2. • Chinese cuisine originated from the various regions
of China and has become widespread in many other
parts of the world — from East Asia to North America
, Australia, Western Europe and Southern Africa.
• Regional cultural differences vary greatly amongst the
different regions of China, giving rise to the different
styles of food. There are eight main regional cuisines:
Anhui, Cantonese, Fujian, Hunan, Jiangsu, Shandong,
Szechuan, and Zhejiang. There are also featured
Buddhist and Muslim sub-cuisines within the greater
Chinese cuisine.
3. • A meal in Chinese culture typically consists of two or more general
components: a carbohydrate source or starch, known as in the
Chinese language, (‘‘zhǔshí’’, lit. "Main food", staple) — typically rice, noodles,
or mantou (steamed buns), and accompanying dishes of vegetables, meat, fish
, or other items, known as " 菜 " (càiPinyin , lit. vegetable") in the Chinese
language. This cultural conceptualization is in some ways in contrast to
cuisines of Northern Europe and the USA, where meat or animal protein is
often considered the main dish, and analogous to the one of most
Mediterranean cuisines, based typically on wheat-derived components like
pasta or cous cous.
• Noodles are a critical part of much of Chinese cuisine, like, in many parts of
China, particularly northern China, wheat-based products including noodles
and steamed buns (such as mantou) predominate, in contrast to
southern China where rice is dominant. Despite the importance of rice in
Chinese cuisine, at extremely formal occasions, sometimes no rice at all will
be served; in such a case, rice would only be provided when no other dishes
remained, or as a token dish in the form of fried rice at the end of the meal.
Soup is usually served at the start of a meal and at the end of a meal in
Southern China.
• In contrast to most western meals, a Chinese meal does not typically end with
a dessert. However, a sweet dish is usually served at the end of a
formal dinner or banquet, such as sliced fruits or a sweet soup (" 糖水 ", lit.
sugar water) which is served warm.
4. There are many dishes that are considered part of the
nation's national cuisine today. Below are lists of a
few of the more common dishes available in China:
5. • Jiaozi 饺子 (steamed (zhengjiao) or boiled (shuijiao)
dumplings)
• Wonton 馄饨 / 云吞 (sphere-shaped dumplings usually served
boiled in broth or deep-fried)
• Guotie 锅贴 (fried jiaozi dumplings)
• Xiao Long Bao 小笼包 (soup dumplings) - a specialty of
Shanghai
• Buddha's delight 罗汉斋 (vegetarian dish popular amongst
Buddhists)
• Fried pancakes 饼 (including green onion pancakes 葱油饼 )
• Zongzi 粽子 (glutinous rice wrapped in bamboo leaves, usually
with a savory or sweet filling)
• Peking Duck 北京烤鸭 - the trademark dish of Beijing
• Siu mei 烧味 (rotisserie style of cooking meats within
Cantonese cuisine)
– Char siu 叉烧 (Barbecued roast pork)
6. • Red-cooked stews 紅烧 (slow-cooked stews
characterized by the use of soy sauce and/or caramelized
sugar and various ingredients)
• Stinky tofu 臭豆腐
• Soy egg ( 滷蛋 ; lǔ dàn): hard boiled egg, cooked in
soy sauce
• Tea egg ( 茶葉蛋 ; chá yè dàn): hard boiled egg soaked or
stewed in tea
• Congee ( 粥 ; zhou1): rice porridge
• Pickled vegetables ( 醬菜 ; jiang4 cai4; lit. sauced
vegetables)
• Soy milk ( 豆奶 ; dou4 nai3 or 豆漿 ; dou4 jiang1) in either
sweet or "salty" form
• Doufu 豆腐 with
7. • Rice 米饭
– Fried rice 炒饭
• Baozi 包子 (filled steamed buns)
• Mantou (steamed bun) 馒头
• Noodles 面条
– Fried noodles 炒面
– Noodle soup 面汤
– Zhajiang mian 炸醬面 - noodles mixed with a heavily
flavored meat sauce
• Shaobing 烧饼 - a flaky baked or pan-seared dough
pastry.
• Youtiao 油条 - "oily tail", or other fried Chinese
doughfoods
8. • Century egg ( 皮蛋 ; pi2 dan4; lit. leather egg):
thousand-year old
• Dim sum 点心 - a staple of Cantonese cuisine
• Hot and sour soup 酸辣汤
• Mooncake 月饼 (special cake eaten at
Mid-Autumn Festival)
• Tong sui 糖水 (sweet Cantonese soup or warm
custard served as a dessert)
• Stir-fry - an umbrella term used to describe two fast
Chinese cooking techniques: chǎo ( 炒 ) and bào
( 爆 ).
10. • Japanese cuisine as a national cuisine has evolved
over the centuries from many political and social
changes. Starting from the ancient era when much of
the cuisine was influenced by Chinese culture. The
cuisine eventually changed with the advent of the
Medieval age which ushered in a shedding of elitism
with the age of Shogun rule. In the early modern area
massive changes would take place that introduced
western culture to Japan.
11. • The modern term "Japanese cuisine" (nihon ryōri, 日
本料理 or washoku, 和食 ) means traditional-style
Japanese food, similar to what already existed before
the end of national seclusion in 1868. In a broader
sense of the word, it could also include foods whose
ingredients or cooking methods were subsequently
introduced from abroad, but which have been
developed by Japanese who made them their own.
Japanese cuisine is known for its emphasis on
seasonality of food ( 旬, shun), quality of ingredients
and presentation.
12. • Japanese cuisine is based on combining staple foods
(shushoku, 主食 ), typically rice or noodles, with a
soup, and okazu ( おかず ) - dishes made from fish,
meat, vegetable, tofu and the like, designed to add
flavor to the staple food. These are typically flavored
with dashi, miso, and soy sauce and are usually low in
fat and high in salt.
• A standard Japanese meal generally consists of several
different okazu accompanying a bowl of cooked
white Japanese rice (gohan, 御飯 ), a bowl of soup and
some tsukemono (pickles).
13. • The most standard meal comprises three okazu and is
termed ichijū-sansai ( 一汁三菜 ; "one soup, three dishes").
Different cooking techniques are applied to each of the
three okazu; they may be raw (sashimi), grilled, simmered
(sometimes called boiled), steamed, deep-fried, vinegared,
or dressed. This Japanese view of a meal is reflected in the
organization of Japanese cookbooks, organized into
chapters according to cooking techniques as opposed to
particular ingredients (e.g. meat, seafood). There may also
be chapters devoted to soups, sushi, rice, noodles, and
sweets. This is also why a Japanese menu is never divided
into appetizers, entrees, main dishes and desserts.
Japanese menus are instead divided according to the
cooking method.
14. • As Japan is an island nation its people eat much seafood.
Eating meat except wild animals, which is proper for
eating in mountain areas, has been rare until fairly
recently, especially Meiji era, due to protection of farming
stocks, thoughts of Shinto and Buddism, and mixture of
these factors[2]. However, strictly vegetarian food is rare
since even vegetable dishes are flavored with the
ubiquitous dashi stock, usually made with katsuobushi
(dried skipjack tuna flakes). An exception is shōjin ryōri
( 精進料理 ), vegetarian dishes developed by Buddhist
monks. However, the advertised shōjin ryōri usually
available at public eating places includes some non-
vegetarian elements.
15. • Noodles are an essential 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 main
traditional noodles and are served hot or cold with
soy-dashi flavorings. Chinese-style wheat noodles
served in a meat stock broth known as ramen have
become extremely popular over the last century.
16. • Ancient era - Heian period
• Following the Jōmon period, Japanese society shifted from
a semi-sedentary hunter-gatherer lifestyle to an
agricultural society. This was the period in which rice
cultivation began having been introduced by way of the
Korean peninsula and directly from China. Short-grain
rice has been the only type of rice grown in Japan which
eventually created a prejudice against the long-grain rice
of other Asian regions. Rice was commonly boiled plain
and called gohan or meshi, as cooked rice has since always
been the preferred staple of the meal, the terms are used
as synonyms for the word "meal." Peasants often mixed
millet with rice, especially in mountainous regions where
rice did not proliferate.
17. • During the Kofun period much of Japanese civilization came from
China by way of the Korean peninsula. As such Buddhism was a large
influence on Japanese culture. After the 6th century, Japan directly
pursued the imitation of Chinese culture under the Tang dynasty.[4] It
was this influence that marked the taboos on the consumption of
meat in Japan. In 675 A.D. Emperor Temmu decreed a prohibition on
the consumption of cattle, horse, dogs, monkeys, and chickens during
the 4th-9th months of the year, to break the law would mean a death
sentence. Monkey was eaten prior to this time, but was eaten more in
a ritualistic style for medicinal purposes. Chicken were often
domesticated as pets, while cattle and horses were rare and treated as
such. A cow or horse would be ritually sacrificed on the first day of
rice paddy cultivation , a ritual introduced from China. Emperor
Temmu's decree however did not ban the consumption of deer or
wild boar, which were important to the Japanese diet at that time. [5]
18. • The 8th century saw many additional decrees made
by emperors and empresses on the ban of killing of
any animals. In 752 A.D., Empress Kōken decreed a
ban even on fishing, but made a promise that
adequate rice would be given to fishermen whose
livelihood would otherwise been destroyed. In 927
A.D. regulations were enacted that stated that any
government official or member of nobility that ate
meat, was deemed unclean for three days and could
not participate in Shinto observances at the imperial
court.[6]
19. • It was also the influence of Chinese cultures that brought
the chopsticks to Japan early in this period. Chopsticks at
this time were used by nobility at banquets, they were not
used as everyday utensils however, as hands were still
commonly used to eat with. Metal spoons were also used
during the 8th-9th century, but only by the nobility.
Dining tables were also introduced to Japan at this time.
Commoners used a legless table called a oshiki, while
nobility used a lacquered table with legs called a zen. Each
person used their own table. Lavish banquets for the
nobility would have multiple tables for each individual
based upon the number of dishes presented.
20. • Rice (gohanmono, 御 飯 もの )
The rice most often served in Japan is of the short-
grain Japonica variety. In a traditional Japanese
setting (e.g. served in a conic bowl) it is known as
gohan ( 御飯 ) or meshi ( 飯 , generally only males say
meshi). In western-influenced dishes, where rice is
often served on the plate (such as curries) it is called
raisu ( ライス , after the English word "rice".) Other
rice dishes include Kayu or Okayu, donburi ( どんぶ
り , big bowl) and Sushi
21. • Gohan or Meshi: plainly cooked white rice. It is such a
staple that the terms gohan and meshi are also used to
refer meals in general, such as Asa gohan/meshi ( 朝御飯 ,
朝飯 , breakfast), Hiru gohan/meshi ( 昼御飯 , 昼飯 ,
lunch), and Ban gohan/meshi ( 晩御飯 , 晩飯 , dinner).
Also, raw rice is called kome ( 米 , rice), while cooked rice
is gohan ( ご飯 , [cooked] rice). Some alternatives are:
• Genmai gohan ( 玄米御飯 ): white rice cooked with
brown rice
• Okowa ( おこわ ): cooked glutinous rice
• Mugi gohan/meshi ( 麦御飯 , 麦飯 ): white rice cooked
with barley
• Soy-flavored raw egg (Tamago kake gohan), nori, and
furikake are popular condiments in Japanese breakfast
22. • Ochazuke: hot green tea or dashi poured over cooked
white rice, often with various savoury ingredients
such as umeboshi or tsukemono
• Onigiri: balls of rice with a filling in the middle.
Japanese equivalent of sandwiches.
• Takikomi gohan: Japanese-style pilaf cooked with
various ingredients and flavored with soy, dashi, etc.
• Kamameshi: rice topped with vegetables and chicken
or seafood, then baked in an individual-sized pot
• Sekihan: red rice. white rice cooked with azuki beans
to Glutinous rice
23. • Curry rice: Introduced from UK in the late 19th century,
"curry rice" (karē raisu カレーライス ) is now one of the
most popular dishes in Japan. It is not as spicy as its Indian
counterpart.
• Hayashi rice: thick beef stew on rice; origin of the name is
unknown but presumably named after a Mr. Hayashi.
• Omurice (Omu-raisu, オムライス ): omelet filled with
fried rice, apparently originating from Tōkyō
• Mochi: glutinous rice cake
• Chāhan: fried rice, adapted to Japanese tastes, tends to be
lighter in flavour and style than the Chinese version from
which it is derived
24. • Kayu or Okayu: ( 粥 , お粥 ) rice congee (porridge),
sometimes egg dropped and usually served to infants
and sick people as easily digestible meals
• Zosui (Zōsui, 雑炊 ) or Ojiya: a soup containing rice
stewed in stock, often with egg, meat, seafood,
vegetables or mushroom, and flavoured with miso or
soy. Known as juushii in Okinawa. Some similarity to
risotto and Kayu though Zosui uses cooked rice, as
the difference is that kayu is made from raw rice.
25. • A one-bowl dish, consisting of a donburi ( どんぶり , 丼
, big bowl) full of hot steamed rice with various savory
toppings:
• Katsudon: donburi topped with deep-fried breaded
cutlet of pork (tonkatsudon), chicken (chickendon)
• Tekkadon: donburi topped with tuna sashimi
• Oyakodon (Parent and Child): donburi topped with
chicken and egg (or sometimes salmon and salmon roe)
• Gyūdon: donburi topped with seasoned beef
• Tendon: donburi topped with tempura (battered shrimp
and vegetables).
• Unadon: donburi topped with broiled eel with
vegetables.
26. • Sushi comes from Japan and is a vinegared rice topped or
mixed with various fresh ingredients, usually fish or
seafood.
• Nigiri-sushi: This is sushi with the ingredients on top of a
block of rice.
• Maki-zushi: Translated as "roll sushi", this is where rice
and seafood or other ingredients are placed on a sheet of
seaweed (nori) and rolled into a cylindrical shape on a
bamboo mat and then cut into smaller pieces.
• Temaki: Basically the same as makizushi, except that the
nori is rolled into a cone-shape with the ingredients
placed inside. Sometimes referred to as a "hand-roll".
• Chirashi: Translated as "scattered", chirashi involves fresh
sea food, vegetables or other ingredients being placed on
top of sushi rice in a bowl or dish.
27. • Sake is a rice wine that typically contains 12~20%
alcohol and is made by a double fermentation of rice.
A koji yeast is first used to ferment the rice starch into
sugar. Regular brewing yeast is used in the second
fermentation to make alcohol. At traditional meals, it
is considered an equivalent to rice and is not
simultaneously taken with other rice-based dishes.
Side dishes for sake is particularly called sakana or
otsumami. Shochu is a distilled version of sake.
28. • Noodles often take the place of rice in a meal.
However, the Japanese appetite for rice is so strong
that many restaurants even serve noodles-rice
combination sets.
• Traditional Japanese noodles are usually served
chilled with a dipping sauce, or in a hot soy-dashi
broth.
– Soba: thin brown buckwheat noodles. Also known as
Nihon-soba ("Japanese soba"). In Okinawa, soba likely
refers to Okinawa soba (see below).
– Udon: thick wheat noodles served with various
toppings, usually in a hot soy-dashi broth, or sometimes
in a Japanese curry soup.
– Somen: thin wheat noodles served chilled with a
dipping sauce. Hot Somen is called Nyumen.
29. – Ramen: thin light yellow noodles served in hot chicken or
pork broth with various toppings; of Chinese origin, it is a
popular and common item in Japan. Also known as Shina-
soba ( 支那そば ) or Chuka-soba ( 中華そば ) (both mean
"Chinese-style soba")
– Champon: yellow noodles of medium thickness served with a
great variety of seafood and vegetable toppings in a hot
chicken broth which originated in Nagasaki as a cheap food
for students
• Okinawa soba: thick wheat-flour noodles served in
Okinawa, often served in a hot broth with sōki, steamed
pork. Akin to a cross between udon and ramen.
• Zaru soba: Soba noodles served cold
• Yaki soba: Fried Chinese noodles
• Yaki udon: Fried udon noodles
30. • Bread (the word "pan" is derived from the Portuguese
pão) is not native to Japan and is not considered
traditional Japanese food, but since its introduction in
the 19th century it has become common.
• Curry bread (karē pan): deep fried bread filled with
Japanese curry sauce.
• Anpan: sweet bun filled with red bean(anko) paste.
• Yakisoba-pan: bread roll sandwich with yakisoba
(fried noodles and red pickled ginger) filling.
• Melon-pan: very sweet fluffy bread.
• Katsu-sando: sandwich with tonkatsu (breaded pork
cutlet) filling.
31. • Karaage: bite-sized pieces of chicken, fish, octopus, or
other meat, floured and deep fried. Common izakaya food,
also often available in convenience stores.
• Korokke (croquette): breaded and deep-fried patties,
containing either mashed potato or white sauce mixed
with minced meat, vegetables or seafood. Popular
everyday food.
• Kushikatsu: skewered meat, vegetables or seafood,
breaded and deep fried.
• Tempura: deep-fried vegetables or seafood in a light,
distinctive batter.
• Tonkatsu: deep-fried breaded cutlet of pork (chicken
versions are called chicken katsu).
32. • Gyoza: Chinese ravioli-dumplings (potstickers),
usually filled with pork and vegetables and pan-fried.
• Kushiyaki: skewers of meat and vegetables.
• Okonomiyaki: savory pancakes with various meat and
vegetable ingredients, flavoured with the likes of
Worcestershire sauce or mayonnaise.
• Takoyaki: a spherical, fried dumpling of batter with a
piece of octopus inside. Popular street snack.
• Teriyaki: grilled, broiled, or pan-fried meat, fish,
chicken or vegetables glazed with a sweetened soy
sauce.
33. • Unagi, including Kabayaki: grilled and flavored eel.
• Yakiniku ("grilled meat"): may refer to several things.
Vegetables such as bite-sized onion, carrot, cabbage,
mushrooms, and bell pepper are usually grilled together.
Grilled ingredients are dipped in a sauce known as tare
before being eaten.
– Horumonyaki ("offal-grill"): similar homegrown dish, but
using offal
– Genghis Khan barbecue: barbecued lamb or mutton, with
various seafoods and vegetables. A speciality of Hokkaidō.
• Yakitori: barbecued chicken skewers, usually served with
beer. In Japan, yakitori usually consists of a wide variety of
parts of the chicken. It is not usual to see straight chicken
meat as the only type of yakitori in a meal.
34. • Oden: surimi, boiled eggs, daikon radish, konnyaku, and
fish cakes stewed in a light, soy-flavoured dashi broth.
Common wintertime food and often available in
convenience stores.
• Motsunabe: beef offal, Chinese cabbage and various
vegetables cooked in a light soup base.
• Shabu-shabu: hot pot with thinly sliced beef, vegetables,
and tofu, cooked in a thin stock at the table and dipped in
a soy or sesame-based dip before eating.
• Sukiyaki: thinly sliced beef and vegetables cooked in a
mixture of soy sauce, dashi, sugar, and sake. Participants
cook at the table then dip food into their individual bowls
of raw egg before eating it.
• Tecchiri: hot pot with blowfish and vegetables, a specialty
of Osaka.
35. • Kakuni: chunks of pork belly stewed in soy, mirin and
sake with large pieces of daikon and whole boiled
eggs. The Okinawan variation, using awamori, soy
sauce and miso, is known as rafuti.
• Nikujaga: beef and potato stew, flavoured with sweet
soy
• Nizakana: fish poached in sweet soy (often on the
menu as "nitsuke")
• sōki: Okinawan dish of pork stewed with bone
36. • Stir-frying is not a native method of cooking in Japan,
however mock-Chinese stir fries such as yasai itame
(stir fried vegetables) have been a staple in homes and
canteens across Japan since the 1950s. Home grown
stir fries include:
• Chanpurū: A stir-fry from Okinawa, of vegetables,
tofu, meat or seafood and sometimes egg. Many
varieties, the most famous being gōyā chanpurū.
• Kinpira gobo: Thin sticks of greater burdock (gobo,
ゴボウ ) and other root vegetables stir-fried and
braised in sweetened soy.
37. • Sashimi is raw, thinly sliced foods served with a
dipping sauce and simple garnishes; usually fish or
shellfish served with soy sauce and wasabi. Less
common variations include:
• Fugu: sliced poisonous pufferfish (sometimes lethal),
a uniquely Japanese specialty. The chef responsible
for preparing it must be licensed.
• Ikizukuri: live sashimi
• Tataki ( ja:たたき): raw/very rare skipjack tuna or
beef steak seared on the outside and sliced, or a finely
chopped fish, spiced with the likes of chopped spring
onions, ginger or garlic paste.
38. • Basashi ( ja:馬刺し): horse meat sashimi, sometimes
called sakura ( 桜 ), is a regional speciality in certain areas
such as Shinshu (Nagano, Gifu and Toyama prefectures)
and Kumamoto.[1] Basashi features on the menu of many
izakayas, even on the menus of big national chains.
• Torisashi: chicken breast sashimi, regional specialty of
Kagoshima, Miyazaki prefectures.
• Rebasashi: usually liver of calf, completely raw (rare
version is called "aburi" ( あぶり)), usually dipped in
salted sesame oil rather than soy sauce.
• Shikasashi: deer meat sashimi, a rare delicacy in certain
parts of Japan, frequently causes acute hepatitis E by
eating hunted wild deer.[1]
39. • Miso soup: soup made with miso dissolved in dashi, usually
containing two or three types of solid ingredients, such as
seaweed, vegetables or tofu.
• Tonjiru: similar to Miso soup, except that pork is added to the
ingredients
• Dangojiru: soup made with dumplings along with seaweed, tofu,
lotus root, or any number of other vegetables and roots
• Imoni: a thick taro potato stew popular in Northern Japan during
the autumn season
• Sumashijiru: a clear soup made with dashi and seafood
• Zoni: soup containing mochi rice cakes along with various
vegetables and often chicken. It is usually eaten at New Years Day.
• Kiritanpo: freshly cooked rice is pounded, formed into cylinders
around cryptomeria skewers, and toasted at an open hearth. The
kiritanpo are used as dumplings in soups.
40. • These foods are usually served in tiny portions, as a side
dish to be eaten with white rice, to accompany sake or as a
topping for rice porridges.
• Ikura: salt cured salmon caviar.
• Mentaiko: salt-cured pollock roe.
• Shiokara: salty fermented viscera.
• Tsukemono: pickled vegetables, hundreds of varieties and
served with most rice-based meals.
– Umeboshi: small, pickled ume fruit. Usually red and very
sour, often served with bento lunch boxes or as a filling for
onigiri.
• Tsukudani: Very small fish, shellfish or seaweed stewed in
sweetened soy for preservation.
41. • Agedashi dofu: cubes of deep-fried silken tofu served in hot broth.
• Bento or Obento: combination meal served in a wooden box,
usually as a cold lunchbox.
• Chawan mushi: meat (seafood and/or chicken) and vegetables
steamed in egg custard.
• Edamame: boiled and salted pods of soybeans, eaten as a snack,
often to accompany beer.
• Himono: dried fish, often aji ( 鯵 , Japanese jack mackerel).
Traditionally served for breakfast with rice, miso soup and pickles.
• Hiyayakko: chilled tofu with garnish.
• Natto: fermented soybeans, stringy like melted cheese, infamous
for its strong smell and slippery texture. Often eaten for breakfast.
Typically popular in Kantō and Tōhoku but slowly gaining
popularity in other regions which Natto was not as popular
• Ohitashi: boiled greens such as spinach, chilled and flavoured with
soy sauce, often with garnish.
42. Osechi: traditional foods eaten at New Year.
Sunomono: vegetables such as cucumber or wakame,
or sometimes crab, marinated in rice vinegar.
43. Chinmi are regional delicacies, and include:
Ankimo
Karasumi
Konowata
Uni: Specifically salt-pickled sea urchin
45. Kompeito: crystal sugar candy
Manju: sticky rice surrounding a sweet bean center
Matsunoyuki
Mochi: steamed sweet rice pounded into a solid,
sticky, and somewhat translucent mass
Oshiruko: a warm, sweet red bean (an) soup with
mochi: rice cake
Uiro: a steamed cake made of rice flour
46. Karumetou: Brown sugar cake. Also called
Karumeyaki
Sosu Senbei: Thin wafers eaten with soy sauce
Mizuame: sticky liquid sugar candy
47. Genmaicha: green tea combined with roasted brown
rice.
Hojicha: green tea roasted over charcoal.
Kombucha (tea): specifically the tea poured with
Kombu giving rich flavor in monosodium glutamate.
Kukicha: a blend of green tea made of stems, stalks,
and twigs.
48. Matcha: powdered green tea. (Green tea ice cream is
flavoured with matcha, not ocha.)
Mugicha: barley tea, served chilled during summer.
Sencha: steam treated green tea leaves then dried.
Umecha: a tea drink with Umeboshi giving refreshing
sourness.
49. Breaded and deep-fried dishes - While tempura has been
heavily modified since the introduction to Japan by use of
tempura-batter and dashi flavored-dip, and is usually
considered as washoku, other breaded and deep-fried
dishes are considered as yōshoku. Breaded seafood,
vegetable (Furai, フライ , came from "fry"), and meat
(Katsuretsu, カツレツ , came from "cutlet", -katsu is also
used to make compound words) are usually served with
shredded cabbage and/or lettuce. Since Japanese
breadcrumbs ( パン粉 , pan-ko) are usually not flavored
and the ingredients are only lightly flavored,
Japanese Worcestershire sauce or tonkatsu sauce, and
lemon are served together.
50. Japanese curry-rice - imported in the 19th century
by way of the United Kingdom and adapted by
Japanese Navy chefs. One of the most popular
food items in Japan today. Eaten with a spoon.
Curry is often eaten with pickled vegetables called
fukujinzuke or rakkyo
Curry Pan - deep fried bread with Japanese curry sauce
inside. The pirozhki of Russia was remodeled, and
Curry bread was made.
Curry udon - is a soup made of Japanese curry. May also
include meat or vegetables.
51. Hayashi rice - beef and onions stewed in a red-wine
sauce and served on rice
Nikujaga - soy-flavored meat and potato stew. Has
been Japanised to the extent that it is now considered
washoku ( 和食 ), but again originates from 19th
Century Japanese Navy chefs adapting beef stews of
the Royal Navy.
Omu raisu - ketchup-flavored rice wrapped in omelet.
52. Hamburg steak - a ground beef patty, usually
mixed with breadcrumbs and fried chopped
onions, served with a side of white rice and
vegetables. Popular post-war food item served at
homes. Eaten with a fork.
Spaghetti - Japanese versions include:
with tomato ketchup, wieners, sliced onion and green
pepper (called 'neapolitan')
with mentaiko sauce topped with nori seaweed
with Japanese Curry
53. It is customary to say itadakimasu (lit. "I shall
receive") before starting to eat a meal, and
gochisōsama deshita, ごちそうさまでした (lit.
"That was a feast") to the host after the meal and
the restaurant staff when leaving.
Before eating, most dining places will provide
either a hot towel or a plastic wrapped wet
napkin. This is for cleaning of the hands prior to
eating and not after. It is rude to use them to wash
the face or any part of the body other than the
hands.
54. The rice or the soup is eaten by picking the relevant
bowl up with the left hand and using chopsticks with
the right. Bowls of soup, noodle soup, donburi or
ochazuke may be lifted to the mouth but not white
rice. Soy sauce is not usually poured over most foods
at the table; a dipping dish is usually provided. Soy
sauce is, however, meant to be poured directly onto
tofu and grated daikon dishes. In particular, soy sauce
should never be poured onto rice or soup. Blowing
one's nose at the table is considered extremely
offensive. Noodles are slurped.
55. Chopsticks are never left sticking vertically into rice,
as this resembles incense sticks (which are usually
placed vertically in sand) during offerings to the dead.
Using chopsticks to spear food, to point, or especially
to pass food into someone else's chopsticks is also
frowned upon. It is also very bad manners to bite on
your chopsticks.
56. When taking food from a communal dish, unless they
are family or very close friends, turn the chopsticks
around to grab the food; it is considered more
sanitary. If sharing with someone else, move it
directly from one plate to another; passing food from
one pair of chopsticks to another is a funeral rite.
57. It is customary to eat rice to the last grain. Being a
fussy eater is frowned upon, and it is not customary to
ask for special requests or substitutions at
restaurants. It is considered ungrateful to make these
requests especially in circumstances where you are
being hosted, as in a business dinner environment.
Good manners dictate that you respect the selections
of the host. This is a common mistake that visiting
business people make.
58. Even in informal situations, drinking alcohol starts
with a toast (kanpai, 乾杯 ) when everyone is ready. It
is not customary to pour oneself a drink; but rather,
people are expected to keep each other's drinks
topped up. When someone moves to pour your drink
you should hold your glass with both hands and
thank them.
59. Soba: New Year's Eve. This is called toshi koshi soba
(ja: 年越しそば ) (literally "year crossing soba").
Chirashizushi, Ushiojiru (clear soup of clams) and
amazake: Hinamatsuri.
60. Sake is a rice wine that typically contains 12~20%
alcohol and is made by multiple fermentation of rice.
At traditional meals, it is considered an equivalent to
rice and is not simultaneously taken with other rice-
based dishes. Side dishes for sake is particularly called
sakana or otsumami. Shōchū is a distilled spirit, most
commonly distilled from barley, sweet potato, or rice.
