Japanese cuisine

Tempura, sukiyaki, sashimi, sushi - even the words used to describe the most basic of Japanese dishes are exotic and beautiful. Japanese cuisine is easily one of the healthiest in the world, with its concentration on fresh fish, seafood, rice and vegetables. Chutney and delicate flavors of fresh foods complement beautifully, and methods of presentation turn even simple meals into beautiful events.

The Japanese have easily a dozen different names for rice, depending on how it is prepared and served with. The most common meal is a rice dish, a plate of white rice served with various toppings or ingredients are mixed. So popular it is the rice bowl has even made its way into the world of Western convenience foods alongside ramen noodles. Domburi is a bowl of rice topped with another food: domburi tendon, for example, rice with tempura and domburi gyudon is rice with beef. The Japanese adopted fried rice from the Chinese, and a century ago, when it was introduced curry, developed Kare Raisu, curry rice. Now it is a popular dish that there are many fast food restaurants that serve several versions takeaway.

Besides white rice served as a side dish, Japanese cuisine has onigiri - rice balls wrapped in seaweed, often with a 'surprise' in the middle and Kayu, a thin gruel of rice that resembles oatmeal.

As an island nation, it is not surprising that seafood is featured in Japanese cuisine. Sushi and sashimi are raw seafood with various spices. Impeccably fresh fish is the secret to wonderful sashimi and sushi, served with soy sauce and wasabi. The Japanese love of beauty and simplicity turns slices and chunks of raw fish into miniature works of art. Fish cut into very thin slices that is transparent may be arranged on a platter in a delicate fan that alternates pink salmon with paler flesh fish slices. Sushi is typically arranged to best display the colors and textures to their best advantage, turning the platter and plate into palettes for art chef.

Traditionally, meat plays a minor role in the Japanese diet, although it has had an increasingly larger role in the last fifty years as Japan becomes more westernized. Beef, chicken and pork can be served with several meals one week. One of the most popular meat dishes is 'yakitori' - chicken grilled on a skewer and served with sauce. A typical quick lunch might include a skewer of yakitori and a rice bowl with sushi sauce.

In an interesting twist, Japan has imported dishes from other cuisines and 'Japanized', adopting as part of their own kitchens. Korokke, for instance, are croquettes adopted from those introduced by the English last century. In Japan, the most common filling is a mixture of mashed potatoes and minced meat. Other Soshoyu - Western dishes that have made their way into Japanese everyday cuisine include 'omuraisu' rice and a tortilla hambagau, the Japanized version of an American hamburger.