Essay On Japanese Food

Japanese foods had developed over the past 2,000 years ago with strong influences from both China and Korea. However, only in the last 300-400 years, all the influences come together to make up today’s Japanese cuisine. Rice was among the major influences that introduced from Korea around 400 B.C and within a hundred years it had become the staple food in Japan (Takeda, 2014). During Yayoi period, the migrating tribes from Korea that settled in Japan passed on their techniques for rice cultivation to the Japanese. Soybeans and wheat which had become an essential part of Japanese cooking were introduced from China soon after rice. Tea, chopsticks were also introduced from China during the development of Japan.

Religion also played a major part

Meanwhile, the Dutch had introduced corn, potatoes and sweet potatoes to Japan. In the sixteenth-century, Japanese began to adapt to foods that were introduced by the Portuguese which followed by the Dutch later and the foods later became cultural symbols of Japan (Stajcic, 2013). For example, fried foods such as tempura are different from the usual Japanese food where it excluded meat and dairy products in their cooking but involve the usage of oil in food preparation. However, tempura was unexpectedly well accepted by Japanese people at that time and has evolved into what it is today. At late twentieth century, most of the Western foods, such as bread, coffee and ice cream had become famous in Japan (Food in Every Country, n.d.). The timesaving cooking methods including electric rice cooker, instant noodles, instant miso soup and instant pickling mixes were also part of influences from western countries (Food in Every Country, n.d.). Despite all the influences, the Japanese are still dedicated on their traditional cooking methods and