Guest guest Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 I lived in Japan for 13 years but I wouldn't attempt to summarize a whole food culture in one sentence. One could write a whole book on it. I wouldn't call it a paleo diet. I'm not sure how old sashimi is as a culinary trend, but sushi is certainly a recent phenomenon, I believe since the post-war era. You can get almost anything from around the world in Tokyo, and the food situation is far more complex than any summary could do justice to. I regret that I didn't take more cooking classes while I was there. (I took macrobiotics classes, as that's where I was in my evolution at one point while I was there.) I did, however, eat at a lot of restaurants and was invited to many homes for home-cooked Japanese meals. Lots of nice food memories of Japan. Jeanmarie On Aug 11, 2009, at 5:11 PM, Holt wrote: > I'd like to summarize the Japanese health habits: they have variety, > they have raw meat sources such as sushi and sashimi, they > apparently have eggs and dairy, they have rich sources of trace > minerals such as seaweed and shellfish, and they're well educated on > cooking a variety of foods! Good summary huh? > > They've been doing the raw paleo diet far before the trend started > over here. Japanese have the most extreme diet. With their raw > fish and all. > > > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 wrote: > I'd like to summarize the Japanese health habits: they have variety, > they have raw meat sources such as sushi and sashimi, they > apparently have eggs and dairy, they have rich sources of trace > minerals such as seaweed and shellfish, and they're well educated on > cooking a variety of foods! Good summary huh? > > They've been doing the raw paleo diet far before the trend started > over here. Japanese have the most extreme diet. With their raw > fish and all. I'm pretty sure dairy is a very recent item in Japan that's in no way part of any tradition. Lots of food in Japan is cooked. The most common food is cooked rice. I doubt that hardly anyone eats only raw food in Japan. Eggs are not paleo. So it's not a raw paleo diet by any stretch. It's not extreme by virtue of eating raw fish. Many cultures all over the world eat raw fish/beef/etc as a common traditional item. I don't see how it could be considered extreme in any way. I think the Inuit and Masai diets would be considered extreme compared to other diets around the world. -Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 Many Americans following the SAD would consider Japanese eating extreme. Mainly because it takes a lot of thought to have such a variety and the raw fish. > I'd like to summarize the Japanese health habits: they have variety, > they have raw meat sources such as sushi and sashimi, they > apparently have eggs and dairy, they have rich sources of trace > minerals such as seaweed and shellfish, and they're well educated on > cooking a variety of foods! Good summary huh? > > They've been doing the raw paleo diet far before the trend started > over here. Japanese have the most extreme diet. With their raw > fish and all. I'm pretty sure dairy is a very recent item in Japan that's in no way part of any tradition. Lots of food in Japan is cooked. The most common food is cooked rice. I doubt that hardly anyone eats only raw food in Japan. Eggs are not paleo. So it's not a raw paleo diet by any stretch. It's not extreme by virtue of eating raw fish. Many cultures all over the world eat raw fish/beef/etc as a common traditional item. I don't see how it could be considered extreme in any way. I think the Inuit and Masai diets would be considered extreme compared to other diets around the world. -Mike Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted August 12, 2009 Report Share Posted August 12, 2009 I agree. Dairy is recent but there is a domestic dairy industry now, has been for many decades. My first year in Japan was in Hokkaido, where most of the dairy cows are. One of my first contacts with Japanese was actually in Utah, where my family was living when my Mom directed some Japanese student homestay programs for several summers and we always had a student or two for the two-week programs. My Mom said that she'd heard the Japanese parents said their kids stunk when they came home from America because of the different diet they were eating. Later I learned the expression in Japanese, " bataa-kusai " or " butter-stinky. " I wonder whether anyone can tell the difference anymore because drinking milk and eating cheese is common. Not raw, alas. Also, U.S.-style antiperspirants are now in widespread use. And yes, rice holds a very special place in the Japanese diet and is part of various Shinto and Shinto-related ceremonies and traditions (New Years, sumo, etc). The vast majority eat white rice only. The polite term for rice is " gohan, " which can mean " meal " as well, the same as " bread " does in English. (Give us this day our daily bread, etc.) Rice is always eating with pickles, of which there is an amazing variety. Wheat and buckwheat are also part of the traditional diet in the form of noodles. Similarly China has long grown wheat in the north and rice in the south. Meat has long been eaten to some degree but throughout Japan's history as different Buddhist sects gained ascendancy with the Imperial court, vegetarianism went in and out of favor. Shojin-ryori, the vegetarian temple cuisine, was never eaten by the masses. You have to seek out restaurants that specialize in it. I went to a famous tofu restaurant once, recommended in The Book of Tofu. It was fine but I never went back, there are too many other restaurants to explore in Tokyo, the restaurant capital of the world (more restaurants per capita than anywhere else, or at least that used to be the case). I went to a Chinese vegetarian restaurant a few times that had meat and fish analogs. Once I realized they were probably made from gluten I never ate that again, but the food was amazing there. Japanese as a culture are very open to trying other cuisines, and you can get incredible food from around the world there. Traditionally lots of vegetables are eaten but mostly cooked and dressed; I despaired of finding plain vegetables and U.S. style green salad during the first few years I was there especially, though, now you can get amazing prepared salads from takeaway counters in the food halls in the basements of department stores. Sweet dressings on vegetables were hard for me to adjust to. Fish truly is the main Japanese obsession, coupled with sea vegetables. And liquor. Drinking is a big, big part of socializing in Japan, whether beer, wine, spirits or sake. I'm starting to get hungry! Jeanmarie On Aug 12, 2009, at 12:29 AM, Mike wrote: > wrote: > > I'd like to summarize the Japanese health habits: they have variety, > > they have raw meat sources such as sushi and sashimi, they > > apparently have eggs and dairy, they have rich sources of trace > > minerals such as seaweed and shellfish, and they're well educated on > > cooking a variety of foods! Good summary huh? > > > > They've been doing the raw paleo diet far before the trend started > > over here. Japanese have the most extreme diet. With their raw > > fish and all. > > I'm pretty sure dairy is a very recent item in Japan that's in no way > part of any tradition. Lots of food in Japan is cooked. The most > common food is cooked rice. I doubt that hardly anyone eats only raw > food in Japan. Eggs are not paleo. So it's not a raw paleo diet by > any stretch. It's not extreme by virtue of eating raw fish. Many > cultures all over the world eat raw fish/beef/etc as a common > traditional item. I don't see how it could be considered extreme in > any way. I think the Inuit and Masai diets would be considered > extreme compared to other diets around the world. > > -Mike > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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