing to the eye.
Wasabi is a highly valued plant in Japanese cuisine, used primarily as a condiment for seafood dishes.
Hiyayakko is chilled tofu cut into bite-sized pieces and served with a dipping sauce of soy sauce and grated ginger or chopped scallions. Yudoofu is tofu cut into cubes and heated in hot water seasoned with kelp. Once warm, the cubes are lifted out and dipped in a heated sauce flavored with grated daikon radish.
Japanese pickles (tsukemono) are primarily pickled vegetables. They exist in great variety and add texture and diversity to even a simple menu. Originally pickling preserved vegetables for use through the winter, but pickles have come to occupy a place in the menu year-round.
Eating meat was long a taboo in Japan. An imperial decree against eating several kinds of meats was issued in 675 C.E. In the Heian period (ninth to twelfth centuries), with the increased importance of Buddhism, meat eating largely disappeared in cities, though professional hunters were still active in remote areas
Eating meat was only repopularised from 1868, during the Meiji period.
The two most representative beverages of Japan are tea and sake. Tea was first imported into Japan in the 800s from China.
Sake, like rice and mochi, carries symbolic importance. It is offered to Shinto deities both at home altars and at large public shrines, and it is the drink that seals the marriage in any Shinto wedding ceremony.
Certain foods are only harvested and sold seasonally. The puffer or blowfish (fugu), which can quickly kill the eater if the poisonous liver is not properly removed, is available only in cold months, when the poison is said to be less potent (Richie, 1985, pp. 47–48). A fragrant and expensive mushroom, matsutake, is only found in the fall. The ayu, a fresh-water fish rather like a trout, is a food for early summer.
Some special days are marked by serving particular dishes. On 7 January it is traditional to eat a rice porridge made with seven springtime herbs (nanakusa-gayu). In August, on the day of the ox as calculated by a traditional ephemeris, people eat grilled eel (or more innovatively some form of beef) to strengthen themselves to withstand the remaining days of summer. On the first day of winter many homes serve tooji kabocha, pumpkin cooked with sweet azuki beans.
Seasonality is also marked in Japan by serving sweets associated with particular seasons or holidays. The doll festival is a minor holiday on 3 March. Families with girls display elaborate sets of decorative dolls that represent the imperial court of the Heian period. Girls might have parties at their homes and serve two traditional foods, hishi-mochi, diamond-shaped multicolored sweets made with puffed rice, and amazake, an unclarified, milky-white sake sweetened and flavored with ginger.
It is traditional that no (substantial) cooking takes place for the first three days of the new year, so elaborate side dishes are prepared at the end of the year and beautifully arranged in decorative lacquered boxes for the New Year feast

Japan and Fine Food

Matsutake mushrooms, which can cost up to $2000 a kilo are traditionally given as special gifts to businessmen in Japan.
Matsutake mushrooms never grow in the same spot twice, as they form a symbiotic relationship with the trees roots.
Fugu fish is a delicacy in Japan, despite the notorious risk eating it can cause to your life. To be able to cook and sell it, chefs need to possess a lisence and undergo intense training lasting 2-3 years after which they must take a test. Only 30% of applicants pass it.
Japan's cows produce the most luxurious beef, entitled Kobe beef. It is produced from the Tajima breed of cow, which is hereditarily inclined to produce a higher percentage of oleaginous and unsaturated fat.
Kobe beef can cost up to $300 a pound.
The Tajima cows that produce Kobe beef are given daily massages to ensure the meat is of the highest quality. Rumour also has it that they listen to classical music and are given luxury beer.
Japan is the largest exporter of frogs legs.
The Dansuke watermelon is an incredibly rare gift to be given in Japan. Only 65 are said to grow each season in a specific part of Japan, and they can cost up to $6,100.

Japanese Health Food

The 1 cup serving of miso soup contains 547 calories. It carries 17 g of total fat, including 3 g of saturated fat. One serving delivers a 32 g of protein, about 64 percent of your recommended daily allowance.
Edamame in the pod are a popular Japanese side dish or appetizer. A one cup serving contains 189 calories. It carries 8 g of fat, including 1 g of saturated fat
A ball of white rice may be the most iconic of Japanese foods. A cup of white rice contains 169 calories and contains no appreciable amount of fat.
Nigiri sushi is the sushi with a piece of fish on top the rice, not a sushi roll. One piece of nigiri sushi contains 64 calories, including 1 g of unsaturated fat.
Japanese buckwheat noodles contain 113 calories per cup and contain no fat, although many preparations include fatty ingredients.
The obesity rate for Japanese men and women was less than 4 percent in 2000, according to the International Obesity Task Force.
The average Japanese person eats about 25% fewer calories per day than the average American.
Portions tend to be small, and many Japanese stop eating before they're full.
Mortality rates from cancer are low in Japan and especially low in Shizuoka where the consumption of green tea is highest.

Bento

Bento (弁当 bentō) is a single-portion takeout or home-packed meal common in Japanese cuisine
A traditional bento consists of rice, fish or meat, and one or more pickled or cooked vegetables, usually in a box-shaped container.
Although bento are readily available in many places throughout Japan, including convenience stores, bento shops (弁当屋 bentō-ya), train stations, and department stores, it is still common for Japanese homemakers to spend time and energy for their spouse, child, or themselves producing a carefully prepared lunch box.
Bento can be very elaborately arranged in a style called kyaraben or "character bento". Kyaraben is typically decorated to look like popular Japanese cartoon (anime) characters, characters from comic books (manga), or video game characters
Another popular bento style is "oekakiben" or "picture bento", which is decorated to look like people, animals, buildings and monuments, or items such as flowers and plants.
"Bento" originates from the Southern Song Dynasty slang term 便當 (pinyin: biàndāng), meaning "convenient" or "convenience." When imported to Japan, it was written with the ateji 便道, 辨道, and 辨當. In shinjitai, 辨當 is written as 弁当.
The origin of bento can be traced back to the late Kamakura Period (1185 to 1333), when cooked and dried rice called hoshi-ii (糒 or 干し飯, literally "dried meal") was developed.
In the Edo Period (1603 to 1867), bento culture spread and became more refined. Travelers and sightseers would carry a simple koshibentō (腰弁当, "waist bento"), consisting of several onigiri wrapped with bamboo leaves or in a woven bamboo box.
In the Taishō period (1912 to 1926), the aluminum bento box became a luxury item because of its ease of cleaning and its silver-like appearance.
Also, a move to abolish the practice of bento in school became a social issue. Disparities in wealth spread during this period, following an export boom during World War I and subsequent crop failures in the Tohoku region. A bento too often reflected a student's wealth, and many wondered if this had an unfavorable influence on children both physically, from lack of adequate diet, and psychologically, from a clumsily made bento or the richness of food. After World War II, the practice of bringing bento to school gradually declined and was replaced by uniform food provided for all students and teachers.
akunouchi bentoare elaborate bento meals presented at formal meals, meant to be eaten at table.
Kouraku bento are picnic bento, to be shared by a group of people enjoying themselves outdoors - the most popular settings is while enjoying the cherry blossoms in spring
Ekiben (a shortened form of eki bento) are boxed meals sold at train stations for travellers (though nowadays you can buy ekiben at many other places, such as department store food halls or convenience stores).
The kind of bento that have garnered the most attention recently, especially outside of Japan are what are called kyaraben or charaben, ‘cute bento’ ‘art bento’ or ‘entertaining bento’ (entertain-bento), extremely elaborately decorated small works of art
The traditional Japanese bento ratio of rice or carb (shushoku), protein and other (usually vegetables) components is 4:2:1, or 4 parts rice to 2 parts protein to 1 part other ingredients.