Hand Gestures: Japanese Without Accent
— FOOD —
SUSHI
THE WELCOME-to-Japan itinerary includes a stop at a sushi bar, where the wife is introduced to one of Japan’s most delicious foods. If she’s an inlander she may never acquire the taste, since the main element is some sort of raw sea-food. The other chief ingredient is boiled rice. The third necessity is a dark, thin, salty soy sauce called shoyu. The rice and sea-food are skillfully put together by the sushi man, who has probably taken years to acquire the knack. The customer himself dips the two-bite-size morsels, which might be called rice sandwiches, in the shoyu. Between bites he often sharpens his taste buds by munching a flake of pickled ginger. Included on the average sushi bill of fare are squid, abalone, clam, shrimp, scallop, tuna, sea-weed, cucumber and egg, to name but a few—all raw of course.
It is not for the better-known sukiyaki or tempura that the average Japanese or foreign resident of Japan longs when abroad, but rather for a good session at his favorite sushi bar.
‘I told you it was fresh. See it wiggle?”
A JAPANESE HOTEL MEAL
ON TO A Japanese restaurant for dinner—or at least what Mr. Vast Experience had said would be dinner. Of course this order would never be placed and he knows it, but he is getting a kick out of naming unfamiliar foods. As a matter of fact each of the dishes he names makes very good eating indeed at the proper time and place in a dinner. The secret of course is all in the preparation and the sauce. Anyhow, they’ll probably end up eating sukiyaki.
“Let’s see … We’ll take bamboo, sea-weed, raw squid, fermented bean curd, and fish-eye soup, topped off with a double serving of pickled octopus.”
SUKIYAKI AND SAKE
OF COURSE it is sake and sukiyaki. The tour guide is playing cozy, taking his time till the sukiyaki juice has simmered to its ultimate deliciousness. He is also showing off by sitting Japanese style. When he starts to get up though, he may find his legs have gone fast asleep.
The tourist booklet was right. Sake is a light white wine made from rice. But like everything else, you can overdo it even while drinking from cups not much larger than thimbles. The trouble is that sake drinking is accompanied by so much toasting and complimentary exchange of pourings and cups that the rate of consumption is likely to soar unawares.
Sukiyaki itself is usually made from thin strips of beef and assorted vegetables broiled together with their natural juices, soy sauce, and sugar, right on the table in front of you. One of the nicest things about it is the aroma and sociability, to say nothing of its truly delicious and unique flavor.
“But the tourist booklet said it was just a light white wine !”