Cook Japan, Stay Slim, Live Longer by Hashimoto Reiko

Author:Hashimoto, Reiko [Hashimoto, Reiko]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781472933249
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2017-01-11T16:00:00+00:00

Miso Scallop with Edamame Purée

MEAT AND POULTRY

Any history of food in Japan has to include the many centuries when eating the meat of four-legged animals was forbidden. For more than a thousand years prior to 1868 there was a strict ban, initiated by Buddhist beliefs. Interestingly, the eating of wild boar and hare was tolerated, which perhaps contributes to the fact that pork remains, today, the most commonly used meat in Japan. As the country modernised in the late 19th century, meat eating was encouraged as part of a process of Westernisation. However, as eating meat was never originally rooted in Japanese food culture, it is still eaten in relatively small quantities.

These days the Japanese diet continues to rely mainly on rice, vegetable and tofu-based dishes, and this limited consumption of red meat is thought to be behind the long lifespans and slim waistlines of the Japanese population. Beef in particular can still be very expensive in Japan, so when it is included in a dish, it is the star of the dish, rather than just an ingredient.

This is consistent with the well-known Japanese adage ‘eat until you are 80 per cent full’, which is much easier to do when tasting many contrasting dishes, rather than dining on a single heavy meat dish.

As Japan is surrounded by sea, it is not surprising that we continue to make the most out of what is readily available in terms of protein, while much of our farmland is dedicated to rice paddies.

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