VegetablesVegetables are obviously an important element in a Japanese diet as many people there are (or at least have been, traditionally) semi-vegetarian.Centuries ago, mainly for religious reasons, killing animals -and therefore eating meat - was forbidden for a long time. Eventually these rules were relaxed, especially with regard to fish, but even today the Japanese eat relatively little ‘red’ meat, although fish is very popular. There is a huge variety of vegetables, apart from the usual potatoes, carrots, onions, peas, corn, peppers, aubergine (eggplant), lettuce, cucumber, tomatoes etc. Some of them may be slightly different and / or unfamiliar to many of us. Commonly used vegetables include - daikon: long white radish, sometimes found as ‘mooli’ or ‘icicle radish’ renkon: lotus root, both fresh and canned gobo: burdock root, very long and thin with a dark skin kabocha: a type of pumpkin (squash), quite small and green sato-imo, yama-imo: a type of ‘sticky’ potato (see page on 'magic' potatoes) satsuma-imo: sweet potato, usually with a red skin and white flesh hakusai: ‘Chinese cabbage’ - long, pale green leaves, looks like lettuce takenoko: bamboo shoots negi: general term for varieties of leek and spring onion rakkyo: small, flat onion-like bulb, often pickled horenso: spinach, but a slightly different type with a reddish stalk (which is eaten) gingko: a type of nut sometimes used in the West for health purposes kuri: chestnut shiso: dark purple leaves, dried and powdered or made into a paste for flavouring konnyaku: a jelly-like vegetable-based ingredient used in e.g sukiyaki kanten: a type of gelatine made form agar agar (a sea vegetable) There are also pulses such as soya beans, azuki (small red beans), snow peas , mangetout ... See also the following pages (click on a link to open it): Seaweed noodles shiitake mushrooms The recipe book contains many examples of how vegetables are used in everyday meals. Click here for details:
Vegetables are of course very important as a source of fibre in the diet, essential for good health. For much more on this topic I would recommend this excellent site: www.high-fiber-health.com
|
