A Guide to eating in Japan Cairneyhill JAPANESE CUISINE Japanese cuisine offers a great variety of dishes and regional specialties. Some of the most popular Japanese and Japanized dishes are listed below. We have categorized them into rice dishes, seafood dishes, noodle dishes, nabe dishes, tempura, meat dishes, yoshuku dishes, soy bean dishes, and other dishes. Please note that some dishes may fit into multiple categories, but are listed only once. Chopsticks are used to eat most kinds of Japanese foods, with some exceptions. Some of the most important rules to remember when dining with chopsticks are as follows: • Hold your chopsticks towards their end, not in the middle or the front third. • When you are not using your chopsticks, or have finished eating, lay them down in front of you with the tips to left on your chopstick rest (if provided). • Do not stick chopsticks into your food, especially not into rice. This is only done at funerals with rice that is put onto the altar. • Do not pass food directly from your set of chopsticks to another's. Again, this is a funeral tradition that involves the bones of a cremated body. • Do not spear food with your chopsticks. • Do not point with your chopsticks. • Do not wave your chopsticks around in the air or play with them. • Do not move plates or bowls around with your chopsticks. • To separate a piece of food in two, exert controlled pressure on the chopsticks while moving them apart from each other in order to tear the food. This takes some practice. With larger pieces of food such as tempura, it is also acceptable to pick up the entire piece with your chopsticks, and take a bite. • If you have already eaten with your chopsticks, use the opposite end to take food from a shared plate. Knives and forks are used for Western food only. Spoons however, may be used with certain Japanese dishes such as doriburi or Japanese style curry rice. A Chinese style ceramic spoon is sometimes used to eat soups. Some Table Rules • Blowing your nose in public, and especially at the table, is considered bad manners. • It is considered good manners to empty your dishes to the last grain of rice. • Talking about toilet related and similarly unappetizing topics during or before a meal is not appreciated by most people. • Unlike in some other parts of East Asia, it is considered bad manners to burp. • After eating, try to move all your dishes back to the same position they were at the start of the meal. This includes replacing the lids on dishes and putting your chopsticks on the chopstick holder or back into their paper slip. 83 rd Fife (Cairneyhill) Scout Group is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC029771 Group Website - www.83rdscouts.org.uk A Guide to eating in Japan Rice Dishes Rice is Japan's most important crop. It has been cultivated in Japan for over 2000 years. Its fundamental importance to the country and its culture is reflected by the facts that rice was once used as a currency, and that the Japanese word for cooked rice (gohan) also has the general meaning of "meal". The literal meaning of breakfast (asagohan), for example, is "morning rice". Despite changes in eating patterns over the last few decades and slowly decreasing rice consumption in recent years, rice remains one of the most important ingredients in Japan today, and can be found in numerous dishes. Japanese rice is short grain and becomes sticky when cooked. Most rice is sold as hakumai ("white rice"), with the outer portion of the grains (nuka) polished away. Unpolished rice (gemmai) is considered less delicious by most people, but its popularity has been increasing recently because gemmai is more nutritious and healthier than hakumai. Rice Bowl A bowl of plain cooked rice is served with most Japanese meals. For breakfast, it is sometimes mixed with a raw egg and soy sauce (tamago kake gohan) or enjoyed with natto or other toppings. Sushi Sushi can be defined as a dish which contains sushi rice, cooked rice that is prepared with sushi vinegar. There are various kinds of sushi dishes. Contrary to popular belief, the word sushi is not synonymous with raw fish. It refers to anything made with vinegared rice. This is often topped with raw fish to make nigiri-zushi but vinegared rice with cooked fish, other meats, egg or vegetables is also sushi. Domburi A bowl of cooked rice with some other food put on top of the rice. Some of the most popular toppings are tempura (tendon), egg and chicken (oyakodon), tonkatsu (katsudon) and beef (gyudon). Onigiri Onigiri are rice balls made of cooked rice and usually wrapped in nori seaweed. They are slightly salted and often contain some additional food in the center, for example an umeboshi (pickled Japanese plum), katsuobushi (dried bonito shavings), tuna or salmon. Rice balls are a popular and inexpensive snack available at convenience stores or given in packed lunches by families. Kare Raisu Kare Raisu (Curry Rice) is cooked rice with a curry sauce. It can be served with additional toppings such as tonkatsu. Curry is not a native Japanese spice, but has been used in Japan for over a century. Kare Raisu is a very popular dish, and many inexpensive Kare Raisu restaurants can be found especially in and around train stations. Fried Rice Fried rice or chahan has been originally introduced from China. A variety of additional ingredients such as peas, egg, negi (Japanese leek) and small pieces of carrot and pork are mixed into the rice when stir fried. It is a suitable dish for using left over rice. Chazuke Chazuke is a bowl of cooked rice with green tea and other ingredients, for example, salmon or tarako (cod roe) added to it. It is a suitable dish for using left over rice. Kayu Kayu is rice gruel, watery, soft cooked rice that resembles oatmeal. It is a suitable dish for using left over rice and is often served to sick people because it can be digested easily. 83 rd Fife (Cairneyhill) Scout Group is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC029771 Group Website - www.83rdscouts.org.uk A Guide to eating in Japan Sushi is the most famous Japanese dish outside of Japan, and one of the most popular dishes among the Japanese themselves. In Japan, sushi is usually enjoyed on special occasions, such as a celebration. During the Edo Period, "sushi" referred to pickled fish conserved in vinegar. Nowadays sushi can be defined as a dish containing rice which has been prepared with sushi vinegar. There are many different types of sushi. Some popular ones are: Nigiri Small rice balls with fish, shellfish, etc. on top. There are countless varieties of nigirizushi, some of the most common ones being tuna, shrimp, eel, squid, octopus and fried egg. Cooked eel and shrimp and Japanese-style omelette are also used on nigiri-sushi. Gunkan Small cups made of sushi rice and dried seaweed filled with seafood, etc. There are countless varieties of gunkanzushi, some of the most common ones being sea urchin and various kinds of fish eggs. Norimaki Sushi rice and seafood, etc. rolled in dried seaweed sheets. There are countless varieties of sushi rolls differing in ingredients and thickness. Sushi rolls prepared "inside out" are very popular outside of Japan, but rarely found in Japan. Temaki Temakizushi (literally: hand rolls) are cones made of nori seaweed and filled with sushi rice, seafood and vegetables. Oshizushi Oshizushi is pressed sushi, in which the fish is pressed onto the sushi rice in a wooden box. The picture shows trout oshizushi in form of a popular ekiben (train station lunch box). Inari Inarizushi is a simple and inexpensive type of sushi, in which sushi rice is filled into aburaage (deep fried tofu) bags. Chirashi Chirashizushi is a dish in which seafood, mushroom and vegetables are spread over sushi rice. It can resemble domburi with the difference being that chirashizushi uses sushi rice while domburi uses regular, unseasoned rice. 83 rd Fife (Cairneyhill) Scout Group is a charity registered in Scotland, No SC029771 Group Website - www.83rdscouts.org.uk A Guide to eating in Japan Seafood Dishes Hundreds of different fish, shellfish and other seafood from the oceans, seas, lakes and rivers are used in the Japanese cuisine. They are prepared and eaten in many different ways, for example, raw, dried, boiled, grilled, deep fried or steamed. Sashimi Sashimi is raw seafood. A large number of fish can be enjoyed raw if they are fresh and prepared correctly. Most types of sashimi are enjoyed with soy sauce and wasabi. Sashimi is thinly sliced, raw seafood. Many different kinds of fresh fish and seafood are served raw in the Japanese cuisine. Sashimi, while similar to sushi, is distinct for its absence of vinegared rice. Sashimi is usually beautifully arranged and served on top of shredded daikon and shiso leaves. The sashimi pieces are dipped into a dish of soy sauce before being eaten. The daikon and shiso can also be dipped in soya sauce and eaten; both have a fresh, minty taste. Depending on the kind of sashimi, wasabi or ground ginger may accompany the dish and be added to the sashimi as a condiment. Some of the most popular kinds of sashimi are Maguro (Tuna); Toro (Fatty Tuna); Ebi (Prawn); Saba (Mackerel); Ika (Squid); Tako (Octopus) Other popular raw fish include salmon and yellowtail. These are the most palatable for those still getting used to the idea of eating fish raw.