Rice as main attraction

In ancient Japan, growing rice in wet paddy fields began around the 5th century B.C. Society came to be based on agriculture, with rice as the main crop and staple food.

The people of East and Southeast Asia look on a typical meal as one with rice as the main actor, and side dishes playing a secondary role. The typical Japanese meal is no exception. Rice is boiled and steamed, and goes straight from the pot into waiting bowls, with no flavor added. Fish and vegetable side dishes come with a variety of flavorings, but somehow their role seems to be to whet the appetite for more rice.

In Japanese, “eat breakfast” (or lunch or supper) is “go-han o taberu,” which literally means “eat rice.” The words go-han (rice) and shokuji (a meal) are used interchangeably.

In the past, poor people and those farming highland areas where productivity was low did not have access to much rice, so they would mix barley or some other cheaper grain with rice before boiling. But during festivals and formal occasions even poor people found a way to eat rice and mochi rice cakes without mixing in “inferior” grains.

Above Left: The New Year is a time to celebrate and eat a soup called zoni. Ingredients and seasonings depend on the region, but you are sure to find some mochi rice cake in the soup.

Above Right: Freshly boiled rice tastes oh so good.

Mochi are made by pounding cooked glutinous rice, using a large wooden mallet and receptacle. In the old days the Japanese—like the people of Southeast Asia—had a belief that the spirits of rice plants dwelled in the grains of rice. Sacred rice pounded into mochi was a food for festivals. Even today, on New Year's Day, the most important festival of the year, families eat mochi in a zoni soup, together with seafood and vegetables.

Saké is made from rice, and it too has a place of honor at festivals. Japanese festivals are a time to eat rice and mochi, and to drink saké—in other words, to enjoy plenty of tasty food and drink from the rice plant.

So we can say that the traditional Japanese meal is designed to bring out the best of rice and saké.

Terraced rice paddies in summer. Rice plants, growing taller by the day, sway in the wind. By autumn they will be a shimmering golden color, heavy with grains waiting for the harvest.