Japanese food dishes are based on combining their staple foods typically rice or noodles, with a soup and okazu, dishes made from fish, meat, vegetable, tofu and the like — to add flavor to the staple food. These are typically flavored with dashi, miso, and soy sauce and are usually low in fat and high in salt.
Japanese food dishes generally consists of several different okazu accompanying a bowl of cooked white Japanese rice, a bowl of soup and some pickles. The most standard meal comprises three side dishes (okazu`s) and is termed ichijū-sansai (“one soup, three sides”). Different cooking techniques are applied to each of the three sides; they may be raw (sashimi), grilled, simmered, steamed, deep-fried, vinegared, or dressed.
Noodles, originating from China, have become an essential part of Japanese food dishes, usually (but not always) as an alternative to a rice-based meal. There are two traditional types of noodle, soba and udon. Made from buckwheat flour, soba is a thin, brown noodle. Made from wheat flour, udon is a thick, white noodle. Both are generally served in a soy-flavored fish broth with various vegetables. Standard Japanese food dishes nearly always consists of a bowl of cooked white Japanese rice (gohan) as shushoku with accompanying tsukemono (pickles), a bowl of soup, and a variety of dishes known as okazu – fish, meat, vegetable, etc.
This Japanese view of a meal is reflected in the organization of traditional Japanese cookbooks (Japanese Cooking: A Simple Art
Since Japan is an island nation, its people consume lots of seafood including fish, shellfish, octopus, squid, crab, lobster, shrimp, whale and seaweed. Although not known as a meat eating country, very few Japanese consider themselves vegetarians. It is particularly difficult to find vegetarian cuisine in Japan, as even vegetable dishes are prepared with fish stock or garnishes. Beef, pork and chicken are commonly eaten and have become part of everyday cuisine. Lamb is eaten in colder parts of Japan but is not well liked in the remainder of the country.
Although most Japanese eschew eating insects, there are a couple of exceptions. In some regions, grasshoppers (inago) and bee larvae (hachinoko) are not uncommon dishes. The larvae of a species of caddis fly (zaza-mushi), harvested from the Tenryu river as it flows through Ina City, is also boiled and canned, or boiled and then sautéed in soy sauce and sugar. Salamander is eaten as well in places.
