Japan
is known for its cuisine. A lot of its elements are inspired by Chinese dishes,
but with the growth of globalization it became influenced by western culture as
well. In my article, I would like to show you some dishes from Japanese cuisine,
and I hope to get you interested enough to try it out.
Ramen
The most popular food among the Japanese, ramen comes in many shapes and forms. One of the most popular types of ramen is Shoyu. Its broth is usually based on chicken and vegetable stock, but you can use fish or beef stock if you prefer it. The most distinctive thing about shoyu ramen is that it uses a lot of soy sauce, which makes it salty.
Shoyu Ramen, Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/dc/Shoyu_Ramen.jpg/1920px-Shoyu_Ramen.jpg
Another type of ramen worth mentioning would be shio ramen. Its broth is pale and yellowish, usually made with chicken, vegetables, fish, seaweed, and sometimes with pork bones. In my experience, it tastes a lot like chicken soup.
Shio Ramen, Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/a/a1/Japanese_Salt_flavor_Sapporo_Ramen.JPG/1280px-Japanese_Salt_flavor_Sapporo_Ramen.JPG
Lastly, I would like to mention Tonkotsu ramen. It’s made with pork bones which are cooked for several hours. Its broth is cloudy and has a very rich taste.
Tonkotsu ramen, Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/65/Hakatara-men.jpg
Ramen, besides noodles and broth, comes with various toppings. The usual are chashu (barbecued pork), green onions, boiled egg (sometimes it’s marinated in soy sauce), tried seaweed and corn. Of course, you can add ingredients as you see fit. Remember to slurp! It’s polite in Japanese culture to do so while eating ramen, and it helps to kill off its heat.
Sushi
When you think about Japanese cuisine, sushi is probably the first thing that comes to your mind. Most commonly, it’s prepared with vinegared white rice and seafood, often raw, or vegetables. The most popular types of sushi would be nigiri and maki. Nigiri is oblong mound of sushi rice typically topped with fish. Maki has its main ingredient in the middle, rolled in sushi rice which is then rolled with tried seaweed called nori.
Sushi plater, on top you can see maki sushi, and in the middle is nigiri.
Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/6/60/Sushi_platter.jpg/1024px-Sushi_platter.jpg
Japanese curry
Although curry originates in India, it was brought to Japan by the British in XIX century. Along with the thick sauce, a variety of ingredients are used in making Japanese curry. Most commonly it's potatoes, carrots, onions, and some kind of meat like beef, pork or chicken. Usually it’s served with rice. Even though Japanese curry doesn’t look very appetizing, it’s really delicious. It’s really easy to make at home, so go ahead and try it!
Japanese curry, Source: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3b/Beef_curry_rice_003.jpg/1920px-Beef_curry_rice_003.jpg
Summary
The dishes presented in the article are just a tip of the iceberg, there is so much more to Japanese cuisine than what I was able to show you. There’s okonomiyaki, takoyaki, tofu, tempura, udon, sashimi and soba. One could easily write a book about Japanese cuisine, there’s just so much it has to offer.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramen
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sushi
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_curry
Questions:
1. Have you ever tried Japanese cuisine? If not, would you like to try it?
2. What if your favourite national cuisine? Are there any particular dishes you would like to recommend?
3. What is the most popular dish in your country? Would you recommend it?
Comments
Yes, I have tried Japanese cuisine. Of course, it was sushi and ramen. These dishes became very popular all over the world. I love sushi and rolls very much and order them from time to time. Also, I have cooked maki a few times. Honestly, it was not an easy and quick process, but the result was tasty. I want to visit Japan one day and taste the original cuisine.
2.What if your favourite national cuisine? Are there any particular dishes you would like to recommend?
I adore Italian cuisine the most with their pasta, pizza, risotto, lasagne, tortellini, different kinds of cheese, gelato, coffee and vine... This list can be very long. There are no such Italian dishes which I have tasted and did not like. The great advantage is that this cuisine is not hard for cooking and there are a lot of Italian restaurants in the world.
Also, I want to mention Georgian cuisine. I like khinkali, khachapuri and soup kharcho very much. 😋 These dishes are worth to try.
3.What is the most popular dish in your country? Would you recommend it?
In my country, the most popular traditional dish is borscht with fluffy bread and fat. Also, there are such dishes as vareniki (similar to pierogi) and holubtsi ( a cabbage roll with rice and meat). I am not a fan of the mentioned food. For me, the majority of traditional dishes are too fatty.
I will recommend the vareniki. It will not impress you after pierogi, but it is not less tasty.
2. I think I like Italian cuisine. I like tomatoes in every form: ketchup, passata, jam or raw. Mixing it with any kind of pasta makes the simplest possible, yet tasty dish. Another Italian dish which probably everyone likes is pizza - a great idea with much space for experiments. Starting from plain Margherita, going through pizzas with seafood, and finishing with a pineapple Hawaii (which nowadays divides people!).
Another cuisine which I like is the Hungarian one - I like the dishes which have a lot of taste, and Hungarians know how to do that. My favorite dish is stew soup, which is two dishes on one plate.
3. Schabowy, or a pork chop. It is how I imagine a bar where you can eat typical dinner. You might have many choices, but there will always be a pork chop which is as big as your plate. For an ending, I live you with the most Polish chop: https://joemonster.org/mg/show/197559
Sure ramen, sushi, miso are just great I love it! If you haven't tried you should definitely do that!
What if your favourite national cuisine? Are there any particular dishes you would like to recommend?
I really like żurek and pierogi ruskie. When I was taking part in national exchange it was really interesting for me to propose some polish dishes for people from Basque Country.
What is the most popular dish in your country? Would you recommend it?
Schabowy probably, but I'd love to see some data which meal is most popular on polish tables.
Yes i think most people tried at least sushi or ramen. In last days i had also idea to learn how to do sushi by myself. It can be nice experience and skill so i will probably do it.
2. What if your favourite national cuisine? Are there any particular dishes you would like to recommend?
I don't have one favourite cusine. Maybe if i need to choose one it could be hamburgers but i like dishes from arround a world. I think in every place you can find something taste which you will like to eat. For example your article was about Japanese cuisine and maybe this is nothing outstand but i like sushi.
3. What is the most popular dish in your country? Would you recommend it?
The most popular dish in my country is bigos or pierogi and if you could ask anyone arround the world probably their heard at least once about one of this dished. I think that's also good dishes to recommend maybe that's why they are so popular.
1. Yes, I tried Japanese cuisine - ramen. I really like it very much. But you have to find a good restaurant. Before that, I had concerns, but when I tried, I was satisfied.
2. When it comes to Polish cuisine, I think pork chop with potatoes and cucumber salad. This is classic Polish data that is very tasty. I sincerely recommend to anyone! It's worth to try :)
3. As I wrote above - pork chop with cucumber salad.
2. I love Eastern cuisine, Central Asia and Turkey. Since I have been here for two years and I have not eaten the national dishes of my country for a long time, I miss my cuisine a little and I think it is the best for me and since I am a Muslim, it is a little difficult to find dishes or cuisine here, especially meat.
3. I think it's manty. This is something that I haven't eaten for a very long time. There are some places in Warsaw where you can try, but since I know what they should be I didn't really like it.
My favourite national cuisine would be defiantly both Japanese and Korean. I adore this mix of a tad sweet, sour and umami flavour. For a long time, my favourite dish would be sushi with sashimi, but since I became a vegetarian that was no longer an option for me. Although sushi is based on fish ingredients and sashimi is just raw fish, I didn't have to give it up altogether. Some restaurants include vegetarian options, but some restaurants have completely vegan sushi. It is hard to compare raw fish with vegetable substitutes, but it still allows me to enjoy this meal while keeping my restrictions. There is also a Korean version of it called Gimbap. My second favourite, easy to make at home, and currently, my go-to comfort food is Bibimbap. It's a portion of rising with different vegetables and a special source based on gochujang, a Korean red chilli paste. I also like Israeli cuisine with its large variety of vegan options such as falafel, sabich or shakshuka.
I think the most recognised polish food are dumpings, and I found that when you say pierogi most people would understand what you mean. They are made of unleavened dough with a sweet or savoury filling and cooked in boiling water. I would recommend them to everyone, they are filling and tasty, and have many filling options. The most popular are meat, mashed potatoes with quark and fried onion, and sauerkraut and mushrooms. My favourites are with fresh cherries from my garden with thin dough, that I only prepare in the summer.
I can, without doubt, agree that Italian cuisine is delicious. Unfortunately, I've never tried Georgian cuisine, but after looking up the dishes You recommended i will definitely try it out.
It's great to see another ramen fan, it's my favourive Japanese dish.
Unfortunately, I'm not a huge fan of Hungarian cuisine, but the stew soup you mentioned is definitely delicious.
Seeing all the comments I think it's safe to assume that schabowy is the most popular Polish dish, although for me personally it would be pierogi.
By saying that if you had to choose you would pick hamburger, you mean American cuisine?
And I couldn't agree more with you saying that you can find something tasty in every place.
Yes, you are right about finding a good restaurant, I should've mentioned it in the presentation. Although I think it's not hard to find a good place to try ramen, I've tried a few ramen restaurants in Warsaw and I'm yet to find one that serves bad ramen.
I also don't like raw fish in sushi, I always order sushi that has grilled fish in it. For me it's scary eating unprepared seafood, even though I am aware that it usually is examined before serving.
I will definitely try manty when I get a chance, and thanks to your opinion, I know that what is served in Poland is not what manty should be, and I will keep that in mind.
I've been to Vegan Ramen Shop you mentioned a few times, and even though I'm not vegen or vegetarian, I loved their ramen. I haven't been to Uki Uki yet, but knowing your opinion about the place i will definitely try the food there.
I've never heard of gimbap, and after looking it up I can say it looks just like sushi.
I must say, you really interested me in vegan version of sushi, I can't wait to compare it with fish sushi.
I really love sushi, I used to eat it once a week when I had to come to the university. Other than that I didn't have much experience with Japanese cuisine. I would love to try ramen since I love the polish chicken soup and it seems to be kinda similar.
2. What if your favourite national cuisine? Are there any particular dishes you would like to recommend?
My favourite one is Italian. I love it for the pasta, lasagne, pizza, risotto and pesto.
3. What is the most popular dish in your country? Would you recommend it?
To be honest I'm not a big fan of polish cuisine. Schabowy and pierogi are great but things like bigos or flaki are totally not my thing.
Yes, I did try everything that was mentioned in the article except Japanese curry and Tonkotsu ramen and I must say I loved it. Beside things mentioned I am also fond of Japanese breakfasts e.g. omelette or dishes like sashimi, udon, many things in tempura or even desserts like matcha ice cream or mochi.
2. What if your favourite national cuisine? Are there any particular dishes you would like to recommend?
Funny thing is that my favourite cuisine is Japanese. Because of that I would like to visit this country, of course I am also interested in their culture but the main reason would be food. It is hard to pick one dish I would like because there are so many on streets of Japan but if I have to I pick Takoyaki. Takoyakis are little balls of deep fried dough that inside have little parts of octopus, sounds weird right?
3. What is the most popular dish in your country? Would you recommend it?
I think the most iconic dish of our country is ‘pierogi’ which can be translated to dumplings. Yes, I would recommend it very much, I love to eat those especially with meat filling, those are the best
Yes, I have tried Japanese cuisine. My favorite food is ramen. Before the pandemic, I went to eat it a lot. Unfortunately, ramen is so specific that it does not taste like it when delivered or taken out.
2.What if your favourite national cuisine? Are there any particular dishes you would like to recommend?
I don't have a favorite cuisine. In each that I had the opportunity to try, I always found something that I liked very much. I recommend trying ramen to everyone who doesn't know it.
3.What is the most popular dish in your country? Would you recommend it?
In my opinion, the most popular Polish dish is "pierogi". They are okay but a bit overrated for me.
To be honest, I can say that Japanese cuisine is one of my favourite, equal to Italian cuisine. From Italian food I can recommend definitely any type of pasta, especially with cheese, but I know it’s a common food in Poland, as it’s simple and tasty. But I tried a lot of pasta directly from Italians and those ones taste extremely amazing.
Most popular dish in Poland? I’m not sure, but I would say meat patty or dumplings, with meat of course. Maybe there are few more dishes that can be named as the most popular one, but for me are those two. I would definitely recommend meat patty with beetroots. It’s one of my favourite polish dishes and I think not only mine.
I love Indian and Italian cuisine and I guess there are no dishes that I don't like. In Indian cuisine I love cheese paneer in every sauce and naan. In Italian cuisine I love pizzas, pasta and their desserts, tiramisu and of course gelato. I always laugh that I couldn't live in Italy because I would be twice as fat.
I think the most popular dish in Poland is chicken soup, although I definitely prefer tomato soup. We also have great dumplings with every stuffing and of course "mielone"!
As I've mentioned in the article, if you want your ramen to taste similar to polish chicken soup, you should go with shio ramen. But be aware, that it's just one type of ramen, and the dish has so much more to it. After you try shio ramen, I would recommend you to try different types, like shoyu or tonkotsu ramen.
Because you like Japanese cuisine so much you should definitely try Japanese curry, it's delicious. There are a few restaurants in Warsaw that serve Japanese curry, but if you prefer to make it yourself, it's actually quite easy, especially since you can buy sauce mix online (look for the ones imported from Japan), or in a store that sells imported foods.
Yes, take out ramen tastes worse than the one you can eat in a restaurant. It's a dish that tastes the best right after it is made, and when it's hot. It's actually one of the reasons why I just can't wait for the pandemic to be over.
The fact that you are able to make your own sushi is amazing, for me it seems really hard. From what I've seen making ramen is not really that hard, it's just time consuming. But since you are interested in making japanese dishes by yourself, I can recommend you to make miso soup. It's really easy, you only need dashi stock (you can buy it online) and miso paste.
Yes, of course. Probably like everyone I tried sushi first. At first I didn't like the fish wrapped in rice. I had to pick up the sushi flavor. I like tempura the most, but I can't say no to the classic Maki. Another dish I tried is ramen. I immediately fell in love with this Japanese soup. Such a Polish broth, only grazing. I definitely recommend it to anyone who wants to immerse themselves in Japanese cuisine for a while.
2. What if your favourite national cuisine? Are there any particular dishes you would like to recommend?
Japanese cuisine is my favorite. As I wrote above, I recommend Ramen the most. If you do not like noodles in soup with various additives, I recommend choosing classic sushi or curry.
3. What is the most popular dish in your country? Would you recommend it?
I believe that the most popular dish in Poland may be bigos. Bigos is a dish made of several types of meat with the addition of cabbage, not the other way around! I sincerely recommend.
I can relate to eating sushi despite not liking the fish, I personally don't find sushi to have a lot of fishy flavor.
I'm not a huge fan of Indian cuisine, but I love Italian cuisine, I find it delicious, and i can say that it's my 2nd favourite cuisine, right after Japanese.
2. In my opinion, the best cuisine is Indian. I love Indian food, sometimes I cook curry or tikka masala myself. My favorite food is 'Aloo Gobi' which is a vegetarian cauliflower curry.
3. I think that the most popular Polish dish is pork chop, but if I were to recommend a Polish dish, it would be bigos or dumplings.
Oh, I did, countless times up to this day :) My family was not keen to serve anything other than European foods in my home, so I've discovered Japanese cuisine relatively at old age - around my 18th birthday. I think it all started with sushi, I remember I was impressed with the taste of the rice, so different and fresh from what I got used to (and I need to mark here I was a heavy rice consumer by that point!). On top of that, raw fish perfectly fit my taste buds. I think today I could say tuna nigiri is my favorite sushi. Just plan, raw tuna. I was never introduced to its taste before.
A few years later Warsaw let me discovered other dishes of Japan and its surrounding (which in my opinion are fairly similar). Today, if I would need to choose my favorite dish, I think it would be Ramen. A very specific one served in Uki Uki on krucza. I absolutely love its taste.
2What if your favorite national cuisine? Are there any particular dishes you would like to recommend?
If I need to choose one cuisine as a whole, I think Italian would be the closest to my heart. Basically, everything there is a super-food for me, all the pasta, all the pizzas, all veggies :) I love tomato purée taste, so I could recommend any main-stream Italian dish to try. Spaghetti bolognese or Margherita pizza :) It's all good!
3. What is the most popular dish in your country? Would you recommend it?
Tricky question! If you would ask for the most unique dish in my country I think it would be bigos, but as you are asking for popular, it must be pork schnitzel with potatoes and beetroots (or cabbage in some parts of Poland!). As far as I know, this dish is also popular in our western neighbors - Germanty and Austria, so apparently "schabowy z ziemniakami" is not as unique and special as we wish it is as Polish patriots
Even though I'm a big fan of Japanese culture, mainly anime and manga, I have never tried any food that is part of Japanese cuisine. My brother is the opposite of me, he often makes sushi by himself, one time I even saw him making natto, which is some kind of fermented soybeans, looks and sounds disgusting, so I didn't bother to try it. I think Japanese meals just aren't a good suit for me, and I'll tell you about what I like under next question.
2. What if your favourite national cuisine? Are there any particular dishes you would like to recommend?
My absolutely most favorite meal of all time is pizza. It's generic, but not without a reason, it just tastes so good. Another cuisine I can recommend is Mexican one, they have some dish called Quasedila, which involves tortilla filled with cheese, meet and vegetables. It's kinda similar to Taco, but much better in my opinion.
3. What is the most popular dish in your country? Would you recommend it?
Hard to tell what dish is most important in Poland. Even though in my household pork chop is the dish that we eat the most, other people may have it different. Different examples I can think of are: Pierogi, broth and tomato soup. Of course, I recommend every one of these dishes, it's hard to dislike them to be honest.
2. My favorite cuisine is Italian. During the student exchange I tried many cuisines, although I liked this one the most. The most delicious dish I can recommend is Pesto. My friend's name is Fabio, he taught me how to make this dish correctly.
3. I think that there are many popular dishes in Polish cuisine, while in the regions of the country there are already such typical popular dishes. In my region, it is bigos or potato pancakes. I highly recommend these dishes because they are very good.
1. Have you ever tried Japanese cuisine? If not, would you like to try it?
Of course, I tried Japanese cuisine. I really like Asian flavors. I think this is one of my favourite cuisines. Especially sushi and ramen. This dishes are very popular nowadays. I order sushi very often. I would really like to visit Japan and try this original dishes.
2. What if your favourite national cuisine? Are there any particular dishes you would like to recommend?
I don’t really have one favourite cuisine. Italian is one that I really like, in particular pizza, pasta and lasagne.
3. What is the most popular dish in your country? Would you recommend it?
Schabowy and pierogi are the most popular dishes in Poland I think. They are something that most of the people know about around the world. A lot of people like Polish cuisine and I think that it’s not weird. It’s just very good.