Japanese Culture and Food

Japanese food has become popular for its emphasis on food quality and flavors, and is now one of the world’s favorite types of cuisine. You can find it in Sydney bars, Toronto clubs and even in Argentinean restaurants. Japanese culture and food have a lot in common, including a long, complex ancestry.

The development of Japanese food culture

Japan’s early history is that of an insular culture, exposed progressively to first regional and then global cultures. The unique thing about Japanese culture, however, is that these influences were absorbed and turned into distinctly Japanese versions.

The original Japanese food grain was actually buckwheat, not rice. Rice was imported from China by waves of migrants 2400 years ago. Soy, the other typical Japanese staple, was introduced about a century later. Prior to that there was no organized agriculture in Japan, and the diet and culture were essentially that of nomadic hunter/gatherers.

In the original Japanese culture, meat was a rarity, a situation caused at least partly by various taboos on eating types of meat (horse, monkey, cattle, dogs and chickens) under the Shinto religion. Livestock weren’t raised for food, but for labour. Buddhism reinforced the taboos, and the fact that there was no systematic breeding of food animals added scarcity to the effect. Most meat was derived from relatively rare sources, like wild boar, deer and birds by hunters. Animal products re-entered the national diet in the 15th century, in the form of meat and eggs.

The food culture

Japanese food culture is derived from a mix of historical necessity, regional diets and a unique philosophy of food. The nearest thing to Japanese food culture is ancient Chinese food philosophy, which ascribes aesthetic, spiritual and health values to types of food.

The original protein source in ancient Japan was fish, and this food source evolved into a highly regarded and artistically stylized delicacy. The Japanese proverb, "Eat it raw first of all, then grill it, and boil it as the last resort," is found in haiku poetry, and refers to the origins of the current Japanese food culture, in which the raw fish is regarded as the highest form of culinary achievement, and the cooked forms the lesser.

That concept has remained a feature of Japanese food to this day. Natural flavors, combined with additional prepared sauces and flavors like garlic and wasabi are the typical “orchestrations” of Japanese food.

Japanese food culture kept evolving on these principles. Modern Teriyaki sauce, wasabi dishes, Kobe beef, and other exclusively Japanese dishes are still essentially based on a culture of flavors, rather than the European emphasis on types of preparation.

The Japanese dining style also relates very much to flavor combinations. The base dish of rice, combined with other elements, allows diners a lot of choice, and the ability to eat according to preference. This style is good food economics, as well as an elegant way of eating. Compare this to the standard European “whatever’s on the plate” approach, and you can see the natural advantages for both palate and dietary choices.

Japanese food is famous for its elegance and revered for its flavors by haute cuisine experts around the world. When you get the chance, try as many flavors and combinations as you can, and you’ll soon discover why.