The Japanese Esthetic
Asian cuisine is many-splendoured thing. Japan, China, Korea, Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia offer a whole range of dishes from the simple to the complex, the mild to the spicy that are becoming better known thanks to a cosmopolitan restaurant scene. Trying foreign dishes at home has become quite common. Chinese cooking may be better known, but Japanese cooking, with tempura and teriyaki, sushi and sashimi, is very “in”.
In Japan, unlike the West or Beijing, rooms are sparingly furnished. Their simple, uncluttered decor radiates calm. In spite of the fact that most Japanese have adopted a Western lifestyle, sitting on chairs to eat, lounging on leather sofas, preparing meals in American-style fully-equipped kitchens, traditional customs remain an essential part of daily life.
No one would think of entering a Japanese home without first removing their shoes. Sleeping futons, sliding rice paper panels that can change the size or shape of a given space, straw floor mats or tatami and low eating tables, all still widely used, are proof that tradition lives on. Many homes include a room used only for the tea ceremony.
Dating from the 16th century, the ritual of the tea ceremony continues to be taught today like music or dance. Tea is also enjoyed first thing in the morning and with meals, served without sugar in stoneware or fine china bowls or cups. Short and cut up, tea leaves are considered a symbol of death, so tea is never served at births or weddings. Green tea is very refreshing but apple-, rose- and cinnamon-flavoured teas are also popular. Sweets are served with green tea to “adorn the stomach”.
The seasons dictate the choice of serving dishes, plates and bowls. In fall and winter, bright lights and white or mostly white china rob Japanese cuisine of much of its appeal while candlelight and black and red lacquer enhance it.
Foods are served in small amounts on individual plates, quite unlike the Chinese custom of setting out huge platters filled with food. Soup is served in covered bowls; steam wafts up when the cover is removed. Spoons are never used. Japanese chopsticks, more slender than the Chinese and usually made of lacquered wood, are used to add ingredients to the soup. The bowl, cupped in both hands, is then raised to the mouth.
At a Japanese meal, guests sit back on their heels and are expected to admire the dishes before tasting them—audibly to show their appreciation. For the Japanese, food is not just a source of calories to fuel the body, but a spiritual experience. Pure and simple, Japanese cuisine differs from all other Asian cuisines. It accustoms the palate to foods served as naturally as possible, even raw, so that one comes to know and enjoy them.
The Japanese don't try to impress people with foods that are out of season. Their esthetic is based instead on savouring the foods in season. A carrot slice for example will be cut in the shape of a flower in the spring, and the shape of a maple leaf in the fall. Summer meals feature crisp green vegetables served with chilled noodles, while a winter meal might include sukiyaki, a beef and vegetable dish cooked at the table. This appreciation of the changing seasons permeates Japanese culture and philosophy.
Sushi, the Japanese version of a sandwich, was invented in Asia before salt was used to preserve food. Fish was rolled up in vinegared cooked rice. As the rice fermented, it salted the fish, preserving it. Modern sushi first appeared in Tokyo food stands in the middle of the 19th century. People ate it standing up, like we eat hot dogs. It was popular cheap fare, whose quality depended more on the skill with which it was made than on what went into the filling. Believed to have colder hands than women, only men could make sushi because they were better able to mix the short grain rice, which is sticky when cooked.
Sushi has become very sophisticated, with all kinds of new shapes and names: California sushi, crazy horse, porgy, Boston roll. Tokyo has 15,000 sushi bars in which the sushi is served on a conveyor belt or in miniature boats floating in a small moat. Now, you can find sushi in the refrigerated display case at your grocer's and enjoy it at home.
Sashimi is made with the best cuts of various raw fish and seafood like tuna, salmon, squid, and bream. It is served with a mixture of soya sauce and wasabi (green horseradish) that add bite but still let the flavour of the fish come through. Soya sauce, the Japanese salt equivalent, has been in use since 710 and produced industrially since the 16th century. Daikon, a large white radish whose Japanese name means large root, is usually served with sashimi.
Tempura is a variation on a dish introduced by the Portuguese in the 16th century. Good Catholics that they were, they observed the many meatless days, asking for shrimp fried in batter. The Japanese refined the dish, perfecting a batter as light as a soap bubble, so fine that it's practically transparent. Fish, seafood and vegetables are dipped in this batter then fried until just cooked and crisp in a mixture of corn, olive and sesame oil for flavour.
Tea and Sake—Tradition dictates a Japanese meal end with green tea, of which the Japanese drink a lot. Another option in winter is sake warmed to body temperature in a basin of hot water. Sake is served in tiny cups called sakazuki. In summer, sake can be served cold. According to Japanese sake etiquette, one never fills one's own glass.