What are the different ways Japanese food is prepared to the way it’s prepared in your home?
Lots more things are eaten raw. Sushi and sashimi you probably know are raw fish, but more things too, like eggs, chicken, even meats like beef, horse, or even whale! A common breakfast is a bowl of rice with a raw egg on top, with some soy sauce. Fish for breakfast is pretty common, but cooked, not raw. I was very surprised to see that many stores don’t refrigerate or chill eggs—they’re just on the shelf, but packaged so the fat side is up, since this helps keep germs from getting in. (Something to do with that bubble on one side of an egg…)
People often make their own pickles at home: A "Good Housewife" will have a plastic or wooden tub filled with damp rice bran that has an active bacterial culture growing in it. She will bury fresh veggies in it, where they become a kind of pickle called "Nuka Zuke." (Pronounced "nooka zoo-kay") Because the nuka is alive, you need to mix and turn it every day with your hand, caring for it almost like it was a pet. My friend let his nuka die and was very ashamed.
The kitchen is much more the woman’s area in a "normal" Japanese family. The Mom will do all of the cooking and may not even sit while most of the eating goes on.
Most families fave a rice cooker that keeps cooked rice fresh all day and rice is served with most meals. The rice isn’t fluffy like Uncle Ben’s or Minute Rice, it sticks together so you can eat it with chopsticks.
Ovens are really unusual here, so forget most cakes, breads, roasts and turkeys. A Japanese kitchen will have a small oven that is used for cooking fish that will often be below a couple of gas burners.
People have fewer appliances like blenders, toasters and food processors—there’s just not the space to store them. (When I lived in the US, my Japanese friends were always amazed that I had a popcorn popper!) Dishwashers are pretty unusual too and a lot of Japanese people don’t trust that a machine could do a good job of cleaning dishes.
Microwave ovens are pretty popular though.
Very often, a Japanese wife will visit the market every day to buy the day’s food. This is because there is less space to store food and some things must be eaten fresh, like fish. Very often, she will do her shopping without a car, either by walking or by bicycle.
Supermarkets are more common these days, but a traditional neighborhood will have more specialized shops for fish, vegetables, rice and so on.
Some things are even brought around the street on a cart. A traditional tofu seller will pull a two-wheeled cart and play a special tune on a kind of horn, so you can hear him coming and run out and buy your tofu, which is a block of white bean curd. Roasted sweet potatoes will come around on a cart or a small pickup truck that has a burning wood stove on the back and the driver will call out "Yakiiiii Imoooo! Oishi Yakiiii Imoooo!" over and over, which means "Roasted potatoes! Tasty roasted potatoes!"
There’s junk food here, too. The one that’s most popular is instant cup noodles. Potato chips are popular too and come in lots of crazy flavors that change all the time. This week, a new flavor is "Cream Stew." This summer, there were chips that were flavored to taste like hot dogs with ketchup and they were really good.
Overall, the food is fresher and portions are smaller. More fish and less beef are served. Things are more seasonal, so some things just don’t get eaten when they’re not in season.
Hope this helps!
Japanese Business Etiquette