Japan -

Japan

Japanese cookery has developed over the centuries as a result of many political and social changes. The cuisine finally changed with the advent of the medieval period which ushered in a shedding of elitism with the age of shogun rule. In the early modern era enormous changes took place that introduced non-Japanese cultures, most notably Western culture, to Japan.

Japanese cuisine is based on combining staple foods generally rice or noodles, with a soup and okazu dishes, made from fish, meat, vegetable, tofu and the like, to add flavour to the staple food. They are typically flavoured with dashi, miso, soy sauce and tend to be low in fat and high in salt.

A standard Japanese meal normally consists of several different okazu accompanying a bowl of cooked white Japanese rice (gohan) a bowl of soup and some tsukemono (pickles).

The most standard meal comprises three okazu and is termed ichiju-sansai ("one soup, three sides"). Different cooking techniques are applied to every one of the three okazu; they could be raw (sashimi), grilled, simmered (sometimes called boiled), steamed, deep-fried, vinegared or dressed. This Japanese vision of a meal is reflected in the organization of Japanese cookbooks: Chapters are devoted to cooking techniques as opposed to ingredients. There may be chapters devoted to soups, sushi, rice, noodles and sweets.

As Japan is definitely an island nation its people eat much seafood. Meat-eating has been rare until fairly recently because of restrictions of Buddhism. However, strictly vegetarian food is rare since even vegetable dishes are flavoured with the ubiquitous dashi stock, usually made with katsuobushi (dried skipjack tuna flakes). An exception is shojin ryori, vegetarian dishes developed by Buddhist monks. However, the advertised shojin ryori at public eating places consists of some non-vegetarian elements.

Noodles are a vital part of Japanese cuisine usually as an alternative to a rice-based meal. Soba (thin, grayish-brown noodles containing buckwheat flour) and udon (thick wheat noodles) are the principle traditional noodles and are served hot or cold with soy-dashi flavourings. Chinese-style wheat noodles served in a meat stock broth generally known as ramen became extremely popular over the last century.