Japanese food information
Japanese food is often mentioned in connection with a healthy diet
because of the large amount of fish and vegetables eaten. Even in
Japanese home-style cooking, a lot of fresh, seasonal fish and
vegetables are cooked and people enjoy the natural cycle of the
seasons.
The most important staple food in Japan is
rice, which is eaten at almost every meal. There are many different
types of rice dishes, plain, boiled white rice is excellent for
enhancing both main and side dishes in Japanese, Chinese or European
cuisine. (Click on the links to find out more about types of rice, cooking plain rice and cooking sushi rice).
In Japanese cuisine great attention is attached to fresh ingredients,
gentle methods of cooking and authentic flavours. Many Japanese foods
are only cooked for a very short time or are even eaten raw. Dashi is a
basic soup stock and essential for any Japanese dishes in order to
provide the necessary taste and moreover enhance the flavours. (Click
on the links for more about dashi).
Soy sauce and other Japanese seasonings are also used to enhance the
intrinsic flavour of food – the combination of sushi and soy sauce is a
good example (Click on the link for more information about important Japanese seasonings).
When Japanese people are ready to eat, they say "Itadakimasu" - meaning
"I am now starting to eat". "Gochiso sama" is the phrase meaning "Thank
you for the feast" when the meal is over. These are typical phrases to
thank the hosts for their food and also for the good harvests . You can
see some typical Japanese menus here.
"Kanpai" ("cheers") is the appropriate toast when drinking sake, beer
or other alcoholic beverages (Click on the link for more about Japanese sake ).
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