How well founded is Japan's gastronomic pride?

Tuesday 09th February, 05:31 AM JST

By Andrew Evans

TOKYO —

Succulent sushi, light-as-air tempura, super-fresh sashimi, handmade soba… it’s hard to describe Japanese food without using elegant terms. In guidebooks and magazines, on cooking shows and in cookbooks, the virtues of the heavenly Japanese diet are extolled far and wide.

It’s not only Western literature and programming that spreads the message. Many Japanese take great pride in their food, claiming it to be tastier and healthier than any of their neighbors’ cuisines. Oily Chinese stir-fries and all those Korean spices don’t hold a candle to any Japanese delicacy. And don’t even think about comparing greasy American hamburgers or oily fish and chips from the UK to anything from Japan. Japanese food and ingredients are all fresh and delicious, homegrown and healthy.

But how well founded is this gastronomic pride?

To find out if “Japanese food” really is healthy, we must first consider what Japanese food really is. Sushi seems to be synonymous with Japan, but for most Japanese (and Westerners), this is an occasional treat and not a mainstay of the diet. Much more common are high-sodium, high-fat meals like ramen, gyudon, curry rice and processed convenience store foods. Sure, it can be argued that ramen is Chinese and curry rice is Indian, and thus their unhealthiness is not Japanese. But in reality, these dishes and many others have been Japanized.

It’s not only Asian cuisine that has been absorbed into the Japanese diet. Western foods, including the aforementioned greasy burger, are consumed more than ever in Japan. Boasting more McDonald’s than Canada, the UK and Germany combined, Japan seems intent on making the burger its official national dish. In fact, Burger King’s recent 13-cm-tall, seven-patty Whopper introduced to mark the release of Microsoft’s Windows 7 OS was available only in Japan.

The Windows 7 Whopper also puts to bed another myth of Japanese food: portion size. My Japanese friends and coworkers who have visited Western countries always seem to come back complaining about the size of the meals. The mounds of meat and potatoes are always wildly overwhelming… portions like that are never found in Japan! Except, that is, in the country’s ubiquitous family restaurants and innumerable gyudon eateries that surround every train station. And in ramen shops, of course. But ramen is Chinese, let’s not forget.

If the real Japanese diet consists of things like fatty burgers and oily ramen, and the portion sizes are closer to LL than XS, then what can be the real reason for the nation’s relative health and slimness?

Japan’s healthiness is almost as well-known as its food – the country’s obesity rates are among the lowest in the world: in 2003 only 3.2% of the population was considered obese, compared to 9.4% in France, 14.3% in Canada and 30.6% in the U.S. What’s more, while the problem seems to be getting worse in the West, the situation is improving in Japan – since 2002, the rate of obesity among 12-17 year-olds has actually fallen. So, if it’s not the Japanese diet that’s keeping the nation trim, it must be the eating culture.

While Western and Japanese diets may have become entwined in recent years, the food culture and style of eating has remained worlds apart. In many restaurants in Western countries, food is ordered for the person, not the table. The opposite is true in Japan—food is ordered for everyone to share, which means there’s not such an onus on clearing your plate and eating all that’s in front of you. The Japanese have made moderation a tradition: “enryo no katamari” (literally: lump of restraint) is the name given to the last piece of food on a shared plate which nobody has the gumption to finish.

Shared dishes almost seem designed to inspire conversation and enhance the eating experience. The same goes for portion size. For many Japanese diners, “tabehodai” (buffet) is a chance to sample a wide variety of flavors and tastes; it’s not an eating competition. The buffet restaurant is a theater of contest for some non-Japanese, and the time limit imposed by many restaurants only serves to encourage competition.

Every year, Japanese food becomes more and more international. Last February, former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi said at a culinary exhibition in Tokyo that “Japanese food is the most closely watched in the world.” Perhaps this is true, and while there is great merit in Japanese food, what should really be watched is the behavior of the diners, not the food itself.

This commentary originally appeared in Metropolis magazine (www.metropolis.co.jp).

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Latest 15 of 72 Total Comments Show All

limboinjapan at 11:57 PM JST - 9th February

I'm not from a small city by my countries standards but compared to here in Tokyo it's about one fourth the size but if I go to the local farmers market (I use this term loosely as most things are imported in the winter) or even the supermarket I can fine every vegetable and fruit that I finds in Tokyo and then at least two dozen more and I wouldn't even try to guess on the number of cheeses!

My big question is why does "daikon" have to be in EVERY meal???
BurakuminDes at 12:17 AM JST - 10th February

Japanese cuisine will never come better than fresh sashimi. No other country can beat Japanese Sashimi. The rest of Japanese cuisine is decent, no-frills and no-fuss - but sashimi is unbeatable!
guest at 12:28 AM JST - 10th February

Japanese cuisine will never come better than fresh sashimi. No other country can beat

Yes, Japanese know what to look for and how to cut it for the most enjoyable taste.

Japanese Sashimi. The rest of Japanese cuisine is decent, no-frills and no-fuss - but sashimi is unbeatable!

Almost anyone can learn to find fesh fish sources and learn to cut fish.

Japanese side dishes are sometimes the best part, but, usually perfectly small.
griff at 06:36 AM JST - 10th February

i often think that the "healthy" stereotype of japanese food is purely based on that fact that it is low fact in comparison with western diets. on the other hand it's clearly much higher in sodium....
Badsey at 06:50 AM JST - 10th February

Reality: Most 3rd world nations use fresher food than the Freezer/Fridge nations. =They can't store it forever so they must buy fresh.

=They look at a Windows 7 burger and don't even recognize it as food. It doesn't even look like food to them, but thru advertisements/media it becomes to look like "food" to us.

Same for any pre-packaged months on the shelf store food. These people would come to a big city and literally starve mentally/physically because their idea of food is drastically different from what the media has programmed us to eat.
perspective at 08:20 AM JST - 10th February

In my opinion: Best Italian food: Japan. Best Chinese food I ever had was in Osaka. Best hamburger in the world: Tokyo, and yes, it had bacon. Best Korean food: Japan. Best Indian curry: Japan. Best Japanese curry: COCOichi. Best pizza: Japanese izakaya in Nagoya, close tie with Escape from NY in San Francisco. Best bread: Japan. Best tea: Japan. Best poured beer: Japan's Asahi Super Dry (not only the beer, but the way its poured and glass chilled).

C'mon, let's be real here. Japan has some of the WORST pizza I have ever eaten, and they don't imitate a lot of foreign foods very well unless the "chef" is school trained. The best Korean food I have ever had was in Korea. The average Italian restaurant in New York City or north Boston is better than anything I've experienced in Japan.

Traditional Japanese food is great and it's prepared and presented better here than anywhere else in the world. I don't eat sushi or sashimi anywhere else, I simply don't trust the quality. The best food experience I had here was a kaiseki breakfast at an onsen ryokan in Hakone.

As far as beer goes, anybody can dip a glass mug in water and put it in the freezer to have a really cold beer, but some of the best beers in the world are served room temperature. I really like Kirin Shibori, but it pales in comparison to German beers or English ales, as do almost all of the American beers. And it doesn't take much skill or practice to be able to pour a beer from bottle or tap to either have no head at all or a lot.

My lasting impression of Japanese food is that without shoyu to dip it in it is pretty bland. It is true that Americans eat WAY too much saturated fat and HFCS and our health statistics reflect this in the amount of cardiovascular disease; the Japanese eat WAY too much salt and their health statistics reflect it also - stroke city.
jason6 at 10:10 AM JST - 10th February

I've been eating out in Japan for about 3 years now--Ohsho, Sukiya, McD's, Jolly Pasta, you name it--didn't have much of a problem maintaining my weight. But now that I cook at home a lot more, I seem to have developed a tire round my belly..
therealmusashi at 11:56 AM JST - 10th February

Honestly, this food gets pretty boring after a couple of months. If you're from a country where access to a wide variety of authentic ethnic food is available (like any major metro US), you'll start to crave spicy, or salty, or crunchy, or texmex or Vietnamese...the list goes on.
daley at 12:23 PM JST - 10th February

Some observations on food after eight years living in Japan:

Japanese food in restaurants is usually good and often outstanding. It's rare to be served food which is poor for its price range. Obviously the more you pay, the better the food - Tokyo has more Michelin restaurants than Paris. Osaka, Kyoto and Hiroshima all have thriving and enjoyable culinary scenes.

Japanese are justifiably proud of their food. You can usually get a great izakaya dinner wherever you go and often it's very good value. Naturally sushi is outstanding and the selection of izakaya food is far more varied than the first time visitor might expect.

Having said that, the category where the Japanese often fail, I think, is in the area of foreign food. Once you exclude the higher price ranges, it compares very poorly with what is available in China, Thailand and Vietnam. It's very hard to find authentic foreign food since they do tend to 'Japanify' everything to satisfy bland Japanese tastes. Also the Japanese tendency toward protectionism means it's often difficult to obtain foreign ingredients at reasonable prices.

It's more or less impossible to find good Indian or Mexican food here, and Italian food in most places (I'm talking about the median price range) is the usual predictable fare with the same old piddly, characterless salad to accompany it. Come to think of it, creative, satisfying salads are fairly rare in Japan, and try getting a decent sandwich - close to impossible outside Tokyo!

However there are exceptions - here in Kyoto there are a few very decent Italian places and the pizza scene has improved vastly in recent years. The Japanese love fads and the present one seems to be Spanish - you can track down passable though not entirely authentic tapas and paella. The Japanese seem never to have heard of good olives!

Considering how close we are to Asia, decent Thai, Vietnamese and Chinese food is surprisingly rare though not impossible to find.

Someone on this thread mentioned beer - there have been recent signs of a mini microbrew scene which are encouraging. It's pretty easy to get good wine at completive prices in the major cities.

In terms of service, Japanese restaurants compare favorably. Waiters are polite and helpful, food is usually served up quite quickly. However you generally don't get the cosmopolitan service you'll encounter in Shanghai or Bangkok. This reflects the famous Japanese reserve and the mild xenophobia which characterizes Japanese society (as a default setting, though this is by no means universal).

You're unlikely ever to be invited to a Japanese person's home for a meal, which is probably just as well. In my experience Japanese home cooking is overwhelmingly bland and dreary, though I have encountered one exception to this in eight years - an artist couple who served superb 'shojin ryori'!
limboinjapan at 01:23 PM JST - 10th February

I agree with much of what you are saying except this part needs a little bit of context. "Tokyo has more Michelin restaurants than Paris"

This maybe so but it has nothing to do with the food being any better, it has to do with Michelin magazine not being popular any more in Europe and that their standing has fallen greatly (except Japan). Most high end or even medium end restaurants don't care or don't want Michelin in their establishments anymore .

BTW just had lunch and again there was "DAIKON" in 2 out of 3 dishes! Again can anyone explain to me why there must be "DAIKON" in every meal!
Branded at 01:32 PM JST - 10th February

"Tokyo has more Michelin restaurants than Paris"

That is because the Michelin editors have figured out that the Japanese will actually buy this guide- what a cash cow that has turned out to be.
goddog at 02:23 PM JST - 10th February

No one here has mentioned Oden. It is healthy and wonderful. Also all the Nabe dishes are excellent too. I have a feeling a lot of the comments here are from people that are not open minded enough to seek out better food, rather then search for their own tastes from back home. You are missing out.

Daikon in every meal? Well you can get it for Oden if you want, and it is actually with most Nabe too. Muah. So funny. And I am definitely going to share everyone's Ramen at the next Ramen shop I go to eat.
TokyoXtreme at 04:00 PM JST - 10th February

HFCS is not used in Japan, because there is no economic advantage to using it over real sugar, which is highly taxed in the USA (whereas corn is subsidized). It's cheaper to use HFCS over sugar in the USA, and that's why it's in everything. Not sure if it was invented in Japan, but the Japanese corn industry isn't huge, so I'm guessing Japan doesn't use HFCS at all.
sf2k at 04:04 AM JST - 11th February

@limboinjapan; daikon is awesome! Vitamin C is quite high. Humans do not produce Vitamin C internally at all, but animals do and do not suffer easily from heart attacks like humans. Given the amount of salt in Japanese food, you need this!
Icewind007 at 04:27 AM JST - 12th February

This article hit the nail on the head when it mentioned "portions" as the main factor in health. I am sure that if you ate Japanese food like 30% of Americans eat any of our food, it'd be just as bad.

Remember, America doesn't have a traditional food. Parts of America do, but not the country as a whole. Think Tex-Mex in Texas or Cajun in Louisiana or Florida sea food or the MANY styles of food in New York. Those greasy burgers aren't as common as one would think.