We have the chance to meet Japanese people on a daily basis and therefore to ask them questions about their country and Japanese cuisine. We wanted to make you discover how Japanese cuisine is perceived by a Japanese person. We interviewed people between 25 and 40 years old.
- Japanese meals
- Japanese desserts
- At the time of the meal
- Types of restaurants that Japanese people visit in Japan
- Tea, the favorite drink of Japanese people
Japanese meals
First of all, a Japanese meal does not consist of a Japanese starter, a main course and a dessert, but of a single “tray” where everything is served at the same time (for example: miso soup, a tray of nigiri sushi green tea, tsukemono (pickled vegetables), some sashimi, green tea, tsukemono (pickled vegetables) wasabi shoyu soy sauce as you can see in the picture on the left).
Some traditional forms of Japanese cuisine like kaiseiki are an exception to this concept. Indeed, this kind of meal is composed of different small dishes served one after the other. It is interesting to know that most Japanese people have never eaten kaiseki because it is very expensive. Only tourists and wealthy people in Japan can afford it.
Japanese desserts
At the end of the meal, there is no dessert as we understand it. We will rather talk about pastries or cakes that will be eaten with tea. Japanese people are not used to eating sweet things, that’s why their cakes are very sweet which suits them very well. They will not take chocolate at the end of the meal for example. These cakes will be eaten as a snack between meals.
To help you compare, here is a scale of flavors:
We can see that Japanese people have a strong taste for bitterness, the tea is very bitter, and the sugar is not very present. Some Japanese even told us that when they tasted a French dessert they felt like they were eating only sugar! However, you will be able to find very sweet sweets anyway.
At meal time
A Japanese person savors what he eats and will eat small quantities and very slowly. Yes, the Japanese have understood everything because by doing this they appreciate all the flavors, analyze the textures and will be satisfied without having eaten too much.
This is why you will often find small portions of dishes such as sushi which are composed of several small dishes. They are also very careful about their figure and on each product, takeaway you will see in evidence the number of calories of the dish.
A Japanese person prefers to serve himself a small portion and enjoy it even if he has to take some more instead of serving himself a big portion. Also, a Japanese will always end his meal “Mottainai もったいない”. No waste! We don’t waste.
Regarding the lunch break, salarymen don’t really take the time to eat and wolf down their meal in 5 minutes. Whether it is a bento or a onigiri or a ramen… Indeed, a salaryman does not count his hours and work comes before everything (even health). But this is not the only reason. One could only think that they hurry to go back to work, but it is also to free their place in the restaurant. Japanese people always think about the comfort of others and that’s why they don’t take all their time in the restaurant. Everyone should be able to eat without waiting too long.
In Japan, you have to be particularly well behaved at the table and yet Japanese pasta ramen, udon and soba are eaten by sucking with noise because it allows to savor the dish. Very impolite in France, in Japan on the contrary it is the sign that the person enjoys his dish. It also allows to cool down the pasta which is served very hot. This is also valid for soups and hot drinks.
In Japan, you have three meals a day, breakfast (either Japanese: miso soup, tamagoyaki or western: croissant, bread, pastries), lunch (often a bento) and in the evening a more traditional meal. But very often Japanese people eat outside in a Japanese, Chinese, Western restaurant or in a izakaya.
To eat in a restaurant, some rules are to be respected to remain polite. Here are for example the manners concerning the use of Japanese chopsticks.
The types of restaurants that a Japanese person goes to in Japan
Contrary to what many people think, see our article on the preconceived ideas of Japanese cuisine, Japanese people do not eat ONLY sushi ! They eat occasionally and also eat other cooked dishes, meat, pasta, tofu etc.
There are also Korean, Chinese, Italian and of course French restaurants in Japan! Japan is full of very diversified dishes imported from other countries, but also fast food such as MacDonald’s, KFC, burger, kebab ect.
Most Japanese people are used to eating light, our French dishes are tasty but way too fatty and rich for their stomachs. Besides, fast-food restaurants in Japan reinvent their burgers or desserts like Starbucks which proposes matcha green tea drinks to please the Japanese.
Speaking of fast food, Mosburger is a Japanese burger chain that offers sandwiches with seaweed, eels, etc., we are far from the burgers filled with sauces, cheese and bacon…
Tea, the favorite drink of the Japanese
Cold or hot tea is the drink that accompanies all meals, free and unlimited, tea is ubiquitous.
You can also find in the streets vending machines, of course Coca-Cola is present, but the Japanese take most often tea, they are really fans!
Moreover, the green tea Ito en is one of the most sold tea drinks in Japan, we tasted it and we find it less bitter than the ones in restaurants, and it is not sweet at all. It refreshes well and can be warmed up.
Since their childhood, Japanese people are educated to respect food and to eat their fill without exaggerating. Japanese cuisine is a healthy cuisine and the fact that they also eat very slowly most of the time, in small portions, without waste is probably one of the secrets of their longevity!
