Healthy Japanese Food
When my parents visited Tokyo, we had a nice lunch at a Japanese restaurant; Nihonbashi Dashi Bar Hanare.
It is made of fish bonito/skipjack tuna which takes several months or a few years to make. I'll give you a brief description of the production process. The bonito is beheaded, gutted and filleted at first. The fillets are boiled and simmered gently. Then, the fillets are smoked using oak, pasania, or castanopsis wood about for a month. Repeat the process smoking and resting cycle. (At this stage the fillets are called aragatsuo and most commonly found in stores, shaved and packaged for sale.)
 |
| Source; Wikipedia |
They are still valued but true katsuobushi takes more time for procedure. As the last stage of creating a katsuobushi, the fillets are left with spraying with Aspergillus glaucus. The mold ferments the fillets and helps them to dry out. This process takes a couple of years. The fillets become harder and dryer like wooden pieces.
 |
| Source; Wikipedia |
Then, they are shaved for cooking.
 |
| Source; http://www.ninben.co.jp/ |
'Japanese cuisine' was added to UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage. And it is said that Japanese food is healthy. In fact, Japan has the world's highest longevity rate. One of the reasons is the traditional daily meal patterns, which are called '一汁三菜 '(ichijyu-sansai)' meaning one soup and three side dishes including raw fish and vegetables, with rice.
At the restaurant, they serve a healthy food using Dashi and one-soup-three-side-dishes style mainly. Their restaurant respects tradition and accepts modern casual style. It was really nice. They have a shop in Haneda Airport as well. Why don't you try it?
