Until recently, UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage included only one traditional cuisine – French. However, there are now two cuisines listed; French and Japanese. The traditional Japanese cuisine known as “washoku” was recently added to this exclusive list.
We are all familiar how good chefs around the world have frequently turned to the foundation of traditional French cooking to create their best dishes. More recently though, many top chefs have been creating a whole new range of food experiences by borrowing from washoku or Japanese cuisine.
Food prepared in the “washoku” tradition revolves around the ritual treatment and appropriate handling of seasonal ingredients. Particularly, the cuisine is targeted at well-being and also brings a whole new focus on freshness. People visiting Japan who eat the traditional cuisine commonly comment how fresh the food tastes.
Often when speaking of French food, wine is considered an integral part of the cuisine. In the same way, there is a similar association with washoku and Japanese rice wine known as sake. (Check out this story on sake tasting)
Most clients on our tours enjoys a great variety of specially selected cuisine – please look through so of our Japanese tours