What is Japanese food? WASHOKU explained and its evolution 〜和食〜 | easy Japanese home cooking

[00:01] welcome to taiga's kitchen today i'm

[00:03] going to explain you about different

[00:04] aspects of japanese food so in the last

[00:06] video of japanese geography i got a lot

[00:08] of good feedbacks so i decided to go

[00:10] further and make more of these videos

[00:11] and since this is a cooking channel i

[00:13] thought it was fair to make a video on

[00:15] japanese food because there are so many

[00:16] dishes and so many aspects and so many

[00:18] different types of japanese food and

[00:20] nowadays almost everybody knows sushi as

[00:22] a japanese food or like miso soup and

[00:24] perhaps ramen noodle or gyoza or onigiri

[00:28] or some sort but there are a lot more

[00:30] than that and also because in this

[00:31] channel i've been cooking a lot of

[00:32] chinese influence dishes korean style

[00:34] dishes and also a lot of western style

[00:36] dishes i even made japanese style pasta

[00:39] so you might be a bit confused what

[00:40] really is japanese food or like what

[00:42] really entitles japanese food and so in

[00:44] this video i'll be talking about three

[00:45] main topics first i'm going to talk

[00:47] about japanese food in general but also

[00:49] what makes a dish japanese food and

[00:51] secondly i'll be talking about different

[00:52] categories of japanese food primarily in

[00:54] accordance with the history of japan

[00:56] answered why is japanese food considered

[00:58] healthy or is it really healthy so i

[01:00] hope this video helps you to understand

[01:02] japanese food and maybe get more

[01:03] appreciation for the japanese food so

[01:06] without further ado

[01:07] let's get started

[01:09] [Music]

[01:14] so the first topic is what entitles a

[01:16] dish as a japanese food japanese food or

[01:18] in japanese washoku which is literally

[01:20] translated as japanese food was

[01:22] acknowledged by unesco in 2013 as an

[01:25] intangible cultural heritage of humanity

[01:28] and as the japanese government was

[01:29] applying for this they picked four

[01:30] aspects that makes up washoku one is a

[01:33] respect for variety and fresh

[01:35] ingredients

[01:36] two the nutritional balance three

[01:38] expression of the nature and the four

[01:39] seasons and four close tie with the

[01:41] seasonal celebrations so first aspect

[01:43] with respect to the variety of fresh

[01:45] ingredients so as you may have already

[01:47] saw in the last video of japanese

[01:48] geography japan holds a variety of

[01:51] geographical features as well as

[01:52] different climates this allows the

[01:54] country japan even though the soil is

[01:56] not as rich as many other countries in

[01:58] the world to hold a variety of different

[02:00] ingredients we also have a lot of

[02:01] mountains fields and also ocean so we

[02:04] are able to gather different ingredients

[02:06] from different parts of japan and

[02:08] because of the harsh geographical

[02:10] features we have a big respect towards

[02:11] nature and that's big respect for the

[02:14] food that we are able to receive from

[02:16] the nature and therefore within washoku

[02:18] or japanese food it's very very

[02:19] important that we do justice for the

[02:21] ingredients and this is also connected

[02:23] with the buddhist philosophy and seeing

[02:25] not only the animals but also plants as

[02:28] lives and therefore we try to bring out

[02:30] as much of the ingredients as possible

[02:32] and we also try to throw away as little

[02:34] ingredients as possible

[02:36] and therefore in comparative like french

[02:38] or chinese cuisine where they use a lot

[02:39] of spices or sauces japanese food try to

[02:42] keep it simple this is really to enjoy

[02:44] the fine flavor of each specific

[02:46] ingredients and within the japanese

[02:48] culture and japanese cuisine eating or

[02:50] cooking is considered one of the most

[02:52] important aspect of life because we see

[02:54] eating as an exchange of lives we are

[02:57] receiving a lives from the nature so

[02:59] that we can live further in order to

[03:00] make the world a little bit better place

[03:03] and that's also why we

[03:04] hold our hands like this and say

[03:06] itadakimasu in the beginning and also

[03:09] gotso samadeshta at the end as a small

[03:11] prayer to saying thank you for all the

[03:13] lives and all the work that is put into

[03:15] for the food so the second aspect of

[03:17] washoku

[03:18] is the nutrition balance now with a

[03:20] scientifical advancement we know that

[03:22] our body needs different nutrients

[03:24] vitamins proteins fats and carbohydrates

[03:26] and whatnot and for a longest time

[03:28] people didn't know that consciously

[03:30] about the nutrients but probably through

[03:32] the experience people kind of knew that

[03:34] eating different types of food helps you

[03:36] stay healthy and also because in japan

[03:38] there are a lot of different ingredients

[03:40] it was very important in japanese

[03:42] cuisine that you have a variety of

[03:43] ingredients so in japanese cuisine you

[03:45] try to have inside one meal some from

[03:47] the mountains something from the sea

[03:49] some leaves some root vegetable fruit

[03:51] vegetable and of course always rice

[03:53] maybe some kind of pickles and so even

[03:55] without the science difficult

[03:57] backgrounds japanese people somehow knew

[03:59] that it's very important for your body

[04:01] to stay healthy that you pick up

[04:02] different nutrients and thus for the

[04:04] different ingredients and in japanese

[04:06] cuisine there's a phrase called ichiju

[04:08] sansai meaning one soup and three dishes

[04:11] so if you go to restaurant in japan and

[04:13] when you order a meal you always have a

[04:15] rice and then to that you almost always

[04:17] have some kind of soup and then the main

[04:19] dish and to that at least two kind of

[04:21] side dishes mostly vegetable side dishes

[04:23] so in washoku it is very important to

[04:25] have variety of ingredients and does

[04:27] several dishes on one meal so the third

[04:30] aspect is expression of nature and the

[04:32] four seasons so in japanese culture

[04:34] cooking was considered as art form and

[04:36] chef was considered as an artist where

[04:38] in many cultures shepherd consider as

[04:40] merely a servant so in washoku it is

[04:43] very important that the dishes are

[04:44] presented with aesthetic not just any

[04:46] pretty beautiful way but instead it

[04:48] should be a representative of the nature

[04:50] and also the season as you may have saw

[04:52] in the video of japanese geography japan

[04:54] has four distinct seasons and each of

[04:56] these seasons are divided into six small

[04:58] seasons and so through one year you have

[05:00] 24 seasons actually in japan and

[05:02] therefore when you go to more of the

[05:04] high-end restaurants which i'll explain

[05:06] later you have a really beautiful

[05:07] presentation of the nature of the season

[05:09] of that time and that's also another

[05:10] reason why we have different kind of

[05:12] plates in western restaurants the plates

[05:14] are usually quite simple just white and

[05:16] round but in japan we have different

[05:18] shapes different form and also often

[05:20] with different material you have

[05:22] porcelain you have glass you may use

[05:24] some wood or bamboo or sometimes even

[05:26] just some kind of leaf as a plate and we

[05:29] also do a lot of foraging like i show in

[05:31] the video of horsetail on the firm we

[05:33] also have a lot of ingredients that is

[05:35] only available in certain seasons and so

[05:37] if you go to japanese supermarket

[05:39] there's always a section where they sell

[05:41] some season of food yes of course with

[05:43] technology you can grow pretty much

[05:44] everything throughout the whole year but

[05:46] the japanese people prefer more seasonal

[05:48] ingredients because ingredients that is

[05:50] in the season tastes the best and also

[05:52] has the most nutrients and so a lot of

[05:54] japanese people are keen on what

[05:56] vegetable and more fish are in season so

[05:58] the fourth and the last aspect of

[06:00] washoku is the strong connection with

[06:02] seasonal festivals in japanese culture

[06:04] pretty much every month we have some

[06:06] kind of seasonal festival and most of

[06:07] those festivals would have some special

[06:09] dish that we pretty much only eat in

[06:11] that festival starting with the new

[06:13] years which is one of the most important

[06:14] festival in japan i made a vlog on that

[06:16] so you should check that out there i'm

[06:18] showing different cultural things that

[06:20] we do in the new year and also as a

[06:22] preparation for the new year and the

[06:23] special dish of osechidori which over 99

[06:26] of japanese people eat as we come in in

[06:28] the new years and most of these dishes

[06:30] are only served in the new year's and in

[06:32] march we have girls day in may we have

[06:35] boys day in july we have so-called

[06:37] tanabata in september we have otsukimi

[06:39] this is also connected with the third

[06:40] aspect but washoku is also very

[06:42] important for the seasonal celebrations

[06:45] so these four aspects are the reason why

[06:47] japanese food is special and why

[06:49] japanese food is considered as a

[06:51] intangible heritage of humanity and not

[06:53] just collection of dishes

[06:55] now let's go into the second topic which

[06:57] is a different category of japanese food

[06:59] so three categories are the traditional

[07:01] japanese food semi-modern japanese food

[07:03] and the modern japanese food so this is

[07:05] a categorization that i made up

[07:07] according to the history of japan but i

[07:08] think this just really represents how

[07:10] japanese food was developed and also

[07:12] evolved throughout i think it helps you

[07:14] to understand the japanese food more so

[07:16] the first category of traditional

[07:18] japanese food includes all the food

[07:20] before the year 1868 when the japanese

[07:22] government opened the country to outside

[07:24] world so until that point japan was

[07:26] under a policy of so-called sakoku which

[07:28] means locking in the country restricting

[07:30] all the imports and exports with the

[07:32] outside world except for china portugal

[07:34] and holland and only in one port in

[07:36] nagasaki which is all the way south west

[07:38] of japan during this time of sakoku

[07:40] japan were able to appreciate over 250

[07:42] years of peace where there were no wars

[07:45] no conflicts which is known as pax

[07:47] tokugawana because during that time the

[07:49] government was called tokugawa bakufu

[07:52] and during this time with very little

[07:53] contact with outside world happened very

[07:55] similar to the galapagos effect where a

[07:57] lot of japanese culture boomed so a lot

[07:59] of japanese culture you may know were

[08:01] actually developed in this period of

[08:02] pakistan so like kimono kabuki no

[08:05] theater sumo ukiyoe sado or tea ceremony

[08:09] ikebana or flower arrangement and also a

[08:12] lot of japanese dishes were invented for

[08:14] example the sushi that you know in the

[08:15] form like nigirizushi or makizushi was

[08:17] invented during this period in edo or

[08:19] tokyo because it was very close to the

[08:21] sea and was where the government was was

[08:23] the capital of japan at the time was a

[08:24] lot of wealth were also there so people

[08:26] were able to get the fresh fish and also

[08:28] another category tempura it was actually

[08:30] originally came from portugal the name

[08:32] tempura comes from temperature it means

[08:34] like to mix or to cook until that point

[08:35] japanese people didn't know about deep

[08:37] frying but the people saw the portuguese

[08:38] people we took that culture and invented

[08:41] tempura out of that also key aspect of

[08:43] this traditional food is the lack of

[08:45] animal meat except for chicken because

[08:47] the buddhist tradition prohibited people

[08:48] to eat four-legged animals and so until

[08:51] that point uh japanese people didn't eat

[08:52] any pork and beef and so if it has pork

[08:55] or beef then it's not traditional

[08:56] japanese food so all the food that are

[08:58] included in this category are like udon

[09:00] or soba noodles natto a lot of pickles

[09:03] sushi and tempura of course yakitori

[09:05] because chicken was two-legged animal so

[09:07] it was okay to eat that una don and a

[09:09] lot of the fish dishes and also within

[09:11] this traditional japanese food there are

[09:13] also some subcategories one is called

[09:15] shojin yori which was actually invented

[09:17] by the buddhist monks buddhist monks

[09:18] were following the strict rules of

[09:20] buddhism so they were not allowed to eat

[09:22] animals or fish and so shojin yodi is a

[09:24] strict vegan diet and so if you're vegan

[09:26] then you should go try to find some

[09:28] troji restaurants if you go to japan

[09:30] because finding vegan dishes in japan is

[09:33] quite difficult and the second

[09:34] subcategory is called kaisekiriori so

[09:37] kaisekiyo is a high-end course meal and

[09:39] so it starts with an appetizer and they

[09:41] have first dish second dish third dish

[09:43] they usually have like five to ten

[09:44] dishes they usually cost about fifty

[09:46] dollars or fifty euro for lunch and for

[09:48] dinner it's usually above 100 to to go

[09:51] up to like 500

[09:52] or euro per person so it is very pricey

[09:54] but if you happen to go to japan i think

[09:56] you should definitely try this because

[09:58] the experience is definitely worth it

[10:00] and then another topic category is

[10:01] wagashi which later means japanese snack

[10:04] or japanese sweets these are like

[10:05] daifuku mochi dango oshiruko senbei or

[10:08] rice crackers manju and a variety of

[10:11] so-called neriki which is primarily made

[10:13] with uncle but representing different

[10:15] aspects of nature or like fruits and

[10:18] it's quite very beautiful and these are

[10:20] usually served on the side of a tea

[10:21] ceremony now let's go into the second

[10:23] category of semi-modern japanese suit so

[10:25] these are the dishes that were invented

[10:27] after the opening of country to before

[10:29] the end of the world war ii so after

[10:31] opening the country all the western

[10:33] culture came in the main thing that

[10:35] influenced japanese food was the habit

[10:36] of eating meat so the dish of sukiyaki

[10:39] or shabu-shabu was invented this time

[10:41] and also a lot of nabe or hot pot dishes

[10:43] and within this semi-traditional

[10:44] japanese food there's a subcategory of

[10:46] so called yoshoku which means western

[10:48] style japanese food so these are

[10:50] invented by the chefs who are working at

[10:51] the western style restaurants so those

[10:53] includes like tonkatsu from cutlet

[10:55] koroque or the original name is crockett

[10:57] omoraisu so combining rice in the omelet

[11:00] a japanese style hamburg or like the

[11:02] curry rice so even though curry is

[11:05] originally from india because at that

[11:06] time curry were introduced to japan

[11:08] through the british people so we kind of

[11:10] consider curry as a more western food

[11:12] and therefore is in the category of

[11:14] western japanese food and the last

[11:16] category is the modern japanese food and

[11:18] this is all the food that were invented

[11:20] after the world war ii as world war ii

[11:22] happened and we were in war with primary

[11:24] against america china and britain so a

[11:26] lot of the outside ingredients were

[11:28] banned but after we lost the war at the

[11:30] year 1945 the united states came in and

[11:33] occupied japan for actually seven years

[11:35] and during that time japan was very very

[11:37] poor and america at that time helped us

[11:40] redevelop our country the united states

[11:42] brought us a lot of wheat and also milk

[11:44] products half of that was trying to help

[11:46] us about half of that is probably so

[11:48] that america has more export and through

[11:50] this importer wheat flour we invented a

[11:52] subcategory of this

[11:54] which means powder or flour products so

[11:57] this includes okonomiyaki takoyaki

[11:59] yakisoba which is all primarily made

[12:01] from flour and there's also another

[12:03] subcategory called chuca which means

[12:05] chinese food because before the war we

[12:07] occupy quite a large part of china and

[12:10] as we lost the war a lot of people came

[12:12] back from there and brought the culture

[12:14] from there and that's why we have ramen

[12:15] noodle and gyoza as a japanese food even

[12:18] though they were originally from china

[12:19] this culture of chinese food evolved in

[12:21] japan further and came out to ramen

[12:24] noodle so hopefully this categorization

[12:26] of japanese food helps you understand

[12:27] different aspects the different

[12:28] historical backgrounds of japanese food

[12:30] and maybe next time you cook japanese

[12:32] food or when you go to japanese

[12:33] restaurant you can kind of think of from

[12:35] which era or which category these dishes

[12:37] are from and then you may be able to

[12:39] have a little trivial conversation with

[12:40] your friends

[12:41] and now let's go to the last topic of

[12:43] why japanese food is healthy or is it

[12:45] really healthy so compared to many

[12:47] western countries and especially the us

[12:49] the obesity rate in japan is very very

[12:52] low so you may have seen like a street

[12:53] of japan in like video and some tv or

[12:55] something most people you see are very

[12:57] slim and japan still holds the high life

[13:00] expectancy of 84 years old here i'm

[13:02] going to talk about different aspects

[13:03] and different arguments of why japanese

[13:05] food is healthy and i'll let you be the

[13:07] judge of it the first aspect is very

[13:09] little or no fat in japanese food so

[13:11] there are actually three ways to make

[13:13] something savory one is using fat oil

[13:15] two is using sugar and the third is use

[13:17] of umami in japanese food we try to

[13:19] avoid the first one so think of some

[13:21] dish that you really crave for maybe

[13:22] that is hamburger or like fries or

[13:24] potato chips pizza or like donuts and

[13:27] you realize a lot of them contain a lot

[13:29] of fat and they are very delicious and

[13:31] savory and it's not to say that you

[13:32] shouldn't eat any of those but in

[13:34] traditional japanese food except for

[13:36] tempura we use barely any fat and

[13:38] instead we are conscious about umami

[13:40] which was acknowledged recently as a

[13:42] fifth flavor we incorporate this umami

[13:45] aspect in our cooking to do that in

[13:47] japanese cooking we use a lot of dashi

[13:49] which is a combination of seaweed and

[13:50] fish broth if you want to know more in

[13:52] detail of mommy or dashi please go watch

[13:54] this i'm explaining in detail of what is

[13:56] really umami and how these are

[13:58] incorporated in japanese food so the

[13:59] second aspect is rice over wheat so in

[14:02] japan a lot of people eat rice pretty

[14:04] much every day there are also even a lot

[14:05] of people who eats rice pretty much

[14:07] every meal i love rice and i eat more

[14:09] rice than wheat products there are some

[14:11] studies that shows that rice is easier

[14:13] to be digested but also raise the blood

[14:15] sugar not as much in compared to wheat

[14:18] products and i don't think rice or wheat

[14:20] is not necessarily the rice and wheat

[14:22] themselves but rather what you eat them

[14:24] with so the wheat product like bread or

[14:27] pasta you almost always have some fat

[14:30] content in them and you will also never

[14:32] ever eat wheat product as it is without

[14:34] any sauce or additive to it but rice

[14:37] like a really good rice you could really

[14:39] eat it without any added without any

[14:41] topping to it and a lot of the side dish

[14:43] for the rice they don't necessarily have

[14:45] to be that fatty a lot of them are quite

[14:47] very simple like pickles natto like miso

[14:50] soup none of them have fat in them think

[14:52] of eating bread or pasta just with

[14:54] pickles or like some vegetable somehow

[14:56] it doesn't work and the third aspect is

[14:58] fish over meat a lot of people may know

[15:00] that fish is more healthy than meat and

[15:02] the main reason why is because of the

[15:03] melting temperature of the meat fat and

[15:05] the fish fat b-fat has the melting point

[15:07] above 40 degrees pork fat between 30 and

[15:10] 40 and chicken fat between 30 and 35 so

[15:13] that means b-fat is always as a solid

[15:15] form in your body and therefore this can

[15:17] be cause of your blood system to be

[15:20] clotted whereas the melting point of the

[15:21] fish fat is between 10 to 20 degrees and

[15:24] also the animal fat is high in saturated

[15:26] fatty acid high consumption of the

[15:28] saturated fatty acid raise the risk of

[15:30] high cholesterol and cardiovascular

[15:32] diseases and the fish acid is

[15:34] unsaturated fat and therefore fish fat

[15:37] do not have any of these risks and also

[15:39] a lot of fish is also high in dha blue

[15:42] black fish like sardines mackerel

[15:44] herring and tuna are also very high in

[15:46] this and this dha is said to help to

[15:49] make your brain more active and the

[15:50] seafood is also high in taurine and epa

[15:53] which actually decrease the cholesterol

[15:54] in your bloodstream so eating fish is

[15:56] actually much more healthy than meat

[15:58] but this information will never go into

[16:00] the mainstream media especially in the

[16:02] western cultures because those media are

[16:04] usually funded by the meat industries

[16:06] and they don't want people to know that

[16:08] the fish is healthier than meat which

[16:10] will decrease the consumption of meat so

[16:12] fourth aspect is a fermented food so

[16:14] japanese food contain a lot of the

[16:16] fermented food of course that doesn't

[16:17] mean that other countries don't have

[16:19] fermented food like a lot of cheese or

[16:21] pickle or also fermented food but

[16:23] japanese cuisine contain a lot more of

[16:25] those fermented ingredients especially

[16:27] if you look at the seasoning so soy

[16:28] sauce miso meating sake pretty much all

[16:32] the japanese seasonings are made through

[16:34] fermentation nowadays these fermented

[16:36] foods are considered healthy because

[16:37] they contain a lot of probiotics small

[16:39] microorganisms to keep your digestive

[16:41] system healthy and to help you digest as

[16:43] well and also this process of

[16:45] fermentation helps the ingredients

[16:47] enrich the flavor and also this helps

[16:49] also use less fat in your food and the

[16:51] fifth aspect is drinking tea over soda

[16:54] and juice so in japanese household we

[16:56] would pretty much always have some kind

[16:58] of tea in the fridge nowadays it may be

[17:00] a bit changing most families will never

[17:03] drink soda or juice during a meal

[17:05] there's sometimes green tea or roasted

[17:06] green tea but often is a roasted barley

[17:08] tea this contains no sugar no caffeine

[17:11] this also doesn't kill the flavor of the

[17:13] food and as we know from many studies

[17:15] that a lot of sugar intake is unhealthy

[17:18] so in japan it's quite uncommon to drink

[17:20] juice or soda with your meal and instead

[17:22] we pretty much drink a lot of tea and

[17:24] the last aspect is a balanced meal when

[17:27] you see a japanese meal you would see

[17:28] that you don't have just like one or two

[17:30] dish but instead you have a main dish

[17:32] rice and soup and then to that you have

[17:35] at least like two or three more

[17:36] vegetable side dishes and i don't know

[17:38] how it is in other countries but in

[17:40] japan every school would have a subject

[17:42] called kateka which means household

[17:44] subject inside koteca we learned to sew

[17:47] or like use the sewing machine we

[17:49] learned how to clean the house or like

[17:50] how to clean a toilet sometimes how we

[17:53] manage the money but a lot of times

[17:54] spent for learning about cooking and

[17:56] also for this each school to have like a

[17:58] cooking room and then we learn different

[18:00] basic japanese dishes and to that we

[18:02] also learn the nutritional values of

[18:03] different ingredients how it is

[18:05] important to take in different variation

[18:07] of ingredients and this idea kind of

[18:09] comes back to the first aspect of

[18:11] washoku there's also another reason why

[18:13] japanese food is considered healthy

[18:17] so this is the end of this video hope

[18:18] you enjoyed it i hope this kind of

[18:20] helped you understand the japanese food

[18:22] different aspects of japanese food and

[18:24] historical background to that and also

[18:26] help you to appreciate japanese food a

[18:27] little bit more if you enjoyed this

[18:29] video i'd love it if you could hit the

[18:31] like button for me so that this video

[18:32] can be spread out to more people and if

[18:34] you have any feedbacks or if you have

[18:36] any questions or any requests for this

[18:37] kind of information video please feel

[18:39] free to write anything in the comments

[18:40] below and in the next presidential video

[18:43] i'm thinking of seasonal festivals in

[18:45] japan and food connecting to that so

[18:47] please subscribe so that when that comes

[18:49] out it gets notified to you and also i

[18:51] really appreciate it if you could share

[18:52] my channel and my videos with your

[18:54] friends and families otherwise i look

[18:56] forward to you in the next video

[18:58] bye