Our collaborator Fernando Calero has been living in the country of the rising sun for more than a year and he has been in charge of choosing the 10 things to know about Japanese food . If you plan to go to the Olympics, catch up… And if not, also Japanese.
1.- Not everything is sushi, although it may seem so
Japanese cuisine is one of the richest and most varied on the planet. Its fundamental ingredients are rice and fish. From their combination, usually with raw fish, comes the best-known Japanese food: sushi. But there are many more dishes that are traditional in Japan , such as sashimi (thin slices of raw fish or meat), miso soup, ramen, gyozas, tempura, chicken skewers (yakitori) or the different forms of cooking the prized meat of the Japanese breed of beef, the famous wagyu, also known as Kobe beef: in this article we tell you the truths and lies about this extremely expensive and sometimes overrated meat.
2.- The praise of the shadow
The way of serving Japanese food is fundamental, from the crockery to the lighting in the restaurant, everything influences the senses and perceptions of the diner. And the Japanese take this into account.
It has been said that Japanese cuisine is not eaten, but looked at. The reflections of Junichiro Tanizaki, in his magisterial essay The Praise of the Shadow, are the best way to understand it. The Japanese writer affirms that ¨there is no doubt that all the countries of the world have sought the harmony of colors between the delicacies, the tableware and even the walls; In any case, if Japanese cuisine is served in too bright a place, on predominantly white crockery, it loses half its appeal.” He concludes by saying that “one realizes that our kitchen harmonizes with the shadow, that there are indestructible bonds between it and the darkness.”
3.- Sipping is allowed and other protocol rules
Respect and education are basic in Japanese culture. It is essential to know how to say hello upon arrival, to know where and how to sit, as well as to know the basic words to order in Japanese: in many restaurants they do not speak English. But it is also necessary to understand their rules when eating, such as that you can slurp when eating noodles with soup. There is no need to blush, on the contrary, making noise is well seen, even if it is hard for us Westerners.
You must be willing to take off your shoes upon arrival, when required, and to use a hot towel, which is provided upon arrival, as a napkin. Last but not least, you have to understand the bill, usually handwritten on a piece of paper, and that no tips are left. We’ll explain it all to you in our Guide to eating at an authentic Japanese restaurant in Japan, which we’ll publish in July in the wake of the Olympics.
4.- How are chopsticks used?
One of the most difficult things is eating with chopsticks. Things in Japan are complicated since many restaurants do not offer other cutlery. The technique is not easy and requires some practice. It is helpful to know that the bowl of rice can be brought close to the mouth. Also, chopsticks cannot be placed haphazardly on the table. The best news is that not all Japanese food is eaten with chopsticks. For example, sushi is usually served and eaten directly by hand. We explain everything in the article 6 keys to eating freely in Japanese.
5.- Weird things you can eat in Japan
Apart from eating raw fish, in sushi and sashimi, in Japanese cuisine we can find other surprising snacks for the Western palate.So we can be perplexed to see how the Japanese eat Yobuko live squid, Kumamoto horse meat (raw or cooked in various ways), vegetables totally unknown to us (such as bitter goya), the dark meat of a whale raw or a puffer fish, known to have a deadly poison. Although nothing beats the stupefaction of putting tiny live fish in your mouth and feeling how they move between your palate and your teeth. Or discover, after having tasted a dish of shirako, that it is fish semen… You will find these and other culinary curiosities that we will tell you about shortly in a new article that we will title 10 strange things you can eat in Japan.
6.- Typical Japanese drinks
In Japan it is very common to accompany meals with different teas and end with the classic matcha tea, highly valued for its digestive properties. Among alcoholic beverages, they especially like Japanese beers, shochu (a sweet potato liquor that, given its high alcohol content, is usually mixed with soda) or Japanese whiskey , also mixed with soda (what they call “highball”).
The Japanese do not have a great wine culture, so it is not the most common drink in restaurants. Still we can find some pretty decent Japanese wines. In addition, they are trying to popularize the wines they make with native grapes such as Koshu, with which they make white wines that go very well with sushi.
7.- Matcha tea, a ceremonial tea
Although it is now common to find it in salons, tea shops and restaurants (also as a pastry ingredient), this green tea powder was used for ceremonial purposes. Tea was introduced to Japan by Chinese Buddhist monks in the 9th century, but matcha did not appear until the 12th century. Extracted from the same plant as black tea, but unfermented, dried and reduced to powder, it was used in Buddhist religious rituals. In the 13th century, the samurai began to drink matcha., laying the pillars of the tea ceremony. Attending this ritual in which a Japanese woman dressed in the traditional kimono melts the green powder into hot water is one of the most unique and delicate experiences that can be experienced in Japan. It helps to understand his philosophy of life and his way of approaching food, always with a strong symbolic content. But the Japanese do not only live on matcha, to learn more about Japanese tea follow this link.
8.- The sake culture
Of course, the star drink in Japan is Japanese sake , which is becoming more and more fashionable all over the world. Sake is a rice wine that has many varieties and is characterized by great versatility when it comes to pairing with the most complicated flavors. That is why sommeliers are giving more importance to this drink every day and including it in the menus of the best restaurants in the world. The way of presenting it in huge bottles of very varied shapes and the way of serving it in handmade bowls make drinking sake an almost mystical experience. It is taken hot and cold depending on the variety. And there are also sparkling ones, although they are something modern with which drink lovers do not agree at all. Much more about this wonderful drink can be learned from the articleBasic Guide to Sake.
9.- Types of restaurants
In Japan it is very common for restaurants to specialize in a single type of cuisine or even a single dish, as is the case with ramen (long noodle soup of Chinese origin) and tonkatsu (breaded pork fillet) . To eat sushi we find several types of places: from the exclusive bars, where the itamae (master who prepares sushi) delicately prepares each piece in front of a few lucky diners, to the cheap revolving belts in which different dishes circulate that the client grabs at his step.
We also find restaurants specialized in yakitori , which prepare the chicken skewers on the grill in front of the diner, in yakiniku (Korean Japanese barbecue in which the customer cooks their own meat) and in teppanyaki, which are plates where the cook prepares in front of the client the food that is going to be served: wagyu, chicken, shellfish, fish, vegetables. They are plates in which each zone has a different temperature which allows them to cook in different ways. In some cases they also prepare the traditional okonomiyaki or Japanese omelette that has little to do with the Western notion of omelette, and that is cooked on a griddle.
Other typical restaurants are tempura (Japanese frying) and sukiyaki (a kind of Japanese fondue in which the diner cooks different ingredients in a substantial broth). There are also those of kaiseki cuisine ( which is traditional Japanese haute cuisine served in small portions). Finally, the izakayas are a kind of bars or taverns, where people go to drink and eat different dishes, most of them cooked and often specialized in offal, although there are also izakayas for sashimi and tempuras. Its menus fit almost any Japanese specialty.
10.- Tokyo and its mythical restaurants
With the rise of Japanese gastronomy and its popularization throughout the world, tourists who visit the Japanese capital are eagerly looking for the best places to taste it. There are many restaurants in Tokyo with international fame, but not all of them are worth it or have maintained their authenticity. So, for example, Nobu Tokyo is nothing more than an overrated fusion cuisine restaurant aimed at foreign diners, which does not mean that it does not eat well. Ginza Kyubey, despite its international fame and the visit of many foreigners, continues to maintain high quality and customer care after 85 years of existence. The same is true of the mythical Jiro, located in a Tokyo subway stop, where Barak Obama himself went to eat and about which rivers of ink have been written and several documentaries filmed. You have to separate the wheat from the chaff.