NORTHEAST ASIAN CUISINE - Ⅰ

As we promised earlier in our first blog that we will discover the whole Asian cuisine, so this blog is to give you a zest about the Northeast Asian cuisine. The Northeast Asia includes countries such as China ,Japan, Taiwan, Mongolia, and South Korea. These countries though come under Asian continent but the food and culture, the climatic condition and geographical area is drastically very different from each other. The two main countries which are very well known for their food are China and Japan. These two countries have very similar but at the same time a bit unique food preparations, both of these countries have a very privy cooking techniques.

The Japanese cuisine have a very major akin of Chinese cuisine, you might be pondering what that can be, well that is Rice, yes the staple food of Japan, but they learn the cultivation of rice from native Chinese few hundreds years back. Though when it comes to rice , there are lot of varieties such as long grain, medium grain and short grain. The usage of corn in Chinese cuisine is influenced by Americans. Northeast have given prismatic names for rice such as koshihikari, forbidden rice, black rice, jasmine rice, wild rice and many more.
Apart from rice the usage of chop sticks and soy sauce is also a Chinese influence on Japanese cuisine. The corn is influence of America When it comes to cuisine of North  Korea and South Korea. 
 
Climatic Conditions & Staple Diet

The climatic condition of the Northeast has a very diverse climatic changes, as we know these conditions plays a very vital role in food, because what is grown is cooked and that determines the staple diet of that particular region. The  staple food of China, Japan, Vietnam, Korea is Rice which is widely grown in these countries. The staple diet of Taiwan and Mongolia are millets and dairy products.

Apart from Rice, Northeast Asians also consume wheat, maize in form of noodles such as Soba noodle, Udon noodle etcetera. Vegetables like Bok choy, Napa cabbage, Kai Lan, water spinach, chinese celery, renkon(lotus root), etcetera.

They also consume meats in large amount, meats like pork, beef, duck, chicken, mutton, squab, venison meat, in some Naga tribes they also eats spiders and insects. Due to easy accessibility to Bering sea,  Okhotsk sea. Fish is also considered as a daily meal in Northeast Asia. Fishes like  bream, reeves shad, eel, cat fish, rainbow trout, salmon, whitebait, mullet, perch, sturgeon, murrel and pangolin are commonly eaten in different methods like steaming, sushi and sashimi, cooking in bamboo shoots for that pungent and sour taste, frying, hot pot , dried or fermented fish chutneys and curries.

 

Components & Accompaniments

In Asian cuisine there are such components and accompaniments which are very rarely used in any other cuisine. The ingredients plays a major role, as such ingredients are backbone of the preparation, these are the few unique ingredient used as follow:

Shaoxing wine

It’s basically a rice wine from Shaoxing region it is also drink as table wine.

Wakame

A seaweed which is used for cooking in preparation such as broth and soup. Wakame has a very sweet and subtle flavour.

Wasabi

A paste made from Japanese horseradish and with other components which is served along with sushi.

Fish sauce

This sauce is made with 2 ingredients that are anchovies and salt.

Rice vinegar

A mild vinegar for making vinaigrettes, marinades or dipping sauces.

 

Eating Etiquettes

In Asian cuisine there are different and superstitious dining etiquettes which are followed while eating, in Northeast Asian countries like japan and china have a very interesting set of rules which need to followed, such etiquettes are followed to show the appreciation and respect towards  the food. Etiquettes such as seating position, which is even now are followed, while eating food the person should consume food by seating in a Seize position. Eating the food silently is another major rule that needs to followed.

While  eating  food using chopsticks, the food should not be stabbed using a chopsticks. chopstick should never be kept on bowl, it should be given rest in cover of the sticks, Never point chopstick at someone and there are many other sets of rules.

Conclusion

Its concludes that Northeast food is not only about the popularity worldwide but the respect and inner discernment among the food make more morsel as a keystone of Northeast Asia. Forsooth to merge the whole Northeast cuisine in a one specific blog is undoable, So we'll be writing more on our upcoming blogs.

Did You Know?

•     In Asia there are more than 2200 languages are recognized and spoken.
• China produce over 45 billion pairs of chopstick each year.
• There are 1600 temples in Kyoto, Japan.
• Northeast Asian belief that long noodles represents long life.
• In Chinese cuisine soup is eaten after the main course.
• Tempura is heavily influenced by the cooking techniques of the 16th century Portuguese.