Not Just Sushi

Light and Flavourful, Japanese Cuisine Is an Art. Chopping, Slicing the Meat, Fish and Vegetables Is a Skill, and Cooking It Requires Expertise.
 

- Aruna Rathod

For the uninitiated, Japanese meals could be all about sushi and tempura. But there is a lot more to Japanese cuisine and each meal brings to the table, plenty of colour, sauces and serving dishes that are cute, colourful and art pieces by themselves, in various materials like ceramic, glass and lacquer ware. Bowls, flat plates, square and rectangular platters, and of course, sushi served in cute cups from ceramic bottles. Not only is Japanese cuisine great to taste, but a feast for the senses – in every way possible.

Japanese use the phrase “itadakimasu” before beginning a meal, like Grace that is said before meals. Itadakimasu, literally means “to humbly receive” or “to thankfully receive food”. It is also a thank you to the person who cooked the meal and an acknowledgment to the life that was sacrificed to make the meal possible.

Rice is the chief crop of Japan, so don’t be surprised if you find rice for breakfast, lunch and dinner in Japan. Another feature of Japanese cuisine, is that soup is had at the end of the meal, unlike most cultures where it serves as a starter or appetiser.

Besides rice, be ready to have plenty of fish in Japanese cuisine – fresh, raw, dried, salted, steamed, slivers and flakes. Not only fish, plenty of sea food that includes shellfish, mussels, molluscs, crustaceans, and echinoderms. Eels are a speciality in Japan.

Besides Tokyo, where one can experience all kinds of cuisine, certain prefectures like Toyama are famous for their fresh seafood.