Japanese cuisine

Lovers of Japanese cuisine know well that this is not the case, and that in addition to sushi, which has become enormously popular, Japanese culture offers a wide variety of gastronomic elaborations that do not leave anyone indifferent. As we will see, there are different preparations very different from what European palates are used to, and therefore, many times, you either love them or they repel you, there is often no middle ground. exist multitude of preparations With which to fill one or more books on Japanese cuisine, but we will take a look at the most common types of preparations and foods.

A way to eat

Japanese cuisine is one more part of Japanese culture and, therefore, reflects that search for harmony and dedication in what is made. All is aesthetics and balance: aesthetics in the presentation and balance in the offer of dishes. Depending on the occasion, the presentation rules will be more or less strict, but it is about presenting a multitude of preparations that include different colors, foods and cooking methods. Food is usually presented in small bowls and trays. The portions are not usually large, but variety prevails, and most food is usually eaten divided into small portions so that it can be taken well with chopsticks. A sample is what is known as bento, some containers separated by compartments to buy food to go. Bento are used for both adults and children.

Types of food in Japanese cuisine

Sushi and Sashimi

Sushi has been spreading and gaining adherents among our culture in such a way that nowadays it is becoming easier to buy sushi, not only in restaurants, but also in establishments "" and supermarkets. So it does not require many presentations, but just in case, when we talk about sushi we are talking about preparations mainly based on rice, nori seaweed and different ingredients, such as raw or undercooked fish, vegetables, etc. There are different types of sushi: maki, temaki, futomaki, uramaki, gokonmaki, husomaki, niguiri ... and, on the other hand, the sashimi, which are small fillets or taquitos and raw fish.

Nutritional note: both sushi and sashimi are very low-fat preparations based on although it must be taken into account that the consumption of raw food requires certain precautions, such as pre-freezing the fish to avoid the possible ingestion of live anisakis, and the correct washing of vegetables. On the other hand, the glycemic index of the target is somewhat high so it should be taken into account for people with glycemic regulation problems.

Noodles

The world of noodles in Japanese cuisine is exactly that, a world, because we can find many that can be cooked in a multitude of ways, sautéed in the form of wok, forming part of a soup dish, etc. Simplifying, we can talk about udon, which are the thickest noodles that are mostly eaten hot in a broth, the soba, buckwheat noodles that can be served hot or cold, the ramen which are wheat flour noodles prepared in a broth with a mixture of other ingredients, and which is actually a dish of Chinese origin, and somen them, thin and white noodles made with wheat flour that are usually eaten cold.

Nutritional note: The noodles, as we have been commenting, are consumed in a thousand ways and therefore the nutritional contribution of the dish will vary greatly depending on the preparation. In general terms, noodle dishes are usually accompanied by vegetables and meat or fish. Japanese cuisine is not characterized by the addition of many fats, but by the presence of vegetables and the variation of ingredients, so many noodle dishes with vegetables and some meat and fish can be a perfectly correct, balanced and complete dish.

Fried

They are also usually used in Japanese cuisine, in addition to the tempura, possibly the best-known version of fried foods in this type of cuisine, we also find katsu and panko fritters, a kind of Japanese breadcrumbs. The katsu, they are fried meat of different animals, torikatsu, chicken, tonkatsu, pork, gyukatsu, beef, katsudon, is tonkatsu served in a bowl of rice.

Nutritional note: the fried foods in Japanese food seem to have western origin, but be that as it may, they are part of its gastronomy today. Nutritionally, meats and vegetables are often fried, and vegetable oils such as sesame oil (oil with polyunsaturated fatty acids) are used for this, and the frying is very fast so it will absorb less oil.

Umami flavor

The umami flavor, considered the fifth flavor, in addition to the sweet, salty, sour and bitterIt is of Japanese origin and comes from the combination of the terms umai "delicious" and my "taste". Although this flavor was talked about before, it was not identified until 1908 when a professor at the Imperial University of Tokyo discovered that glutamate was the component that generated said umami flavor, which could be savored, for example, in dashi broth, made from kombu seaweed and katsuobushi (fermented dried bonito shavings).

Japanese sweets

There are a multitude of sweet preparations in Japanese cuisine, although the way of taking these products is different than in Spanish cuisine. In Japan, sweets are not usually eaten for dessert, but are eaten between meals, as a snack for example, or together with tea. The most common and well-known products are Dorayaki, a kind of empanadas filled with a sweet paste such as plum paste or red bean paste, azuki. Another example are mochis, some cakes made from rice paste that gives them a spongy and somewhat sticky texture, and with different fillings, such as macha tea.

Nutritional noteAlthough we are talking about sweet products, as a general rule they are, and therefore more recommended than most of the sweets we are used to. Anyway, we are generalizing and to be precise we would have to evaluate each product separately.

Other must-have products

• Rice: white rice is a fundamental companion to many dishes of the Japanese culture. The rice bowl that is not missing is part of dishes such as katsudon or gyudon, etc. which are elements of the most homemade Japanese food.
• Veal: Specifically, Kobe beef is a star product of Japanese cuisine, and we must pay attention to its score, which should be close to 5, which is the maximum, and the score for marbling, marbling of intramuscular fat in the meat, which should be close to 12. But in addition to kobe meat there are other excellent and somewhat more affordable names such as Hida meat.
• Other dishes or preparations: the natto, ermentada that is usually taken with rice, and like many dishes in Japan has a flavor that does not leave indifferent. The Japanese curry or kareraisu is a preparation with origin in India and it is rice with curry, but there is also the version of curry or kare, with noodles, kareudon or curry bread, karepan. Finally, another traditional dish is okonomiyaki, known as the Japanese “omelette”, in the sense of an omelette like flour cake, which is cooked on the grill and eaten with a mixture of vegetables, meat, seafood, etc. Different variants are made, typical of each area.

Snack food"

In Japanese cuisine it is common, as we have commented, the presence of many small plates, in them we find food such as pods edamame, the vegetable pickles or tsukemono, or the algae, which may well be in small bowls to nibble as part of more abundant elaborate dishes.

Other preparations for nibbling are gyozas, a kind of dumplings stuffed with vegetables, meat or seafood that are usually steamed although they are also cooked with a grill. Anyway, it is an elaboration of Chinese origin.

Nutritional note: Japanese food is usually rich in flavors, colors and presentations and for this reason we are talking about a varied food, it is also rich in vegetables and low in fat, which makes it quite interesting. Algae and soybeans are very present components in the gastronomy of this country and have remarkable nutritional characteristics. Soy is rich in proteins and with multiple gastronomic applications, while algae are concentrated foods, which we should not ingest in excess due to their high mineral content, but which may well serve to enrich the diet at a nutritional and organoleptic level.

• Japanese cuisine is very varied and places great importance on the presentation and aesthetics of the dishes.
• Food of different colors, different nature and different way of cooking are always served on the table.
• Due to the aesthetics of the presentation and the way of eating, with chopsticks, small portions of each type of food are usually presented, which favors moderation and variety.

Mercè Gonzalo Bachelor of Food Science and Technology Diploma in Human Nutrition and Dietetics