With its stunning natural landscape and strong cultural identity, Japan is a once-in-a-lifetime holiday destination. The East Asian island is also home to some deliciously fresh cuisine.
Unique and beguiling, Japan is a country of binaries. It straddles both the traditional and ultra-modern, and hosts buzzing cities alongside stunning natural landscapes. Its food is notoriously nutritious, with a diet based around super-fresh, seasonal products. We’ve picked 3 dishes to seek out when visiting Japan.
Sushi
Put simply, sushi is raw fish served on rice seasoned lightly with vinegar. It’s in the variety of flavours and textures – like tangy, creamy uni (sea urchin roe) and plump, juicy, ama-ebi (sweet shrimp) – that things get interesting. Despite sushi’s lofty image, it has a humble origin: street food.
Soba
Soba – long, thin buckwheat noodles – has long been a staple of Japanese cuisine, particularly in the mountainous regions where hardy buckwheat fares better than rice. The noodles are served in either a hot, soy sauce-flavoured broth or at room temperature on a bamboo mat with broth on the side for dipping. Purists, who bemoan soup-logged noodles, prefer the latter.
Shabu-Shabu
Shabu-shabu is the Japanese onomatopoeia for the sound of thin slices of beef or pork being swished around with chopsticks in bubbling broth. It’s a decadent dish, with platters of marbled meat brought to the table for diners to cook themselves – it takes only a moment – one mouthful at a time.
