Washington - Washoku, traditional Japanese cuisine, has been registered on Unesco’s Intangible Cultural Heritage List.
The registration is believed to be in recognition that Japanese dishes, including sushi, tempura and sukiyaki, are being served at restaurants throughout the world.
But there is another world of Japanese food that is reasonably priced and enjoyed by ordinary Japanese every day. Below is a taste of such cuisine.
Bento
This is a Japanese meal served in a small package containing rice, grilled dishes and pickles, items usually served at home. People prepare bento at home or buy one made at a bento shop or caterer. Either way, a boxed meal will give you a taste of the diverse ingredients of Japanese food culture.
Bento available at railway stations are called ekiben. “Eki” means station and “ben” is an abbreviation for bento. Digging into a bento while enjoying the changing scenery through a train window is one of the joys of travel.
Ekiben is also characterised by the use of regional specialties. For instance, Hokkaido bento features seafood such as squid or crab, while gyutan (ox tongue) is common in Sendai bento and beef can often be found in bento from Yamagata. Travellers can enjoy regional flavours by eating the specialties contained within a small bento box.
At urban shopping districts and along major roads, bento shops cater to customers’ requests. As the rice and accompanying dishes are served hot, these bento are called hokaben (piping hot bento), and are favoured by business people and homemakers.
Almost every bento shop carries makunouchi bento (literally, intermission bento). There are various theories about the derivation of this name. One theory has it that in the past, theatregoers would eat boxed meals during intermission.
The standard style of the makunouchi bento has not changed much. Besides rice, it usually contains a variety of small food portions, sometimes 10 to 15 different items, such as Japanese-style omelette and boiled dishes, all set out in an orderly fashion.
Teishoku
The basic arrangement of a traditional Japanese meal, known as “ichiju-sansai”, consists of miso soup, three dishes and rice, served on a single tray as a set meal known as “teishoku”. Teishoku meals are prepared and served quickly at relatively low prices at specialised eateries. To many, teishoku are like a little taste of “mom’s home cooking”.
A typical meal at the Ootoya chain of teishoku shops adopts the “ichiju-sansai” format, comprising a main dish, side dishes and Japanese-style pickled vegetables, accompanied by the ever-present bowl of rice and miso soup. Even the most expensive of its teishoku meals are priced at no more than 900 yen (R95).
Customers can request a large portion of rice at no extra charge, and those with a yearning for healthier food can also have their white rice replaced with “gokokumai”, a mixture of rice and other grains at no additional cost.
Teishoku specialty restaurants aren’t the only place to find teishoku meals. Japanese-style pubs and cookshops frequently incorporate them into lunch menus. A wide range of flavours from broiled fish to fried croquettes or deep-fried breaded pork can be had served alongside sauteed vegetables and meat. Many restaurants gladly ladle out second helpings of rice and miso soup free of charge.
Kanmidokoro
In Japan, women who love sweets fill most of the seats at establishments called kanmidokoro (place to have something sweet).
Kanmidokoro are tea houses that offer desserts unique to Japan. The main ingredient in many of the desserts is “an”, which are simmered and mashed adzuki beans kneaded with a large amount of sugar until they become pastelike.
Shiruko is a thin “an” soup with small pieces of toasted mochi, or chewy rice cakes. Anmitsu is small cubes of cooked kanten agar and sliced fruits with “an” on top.
In traditional Japanese cuisine, which did not use animal fat such as butter or fresh cream, “an” was the most popular ingredient for sweet desserts. In the Edo period (1603-1867), kanmidokoro became a staple of ordinary people’s lives.
Probably because kanmidokoro dates back centuries, many famous establishments operate in old wooden houses. One is Takemura near Akihabara, Tokyo, which was established in 1930. It offers several kinds of shiruko with different methods of preparing the “an”, all priced at about 750 yen (R79).
Men tend to think of kanmidokoro as places frequented predominantly by women. According to Takemura owner Kikuo Hotta, 74, many kanmidokoro used to be located near bustling areas frequented by beautifully dressed geisha. “Kanmidokoro may still conjure up an image of a place frequented by classy women,” Hotta said.
Ramen
Ramen noodle-in-soup in a bowl, one of Japan’s most popular dishes, has its origin in China and flourished in Japan. Having a variety of tastes and flavours, ramen keeps evolving every day at bustling ramen shops.
In his travel blog Sushi & Beyond, British food journalist Michael Booth writes: “Essentially, ramen is a dish of yellow, chewy, curly Chinese wheat noodles served in a deep bowl of soup with toppings – usually including a slice of roast pork.”
However, the description just refers to the essential definition of ramen.
The soup contains at least three kinds of flavours – soy sauce, miso and salt. In addition, there are various toppings for ramen, for example, a whole crab, fried chicken and a heap of vegetables.
There are regional varieties of ramen, with every prefecture having their local ones. - The Yomiuri Shimbun / The Washington Post News Service