Japanese cuisine, namely "Heshi", originated from the Japanese archipelago and gradually developed into a dish with unique Japanese characteristics. The staple food is mainly rice and noodles, and the non-staple food is mostly seafood such as fresh fish and shrimp, often accompanied by Japanese wine. Food is famous for its lightness. Try to keep the original flavor of the ingredients when cooking.

In the production of Japanese cuisine, fresh materials, exquisite cutting and artistic display are required, and the harmony of "color, fragrance, taste and utensils" is emphasized, especially not only the taste but also the visual enjoyment. Harmonious food requires natural color, delicious taste, diverse shapes and excellent utensils. Moreover, materials and conditioning methods attach importance to the sense of season. There are many kinds of food, and each place has its own local flavor.

The most representative foods are sashimi, sushi, rice balls, tempura, hot pot, stone roast, roasted birds and so on.

Sashimi, or sashimi, is the best raw food for Japanese people. Japan has the habit of eating raw food since ancient times. Before the edo period, sashimi was mainly made of snapper, flounder and perch. These fish are all white. After Meiji, tuna and bonito with red meat became the first-class materials for making sashimi. Now, the Japanese slice shellfish and lobsters, which is also called "sashimi". The puffer fish sliced after removal of puffer fish poison is the best among sashimi. Chefs who make puffer fish sashimi must obtain professional qualifications. This kind of sashimi is fresh and delicious, but it is very expensive. Eat sashimi with green mustard and soy sauce. This mustard is called "ゎさび" in Japanese. It is a very clean plant "wasabi", which grows under waterfalls or mountain springs and will wither when it is polluted. Mustard is like a radish with black skin and green meat. It is ground and kneaded with soy sauce to eat sashimi. It has a special pungent smell, which has the functions of sterilization and appetizing. Japanese sashimi is unusually fresh, with uniform thickness and consistent length. Sashimi dishes are dotted with shredded white radish, seaweed and perilla flowers, which reflects Japan's pro-nature food culture.

"Sushi", also known as Sixi Rice, is the representative of Japanese rice. To make sushi, you need to add seasonings such as vinegar, sugar, salt and cooking wine to rice, as well as seaweed and horseradish, and make a small rice ball with all kinds of sashimi, fish fry, shrimp meat and shellfish on it. This is called "holding sushi". Spread rice on sushi, then add sashimi, laver, etc. And roll it into a cylindrical shape to become "rolled sushi". Sushi is delicious and refreshing, and the price is close to the people, which is deeply loved by Japanese people. In Tokyo, guests can enjoy the chef's cooking while eating.

Rice balls are made of rice cooked with both hands, and are of moderate size, and filled with dried salted plums or salted salmon. When holding it, dip your hands in water and salt to make the rice ball slightly salty, wrap it with seaweed, and eat it with some pickles. When traveling or having an outing, it is a traditional Japanese habit to wrap rice balls with bamboo skin and take them for a picnic.

Tempura is a kind of fried food. It is made of flour, eggs, water and pulp. Fish, shrimp and vegetables are coated with starch and fried in oil pan until golden brown. Dip it in soy sauce and radish sauce when eating. It is tender and delicious, fragrant but not greasy.

"Xi Shou Roasted Hotpot", also known as Japanese Hotpot, became popular in the second half of19th century. It is made by slicing beef and cooking it with seafood and vegetables. Serve with seasonings made of raw egg juice, soy sauce and sugar. In ancient Japan, there was this kind of eating habit. Farmers put fish and vegetables in pots on the pit, and everyone cooks.

"Stone burning" refers to cooking cows on hot stones and then dipping them in fresh soy sauce.

Japan has cultivated a kind of cattle, the meat is very soft, it can be peeled off with chopsticks, and it melts in the mouth and is very tender. This kind of Kobe cattle and Matsuzaka cattle enjoys a high reputation in the world, but they are expensive.

"Roasted bird", chicken sliced and strung on a thin bamboo stick, dipped in soy sauce, sugar, cooking wine and so on. So as to obtain flavor juice and bake it on fire. Chicken or pig offal is also a useful raw material, but traditionally it is called roast bird, which is cheap and many people like to use it as an appetizer. You can see the "bird burning house" all over Japan.

At present, Japanese cuisine is mainly composed of fish, meat and vegetables. In ancient Japan, meat was once one of the staple foods. But in 675 AD, influenced by Buddhism, Emperor Tianwu issued a ban on eating cattle, horses, dogs, monkeys and chickens. For more than 1000 years, Japanese people seldom eat meat. Until the edo period, Japan still did not slaughter poultry and livestock, but the game cooked in hunting grounds was still edible. After the Meiji Restoration, the habit of eating meat was introduced from Europe and America, and quickly spread throughout the country.

The rice produced in Japan is rich in nutrition and of high quality. The cooked rice looks like pearls and smells good. When eating rice, it is often accompanied by vegetables, fish, meat and other non-staple foods, as well as pickles such as seasoning soup and yellow sauce. In terms of non-staple food, many people now use western or Chinese dishes to match.

Japanese noodles are cheap and good, especially buckwheat noodles, which are very popular foods.

The Japanese have had the concept of simplicity and frugality since ancient times. In addition, in order to prevent the poor harvest, the foods stored and preserved include pickles, pickled fish and meat, and air-dried foods. Wooden chopsticks are usually used when eating. Japanese chopsticks are shorter than those in China, with male chopsticks 22 cm long and female chopsticks 265,438+0 cm long.

The pace of Japanese society is very fast. Breakfast in Japan is simple, lunch is casual and dinner is the most abundant. Japanese people often eat red bean rice and snapper with the head and tail on every happy occasion. Add red beans into glutinous rice and steam them together to make red bean rice. The color of red beans will turn glutinous rice red, and red symbolizes the color of fire and the sun, which has been regarded as an auspicious color since ancient times. The body of snapper is bright red, so it becomes a symbol of good luck.

Among alcohol, Japanese wine (alcohol concentration 15% ~ 16%) is used in a considerable amount. 1994 The consumption of alcohol in Japan was about1100,000 kiloliters, and the output was 9.34 million kiloliters, of which beer accounted for 76%, Japanese wine accounted for 1 1%, and spirits accounted for 7%. Japanese often drink with customers, colleagues or bosses after work to improve interpersonal relationships.

The most popular drink in Japan is green tea. Coffee is also deeply loved by modern Japanese, and black tea and oolong tea are also quite popular. You can taste all kinds of world-famous dishes in Japan, but in order to suit Japanese tastes, most of them are a little Japanese. Tokyo is a showcase for international cooking. The most common foreign food in Japan is Chinese food, and there are quite a few restaurants run by China people. In addition, Korean, French, Italian and Indian cuisines are also very popular.

Nowadays, the Japanese diet is gradually diversified, and American fast food, hamburgers and pasta have partially replaced rice balls. Compared with 1960, the consumption of chicken has increased by more than 10 times, while the sales volume of rice has decreased by13 compared with more than 20 years ago, and it is still declining. Quick-frozen food is favored by housewives, and China dishes such as jiaozi, fried dumplings, steamed stuffed buns and noodles are also very popular in Japan.

Four main dishes:

1. Shi Huai cuisine

In order not to affect the fun of tea tasting, the taste and materials used in cooking are very particular. The owner of the teahouse carefully selects fresh seafood and vegetables according to the season and cooks them carefully. Shi Huai Cai pays attention to quiet environment, simple and elegant dishes.

2. Zhuofu cuisine

Chinese food is characterized by guests sitting around a table with a backrest, and all the meals are put on one table. This dish originated from the ancient Buddhist vegetarianism in China, and was popularized by Zen master Yuan Yin as "Pu 'er tea material theory" (that is, a dish with tea instead of wine). Because it is very popular in Nagasaki, it is also called "Nagasaki cuisine". Chefs used local aquatic meat in Buddhist vegetarian dishes and created Zhuofu cuisine. Zhuofu cuisine mainly includes shark fin clear soup, tea, large plate, medium plate, side dishes, stews, rice cakes, bean soup and fruits. Small dishes are divided into five dishes, seven dishes and nine dishes, with seven dishes being the majority. From the beginning, put all the side dishes on the table, while eating, put shark fin clear soup and other dishes on the table.

3. Tea party cooking

During the Muromachi era (14th century), the tea ceremony prevailed, so the tea banquet "Tea Party Cuisine" appeared. At first, tea party cooking was just an ornament of the tea ceremony, which was very simple. By the end of Muromachi, it became very luxurious. Later, Mori Noriky, the founder of the tea ceremony, restored the original light and simple appearance of tea party cooking. Tea party cooking should save space and labor as much as possible, and only three utensils should be used for staple food-rice bowls, soup bowls and small plates. Sometimes there are soup, dried plums, fruits, sometimes two or three kinds of delicious food, and finally tea.

4. Benshancai

This is a ritual dish at weddings and funerals. Generally, there are three dishes and one soup, five dishes and two soups and seven dishes and three soups. Pay attention to the harmony of color, fragrance and taste when cooking. It will also be made into some patterns to show good luck. Pay attention to the rules when eating, such as holding the bowl on the left with your left hand and putting the lid on the left with your right hand. Instead, lift the lid with your right hand. Hold it with both hands first? Raise your rice bowl, put down your right hand and hold chopsticks in your right hand. Every time you eat two mouthfuls of rice, you should put down the bowl, then hold the soup bowl in your hands and drink two mouthfuls before putting down the bowl. After that, in the same way, eat two mouthfuls of rice and another dish.