Japanese Food

Across Japan, there is more Japanese food than one can count. Referred to in Japanese as 和食 (washoku) or 日本食 (nihonshoku), there is Japanese food that originated in Japan, and even Japanese food referred to as 和洋折衷 (wayōsecchu), which is a blend of both Japanese and Western cuisine. Because of this, it’s difficult to give a single definition of what Japanese food is. Even though there is Japanese food with hundreds of years of history behind it, there is also Japanese food that doesn’t have much history behind it.

Japanese food is, of course, food that was made by the Japanese. However, Japanese food can be enjoyed all over the world and is now made by people of many different races. In recent years, Japanese food such as ラーメン (ramen) and 寿司 (sushi) has particularly gained popularity abroad. There are even takes upon traditional Japanese dishes (such as the infamous California roll) springing up that the Japanese would find unusual. Even though Japanese food is gaining popularity abroad, outside of Japan this cuisine can be quite expensive, with a lot of Japanese food only to be found at upscale Japanese restaurants. There is still however much Japanese food that can only be found in Japan.

As mentioned above, it’s difficult to give a single definition to Japanese food. Having said that, there is lots of quintessential Japanese food. Throughout the articles below I hope that you can get a better sense of what exactly Japanese food is. I also hope that you can learn in detail about where each of these foods originated.