Japanese Cuisine Miss Perez

Guess what food comes from this?

Japanese staple ingredients  All over Japan rice is the most important crop  Soy beans, fish, and seaweed are also essentials in Japanese cuisine

Regional Japanese Cuisine  Southern Japan

Northern Japan

Based off this photo, what do you think the main source of protein in the Japanese diet? Why?

Seafood  The main type of protein eaten by Japanese people  Has one of the worlds largest fishing industries  Sardines, salmon, herring, cuttlefish, and yellowtail fish are among the most popular

Why do you think that Japanese consume little meat?  The teachings of Buddism forbid the eating of meat  However, this is dissipating due the the abandonment of Buddist dietary laws.  Meat is now typically seen on Japanese tables but in smaller portions

 Based on what you know about Japanese cuisine so far, how do you think the traditional Japanese diet compares to the U.S. nutritionally? Why?

Chop sticks

Importance of aesthics  Japanese cooks spend a lot of time thinking about the color, shape, and arrangement of a Japanese dish  The arrangement may suggest a season  For example a Japanese cook may arrange a dish to look like a river for a spring fish festival.

Activity  You have decided to take an au pair position in Japan, you gave to get the children ready for their first day of school. You have to make an obeneto (Japanese boxed lunch), you want to show the parents that you understand their culture. What would you include in this boxed lunch. I have color pencils for you to draw what you would put in the obeneto.

Some examples of obeneto’s