† SUSHI / JAPANESE EATING TIPS †
For some time now people have been asking me about sushi, It's not a big deal really but I cna understand how it can be very curious for some people. So I decided to share some information on sushi as well as some Japanese eating tips that I have learned over the years and in the last year have "perfected" in knowledge.
What is What?
Ginger - This is the pink slices you get free like salt/ketchup for English meals. Ginger is used to clean your tongue between different sushi's, the ginger is strong so it "refreshes" your tongue, making it a fresh pallet so the taste of each sushi is not tainted by the next or before. I rarely eat the ginger as I dislike ginger, but I always tend to buy a strong drink such as Pepsi to strip the tongue between each sushi but it does not work as well. If you do not like ginger order something with orange, orange juice is great for cleaning your pallet.
Miso - It is perfectly acceptable to pick up the bowl and drink from it, in fact this is seen as quite respectful and to most cooks show you appreciate their miso soup. Miso soup is not an appetizer/starter ( or meant to be) Your meant to order it with or after your main course.
Also when you get your miso, you may take your chopsticks and gently mix the soup. When the miso is sat for a long time it forms a cloudy style powder in the water, mixing it together adds all the flavors together but don't do this lots or it's as if saying "your miso is bad"
Cheese, why not? - Sushi and cheese are never seen together and if they are put together this is wrong and / or extremely rare. Cheese is extremely strong and distracts the taste of the sushi too much (Remember the ginger?). I've only ever herd of one cheese added sushi dish and that was just an experiment at a non Japanese restaurant to make an American style sushi. So if you ever go somewhere and they offer you cheese with your sushi, decline it.
Green Tea - Green tea is not only extremely good for you but Asian green tea has a different taste and it extremely refreshing. Green tea is full of antioxidants which helps better digestion, it also helps when you have a poorly tummy. Green tea is usually drank throughout the whole food process and in good sushi restaurants once you've bought one cup, you get free re-fills. It also helps the body when eating the sushi so you have room for more.
Never drink the tea all in one go, savoir it and take it in small amounts, too much will fill you too fast and cause an opposite effect.When you have an empty cup, if you wish for a re-fill place the cup near the each of the table and make sure you say thank you. If you do not want a refill, keep the cup in the center of the table close to you with a small amount left at the bottom.
Chinese tip (Thanks to my boyfriend) - A new discovery for me but if the Japanese sushi restaurant is ran by Chinese people it is common to see people placing there hand into a loose claw and tapping the tapping gently. This is a way of saying thank you and "that's enough" as your cup is being filled. I do not remember the full story as Chinese culture is a new world to me, but it is based off an old legend of tea ceremony where another creature serve tea then bowing like/to a dragon in gratitude.
Hand enough? Leave a bit! - In Japanese culture, especially/mainly when eating at someones home, it is seen as grateful to leave a small amount of food in your bowl to signify you are full and appreciate the food. If you finish your bowl completely without leaving something (this can be a few bits of rice, tiny bit of fish, no bigger that 5pence rly) you may find you'll get 2nd's.. and 3rd's... and 4th's.... Your bowl will get re-filled non stop until you end up saying "OH GOD stop feeding me, I'm dying!"
This is an act of kindness to make sure your belly is full and to make sure you will want for no more. As some of my friends have seen when I cook for them, I often offer to re-fills thier bowls or offer 2nds when they finish their plate completely and /or offer desert. It is a sign of gratitude and care, to make sure you do not leave with an empty stomach.
Between/During your meal - Japanese eat out's / dinner times usually last up to 2 hours. If a meal is made like a small buffet, usually a huge selection of food is made for you to help yourself to. BUT DO NOT RUSH IT, take your time. Here's a few mini tip to aide your experience;
- Do not order everything at once. Order each thing/selection one at a time, even if that be start, main etc... ordering all at once means your food wont be as fresh, you'll find when food is cooked at home the food is covered with plates/lids between cooking if a huge selection has been made.
- Remember your green tea. Keep taking sips between each sushi/meal section's to ease any strain on your tummy. Don't feel odd if you need a bathroom break.
- If you plans a sushi event out, try not to eat before hand. If you plan to eat in the afternoon/tea time, try to eat less at lunch/dinner time. You may feel really hungry but if you take your time and each slow you'll find your sushi experience will be better as you can eat more.
- Bento boxes are a common set for quick meals, but if you fancy a bento between your meal, order it as your near last dish before desert. This will fill you up with a selection of treats and give you your finished roll's.
- Desert? Do not be afraid of sharing. Deserts are usually quite small for large orders because your tummy will be full but if you feel you are too full you can share a desert with someone, just simply ask for a certain amount of spoons or tell the waiter/waitress your sharing. Commonly if you are a couple and ask for one desert, they will bring 2 spoons out regardless as sharing a desert promotes togetherness as well is a sign that your partner had made sure you have eaten well.
Bring cash, and lots of it! - For a small meal during lunch time, you'll expect to pay maybe £10 per person but for a traditional huge sushi order you will be looking at £20/£30 between two people (depends on more can be £20/£30 per 4 people etc..). Usually in restaurants, there will be offers for huge sushi platters and these ain't cheep, and if you want the full experience you got to pay the moola. Remember if you eat less during the day it is all worth it but remember this food is made very delicately and unlike English food, is made with a lot more care/time and preparation.
Pay by card? You are the bread earner -In both Chinese and Japanese culture, if one person is the sole payer for the food it shows that they earn the most money and by that right also shows that they are well off enough to care properly for their family/friends. It is a sign of respect and I find even if I am paying half of the bill I will give my boyfriend the money so he would be the one seen paying for it.
Chop Sticks! - In Japanese they are called "箸" pronounced as "Hashi" and come in all shapes and sizes, you can even get training chop stick's, decorated/animal/Pocky shaped sticks, child sized chopstick's etc...
- You'll find that most restaurant's will provide plastic chopsticks but sometimes you will get wooden chopsticks (Waribashi (割り箸）) attached together, after you've broken them for the love of all things do not rub them together afterwards. This is an insult, implying that the chopsticks/utensils given are cheep and out right insulting the chef/restaurant by implying that the restaurant is also just as cheep.
- Don't use un-matching chopsticks. Usually a person can be allowed to have exactly the same looking chopstick in different colors but completely un-matching chopsticks are considered very unlucky and again can be an insult to the dead. (A lot of death related with chopstick... haha)
- Never stab them into your food facing up. It can sometimes be considered as okay when your at home with family as a joke but stabbing your chopsticks facing up can be seen as insulting. For most Buddhist's, rice is like an offering to the deceased so stabbing your chopsticks faced up is like insulting an alter (When someone dies rice/food is offered to the deceased in a bowl) it is also considered as insulting to the place/venue/home you are in, like saying "Your offering is shit" so yeah don't do that.
- Never cross your chopsticks over bowl/plate/table/bento box etc... Crossing your chopstick (like a cross X etc) is similar to the reason above and also if you can avoid crossing them whilst eating too, that's also awesome (Westerns can get away with crosses chopsticks whilst using them due to lack of experience using them). Always try and keep then together/straight.
- Don't lance your food. You know that annoying as hell WOWCHER advert on british TV which I yell at all the time because the woman stabs the food with one chopstick because she can't use them? (gasp for air) Chopsticks are always used together, its very unity like in other words. Stabbing your food is considered bad manners, you'll find people tend to only do that in Japanese culture when they are extremely pissed off to express their rage whilst eating.
- Kanzashi and Chopsticks are two different things so do put chopsticks in your hair! Kanzashi are decorated sticks that go in your hair (you know like geisha's, maiko etc?) they look like chopsticks but they aren't. In Japan, that's like putting a fork in your hair instead of a hair clip. I admit I have done this before but usually only whilst I am in a cooking emergency and need my hair tied back and have nothing to tie my hair back with.
- If you get some Hashi-oki "箸置き"/chopstick rests use them. Its like a tiny little flat table you place your chopsticks on, if you do not have them, it is fine to place your chopstick over you food bowl as long as they are together and not crossed.
Shoveling your rice - Before you read this, this is what I have been told from a few Japanese friends, it is not evil, it is just considered as bad manners.
Now this is where I've had a hard time with Chinese culture at first. In Chinese culture it is common to use the chopstick like shovels for rice soup etc and spoon the food into your mouth, but in Japan culture no, just no. Each grain of rice is sacred, you are lucky to eat so you should respect your food. Japanese rice is different and is very sticky so it is easier to pick up in clumps or grain by grain, you only lift the bowl if you think you may drop some, you instead lean over your bowl ever so slightly in case you drop something or bring the bowl to your chin.
I had a hard time when I was briefly mocked by my boyfriend parents (who are Chinese) for picking the rice up grain lot by grain when my bowl was near finished for another bowl, they did not mean to insult but for me I was awkwardly embarrassed because I am not Chinese obviously and Japanese culture is a big influence on my life and has been for an extremely long time. However whenever I eat around his parents I tend to take a more Chinese outlook on eating.
SOY Sauce - You'll find a bottle of soy or two is always provided for you with a small rectangular dish. Once you have chosen your soy, you pour it into the little dish. This dish to use to make dipping your sushi into it a lot easier. (LITTLE TIP, with sushi don't dip the rice into the dish if you are clumsy, dip the meat/egg/fish etc... into the soy, this way if wont overpower the sushi and your rice wont break)
What's the difference between dark and light soy sauce you say?-
Light soy sauce. Is a light brown sauce, slightly opaque and is steamed with wheat and soybean and something beginning with A? Not sure if Aspergillus oryzae or Aspergillus sojae molds? This is a lighter salty taste, common used for dipping more than dark soy and adds a lot of yummy flavor especially when eating fried rice.
Dark soy sauce. Is much darker, near black and very thick. It is caramelized and is aged and commonly used during cooking for heat changes the flavor. It is slightly sweeter and less salty than light soy and is mainly sued to add color to a dish. Making it a dipping is great, just by adding something simply like garlic can change the flavor completely!
Wasabi - I hate wasabi personally, it's just too icky the taste for me ( reminds me too much of horse radish) but the burn does not bother me so much. If you find yourself eating too much drinking water does not really help instead eat some plain rice, if that don't help breath through your nose.
Odd you say? Nope, breathing through your nose really fast/rapidly makes the burn go away in a matter of seconds but you may look silly doing it haha.
BTW only use a tiny amount, this stuff is STRONG, I can eat raw chillies but a mouth full of wasabi makes me loose my ability to see, that s*** is crazy hot, like a dry burn.
Order of food - It is more of a desired preference but sushi does have an order to eating it. Why? FLAVOR! It's all about making your taste pallet feel good, the order is something like this;
During all;
- Green Tea
- Miso Soup
- Ginger
- Bubble Tea
- White Fish
- Silver Fish
- Red Fish/Meat
- Cooked meat
- Salmon and fish eggs
- Wet fish/fat fish piece
- Egg (As in chicken egg etc)
- Roll's (Or order Roll's with bento)
- Sometimes comes with Miso, if so share it throughout the dish
- Eat in any order
- Finish with Roll's
- Doriyaki (Personal fave) B
- Green Tea Ice Cream
- Fried Ice Cream
- Dai Fu Ku
- Mochi
- Fruit
Apparently eating roll's is to end your order or near the end of your order but I am not 100% sure on that one~
Common Dishes in Japan -
- Egg dish with ketchup (Looks like mashed potato)
- Teriyaki / Sukiyaki Dishes
- Tempura
- Wok Dishes
- Ramen (Big noodle soup)
What not to expect - If you sushi dish has any of these its probably wrong or made with an English/western twist. Always hunt for the recipe/ingredients online.
- Mayo
- Cheese
- Coffee (Unless this is in Bubble Tea)
- Ham (Not common at all in Japanese in comparison)
- Black Pepper
- Mexican Chilly
Eating at a short table - Kneeling when eating in Japan is considered as well mannered and for woman, very lady like, like a geisha. In Chinese culture, kneeling is only really done at weddings and at funerals... I learned this the hard way but if you are visiting a Chinese household it goes by the house owners/elder's rule/law rather than your own, its not like English culture when we adapt to our guests out of pure courtesy this is nothing mean its just respecting the elder and all that~
That's about all I can think about for now so I hope it helps out and provides a good read for you, feel free to add more tips if wanted~
† Pleasant Dreams †
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