JACCU | SHOKUDO Japanese Food & Design (2024)

FAQs

What is the Japanese art of making fake food? ›

Japan is also famous for its plastic food samples, or “sampuru,” – replicas that are displayed in restaurant windows to show the food served inside and entice passersby.

Shokudo (食堂, shokudō) are casual restaurants or cafeterias that serve a variety of inexpensive Japanese dishes. Many of them are mom-and-pop, hole-in-the-wall type restaurants where the locals eat. They are numerous across Japan in urban centers and on the countryside.

Relish in the exquisite and complex beauty of moritsuke where food becomes art. The Japanese art of food arrangement, moritsuke, is a beloved practice that has been passed down from generation to generation.

The plastic models are mostly handmade from polyvinyl chloride and sculpted to look like the actual dishes. The models can be custom-tailored to individual restaurants and even common items such as ramen can be modified to match each establishment's food or regional differences.

Fake food goes by a few names in Japanese, such as shokuhin sanpuru (food sample), shokuhin mokei (food model) and ryouri mihon (cooking sample) but the easiest one to remember is just sample, pronounced as sanpuru in Japanese.

A yatai (屋台) is a small, mobile food stall in Japan typically selling ramen or other food. The name literally means "shop stand". Yatai at a summer festival. The stall is set up in the early evening on walkways and removed late at night or in the early morning hours.

The Japanese word izakaya (居酒屋) is made up of three kanji with the meaning, in order, “stay-drink-place.” A spot to grab a drink, settle in, and get comfortable.

Seiza involves sitting down on the floor and not on a chair. In traditional Japanese architecture, floors in various rooms designed for comfort have tatami floors.

A kissaten (喫茶店), literally a "tea-drinking shop", is a Japanese-style tearoom that is also a coffee shop.

The bright red, salty and spicy pickles are served as a garnish on top of a variety of dishes such as gyudon, takoyaki and yakisoba. Fukujinzuke is a mixture of daikon radish, lotus root, cucumber and eggplant which are preserved in a soya sauce and sweet cooking wine (mirin) base.

What's it called when Japanese cook in front of you? ›

It is commonly used interchangeably with the term hibachi, but they are two different styles of cooking. While both styles showcase live cooking, Teppanyaki focuses on individual or small group dining, whereas hibachi is often a communal and interactive dining experience.

Alerting All Senses Number 5

The Japanese believe that you have to employ all five senses when eating. Thus, they arrange their meals so that they will look attractive to the diner.

Japan's most internationally famous dish, sushi is also internationally misunderstood. Most people are mistaken in believing that sushi is simply raw fish. Rather, good sushi is a vigilant combination of vinegared rice, raw fish and vegetables and comes in many different forms.

The pink stuff often served alongside sushi is called "pickled ginger" or "gari" in Japanese. Pickled ginger is a palate cleanser that is traditionally eaten between different types of sushi or sashimi to refresh the taste buds and cleanse the palate before moving on to a new flavor.

Or maybe you've seen a bright yellow center in a sushi roll and weren't sure what it was or what it's called. Put most simply, oshinko (meaning, "fragrant dish" in Japanese) is a variety of Japanese pickled vegetable, tsukemono.

The typical Hinamatsuri foods include: chirashi sushi, clam soup and hina-arare (sweet rice crackers). Hinamatsuri is an exciting event for Japanese families, especially for girls who enjoy displaying and admiring beautiful dolls.

Okazuya (御菜屋 or おかずや) or okazu-ya are a Japanese-style delicatessen common in Hawaii. Unlike western delicatessens found in North America or Europe, an okazuya is an establishment that sells readymade Japanese-styled food.

Narezushi: Japan's most primitive form of sushi. Narezushi is fermented fish pickled with rice – a practice common in much of Southeast Asia around the 2nd century CE. It's thought to have migrated to Japan around the 8th century, but written documentation of “narezushi” didn't appear until the 10th century.

Konjac is a processed food made from glucomannan that solidifies into jelly. Konjac bulbs were originally grown in Southeast Asia and consist of many species.