Why is Japan Obsessed with Food?

It's no wonder that with its abundance of fresh seasonal ingredients, innovative creativity, and ancient culinary heritage that Japan has the largest number of restaurants in the world with Three Michelin Stars!

Japan is a nation obsessed with food. In the 1980s the nation’s booming economy fuelled the consumption of foreign gourmet cuisine. Food centred TV dramas, variety shows, travel shows, and talk shows all began to influence home cooks and food gender norms in Japanese society. Food shows such as ‘The Iron Chef’ enforced the ideal of the expert male chef as the authority of gourmet cuisine. In addition, the overwhelmingly popular boy band SMAP began a variety show with a bistro segment that inspired thousands of Japanese men to roll up their sleeves and start cooking popular home favourites.

Because of this preoccupation with food, Japan continues to have an extraordinarily high number of food shows on television. As a result, the ordinary home cook in Japan generally has a much higher level of cooking skills and food knowledge than in North America. Japanese children learn basic vegetable gardening skills in preschool and take turns preparing meals for their classmates in elementary school; so at a young age, they are exposed to the components of healthy nutritious meal planning.

Of course the typical Japanese cook does not consciously consider the five principles of Japanese cuisine on a daily basis. But because of his or her subconscious exposure to Japanese food since childhood, it becomes second nature to have meals that are cooked in a variety of ways, to use ingredients that provide a kaleidoscope of colours and flavours, and to present  dishes in a way that stimulate all the senses. The end result is a meal that is very nutritious.

Why is Japanese food so healthy? As it relies mostly on rice, fish, and vegetables without heavy sauces or dairy products, it is usually low in cholesterol and fat and high in vitamins, fibre, and minerals. Japanese cuisine also relies on fresh seasonal ingredients, and the typical Japanese consumer will eagerly look forward to eating early spring bamboo shoots, autumnal persimmons and mushrooms or winter mandarin oranges in their specific season. Fresh food is so essential to the Japanese palate that restaurants and supermarkets sell fish that is still pulsating on the plate!