Hi.
Today, I write about our meal style. We usually have main dish and side dish for each meal regardless of breakfast, lunch and dinner. In our culture, we have carbs (rice, bread, noodle and so on) as a main dish. Rice is one of the oldest carb Japanese have eaten. And, we have a lot of menus for eating rice.
For daily meal, we usually eat boiled rice with some side dishes which are small amount and have strong taste. It is because rice itself don’t have strong taste to eat enough amount to get enough calories. We have several representative side dishes. For example,
Umeboshi (梅干し picked plums)
Umeboshi is pickled or salted plums and tastes sour strongly like lemon. Just one grain is enough to eat a bowl of boiled rice. Umeboshi is also a symbolic food of Japan because umeboshi on rice looks like Japanese national flag. Umeboshi is also useful to preserve food for short time (you may have seen them packed in the lunch box in Japanese cartoon or movie).
Natto (納豆)
Natto is fermented soybeans like cheese. It is sticky and has a unique smell. I think natto is relatively famous food for foreign people because of their taste and smell, I mean, most of foreign people hate natto! And some Japanese people mainly live in west area of Japan also hates natto with similar reason. I think natto is one of the most unique foods of Japan. If you have noting scary, please try it.
Nama-tamago (生卵 raw egg)
We also eat boiled rice with raw egg and small amount of soy sauce. If you don’t know this culture, you may be surprised because most regions of the world, you don’t eat raw eggs because it is danger. But in Japan, freshness of raw eggs sold in grocery stores are strictly managed enough to eat without adding heat, if you eat them soon after buying. This way of eating boiled rice is widely accepted for many Japanese simply because it is delicious.
We also have many other options to eat boiled rice. If you have an opportunity to visit Japan, please consider trying not only sushi, but also these foods.
Bye.
