At the Japanese table

Japanese food is eaten with chopsticks (hashi), and food is presented in manageable bite-sized pieces. Hashi are placed on a chopstick rest when not in use. Diners usually eat from a set of individual dishes and use the clean ends of their hashi to help themselves from any communal dishes.

Japanese-style soup is sipped directly from the bowl; rather like green tea (the teacups have no handles). Rice is served into bowls and sauces are poured from small pitchers into individual saucers for dipping. It is acceptable to lift a bowl of rice or noodles closer to you while eating and to slurp your noodles.

Did you know?

• Japanese cuisine has extended its influence across the world. The minimal and artistic presentation of the traditional kaiseki meal influenced the 1970’s ‘nouvelle cuisine’. Now Japanese flavours and ingredients, along with those from other Oriental food cultures, feature in exciting contemporary ‘fusion’ dishes.

• Tempura (fritters coated in a feather-light batter) was first introduced to Japan by Portuguese Jesuits in the 16th century.

• If you can’t get hold of bamboo mats for making either futomaki or hosomaki (two types of rolled sushi), use a clean tea-towel folded in half.

• Soy sauce and miso are modern derivatives of an ancient product, hishio. This started more than 3,000 years ago as a way of keeping salt by mixing it with grains and beans.

By Mariko Francombe