Japan's Food Culture

JAPAN’S FOOD CULTURE By Nakako MATSUMOTO Present Status of the Japanese dients of the season and is served exquis- its long seclusion from the rest of the Diet itely in plates or bowls that in themselves world, the abstinence from animal meat are works of arts. Particularly for meals that continued for more than 1,000 In Tokyo, you can find restaurants served during the tea ceremony (kaiseki years came to an end. The Japanese, serving food from all around the world, ryori), careful attention is paid so that believing that eating beef was what “civi- including American hamburger chains they represent the season. It is said that lized” people did, came to eat beef, sea- and restaurants serving Chinese, Korean, the exquisite beauty of Japanese cuisine, soning it with soy sauce. However, the Vietnamese, French, Italian, German which is even called ‘food to eat with Japanese of the time could not afford to and other foods, along with Japanese eyes,’ comes from the esthetics of noble- eat animal meat in their everyday lives. restaurants serving sushi and soba (buck- men of the Heian period (794-1185), The wave of westernization, which was wheat noodles). You can also find moro- who cherished nature in their everyday called the “opening to civilization,” also heia (Jew’s marrow), a leafy everyday lives. In addition to the healthful quality changed the format of official banquets. vegetable from Egypt and other Arab of Japanese food, the beautiful way in The elegant Japanese banquet style was nations, and salad made with cactus which it is presented has recently cap- discarded and a French style was adopt- leaves. There are also restaurants whose tured the hearts of foreign chefs and is ed. Since then, it has been a custom for specialties are fusion cuisine, known as reportedly influencing the way in which banquets at the Imperial Palace to toast “stateless” cooking in Japan. This situa- food is presented in other countries. The with champagne, with guests never tion may make some people wonder best example of the traditional Japanese entertained with Japanese food or sake. what the Japanese eat every day. cuisine is meals served at ryotei. Japan’s rapid economic growth after However, this seemingly chaotic condi- The most striking characteristic of the World War II dramatically changed the tion may be broken down as follows. 1) traditional Japanese diet is that it does humble traditional Japanese diet. As Traditional Japanese meals served at not use animal meat, such as beef and shown in Chart 1, the consumption of ryotei (formal Japanese-food restaurants); pork. The aversion to animal meat milk, eggs and animal meat has increased 2) meals taken at home, which include comes not only from the influence of dramatically since Japan’s fast economic Western- and Chinese-style dishes as Buddhism, but also from the Japanese growth, and the foods the Japanese con- well as Japanese dishes; and 3) foreign primitive belief that everything under sume have changed markedly. This is cuisine enjoyed outside homes. Before the sun has a spirit and that eating ani- why it is said that the Japanese diet has the Japanese dietary habit settled into mal meat would sully our body. Before been westernized. Indeed, Western this pattern, the Meiji Restoration of every meal, the Japanese put their palms ingredients have been introduced, but at 1868 and high economic growth after together and say, “Itadaki-masu” (Let me home, most Japanese cook these ingredi- World War II served as engines of major take this food). This manner expresses ents in a Japanese style. changes in the Japanese eating habit. the Japanese sense of gratitude for Chart 2 shows the top 20 dishes The popularly held image of Japanese receiving for sustenance the lives of liv- Japanese consumers cited in response to food is that it is cooked with fresh ingre- ing creatures, including those of plants. a questionnaire conducted by the Yomiuri Shimbun in 2008. To the ques- Chart 1 Calorie supply per person/day Characteristics tion about dishes they would like to eat of the at home, respondents cited curried rice, Japanese Diet niku-jaga (beef and potatoes cooked in soy sauce), miso (soybean paste) soup, It was the Meiji sashimi (sliced raw fish), etc. Out of the Restoration that top 20 dishes, 17 were Japanese dishes. broke the conven- Although it is said that the Japanese diet tional Japanese has been westernized, the sort of home- dietary habit of cooking liked by Japanese is overwhelm- eating no animal ingly Japanese dishes. Curried rice, the meat. When it top favorite, was introduced to Japan became inevitable during the Meiji period (1868-1912), for Japan to but it was rearranged to suit the Japanese accept Western taste bud in the following 100 years. As Source : Compiled by author from “Report on National Health and Nutrition civilization after a dish eaten with steamed rice, it is now Survey,” Health, Labor & Welfare Ministry 30 JAPAN SPOTLIGHT • July / August 2008 Chart 2 Top 20 preferred dishes Photos: Consumer Co-operative Kobe Source : Yomiuri Shimbun Newspaper dated March 4, 2008 a part of Japanese food. Niku-jaga, made burger shop opened in Tokyo’s posh rice bowls for everyone. The shapes of with beef and potatoes (both introduced Ginza district. tableware also have become less diverse. to Japan during the Meiji period), is sea- It is customary in Japan to celebrate Experiments have shown that serving soned with soy sauce. By any standard, the New Year with sips of toso (sake Western soup in a Japanese lacquer soup it is now an authentic Japanese dish. spiked with medicinal herbs) to wish for bowl or serving a hamburger on a plate Miso soup has a history dating back 700 good health during the new year. Before often used for broiled fish makes the years, and sashimi is one of the oldest World War II, in my family, toso was food look unappetizing. How will the Japanese dishes. Thus, a combination of served to my father first, then to my use of tableware and cutlery in Japan steamed rice, miso soup, fish and veg- younger brother, mother and me in this (where Japanese, Chinese and Western etable dishes, which the Japanese have order. In the first New Year after World tableware and cutlery are now in use) be eaten for centuries, still constitutes the War II, when men and women began to simplified in the future? Because it has basic type of meal in Japanese homes, enjoy equal rights, my father pro- undergone such a dramatic change, the while numerous foreign foods and dishes nounced, “I have given it a good Japanese food culture is still fluid. It are eaten and enjoyed occasionally. thought, but from this year let’s drink will be some time before the Japanese Let us make up a menu that consists toso starting with the oldest member of find foods, tableware and manners that of the dishes shown in Chart 2. We get, the family, then to the next oldest, and they can be really comfortable with and for example, a meal with steamed rice, so on.” Since then, the order of serving choose to keep them. miso soup with bean curds, a piece of rice has also changed from the practice Global warming and frequent broiled salmon, niku-jaga and lightly of “males first, females last” to one droughts in many parts of the world are salted vegetable pickles. Recently, raw which starts with the oldest person first threatening the harvests of wheat and vegetable salads with soy sauce-flavor and the youngest person last. Every so soybeans. The soaring prices of bread dressing have increasingly been replacing often, I miss not a few of the old and natto (fermented soybeans), which is pickles, however. Japanese traditions that have been lost, a part of everyday diet, have made us but I remember fondly the days when aware that we cannot remain compla- Changing Eating Manners the Japanese, having been liberated from cent about our food supply. The young the oppressive air of war years and old Japanese, who are used to having more Not only what the Japanese eat but traditions, came to enjoy their freedom. than enough to eat and do not know a also their eating manners have changed The adoption of foreign dishes in food shortage, now show interest in the dramatically. Before World War II, everyday life has also changed tableware. Japanese self-sufficiency ratio in food. except for children on school excursions A family meal, consisting of steamed Now it is possible to bake tasty bread of and some other cases, the Japanese, rice, corn soup, fried oysters and pickled rice flour. Perhaps, the Japanese food including toddlers, never ate on com- vegetables, is no longer uncommon. culture may change again rapidly, muter trains or buses or on the street. Accordingly, some families put chop- returning from wheat to rice and from Today, however, it is not uncommon sticks, spoons and forks on the table. meat to fish. It will be interesting to for young people to eat their boxed But it is too much bother to change watch its future course. lunches on the steps of railway stations from chopsticks to Western cutlery and or on sidewalks. The image of Audrey back, and this situation is not likely to Hepburn eating an ice cream cone while last. Also, in Japan, each family member Nakako Matsumoto is professor emeritus, sauntering on the streets of Rome in the has his or her own rice bowl, and people Kagawa Nutrition University, where she taught Hollywood movie, “Roman Holiday” do not use another person’s rice bowl from 1966 to 2006.

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