Why japanese eat raw fish

In many countries, people were culturally taught to disgust raw food , but the truth is that human beings have been eating raw food for a long time. With the invention of all sorts of cooking apparels, eating raw food became less usual, except for those countries, like Japan, that have this cultural habit.

If eating raw food feels kind of weird to you, I totally understand you because I felt the same way. Since I was little, the only thing I ate raw were fruits and some vegetables simply because this was how things were in my family. Although you can potentially eat raw food in every country, I would tend to trust Japanese raw food more.

As a general rule of thumb, the raw fish eaten in Japan:. Eating raw fish can be dangerous because of the parasites that are naturally present on fish. These include mainly roundworms, tapeworms, intestinal flukes, liver fluke and lung flukes.

Because raw food usually has some kind of parasites, it is not a good idea to eat raw fish that you bought just like that on a grocery store, for example, even if the grocery shop is located in Japan.

Pretty any restaurant will serve meat other than fish as well. Japanese karaage fried chicken , in fact, is very popular amongst the locals as well as the tourists.

Having said that, eating raw fish like sushi and sashimi in Japan is still an important part of the culture and the Japanese diet. As Japan in an island nation, fresh fish is always available. To further kill the bacteria, sushi and sashimi is paired with soy sauce and wasabi that act as bactericidal and kill any remaining bacteria.

By eating Goya superfood. Read all about it here! Eating raw fish has lots of health benefits which is also why the Japanese eat raw fish. Here are the three main health benefits of eating raw fish:. Related: Every wondered why Japanese does watermelon better than anyone else in the world? Read to find out! Japan has many rivers and lakes that are accessible and several harbors and seaports for fishing. Japanese usually prefer to consume either freshwater or saltwater fish that is in season to avoid stocking of fish.

Flash freezing is a process that keeps the fish free from parasites that may be harmful upon consumption. Related: Read all about this highly nutritious and lip-smacking fruit called Kaki: Japanese Persimmon. A dish prepared in the traditional style of Washoku has seven primary ingredients: Rice, greens, marine plants, root crops, soybeans or pulse crops, veggies, and fruits.

Washoku cuisine offers a complete, well-balanced meal because it has a mix of all the nutrients that are required to maintain a healthy diet. This is why the rate of heart disease and related conditions is low in Japan. In fact, the Japanese diet is considered one of the healthiest diets in the world. The fundamental flavors of Japanese cuisine are salt, savory, sweet, bitter, and sour. And Umami refers to the savory flavor. This Umami flavor is achieved by combining glutamic acid from soy sauce and inosinic acid from fish.

Sushi can be traced back thousands of years ago during the Muromachi period — In addition to that, it is said that because of these dishes, people in Japan started to have high quality kitchen knifes which can cut raw fish very easily. This originated from traditional Japanese sword skills.

Condiments play a big role in keeping raw fish fresh and safe to eat. Sushi and sashimi are eaten with soy sauce and wasabi Japanese horseradish in Japan. Together, these condiments can prevent illness, as soy sauce and wasabi have antibacterial properties. Using these toppings for health reasons has been used for a long time in Japan, and it is still being used today.

By doing this, Japanese people are able to protect themselves from food poisoning. Eggs made in Japan, for example, have less risk of causing food poisoning compared to eggs made overseas.

This is because Japanese eggs are treated in very clean conditions. Eggs are washed, dried, sterilized, and quarantined in germ-free conditions, making them especially clean and safe to eat when raw. With this, I hope you are able to understand why Japanese people love to eat raw food.

In the Washoku culture, Japanese chefs prepare raw fish along with a selection of accompaniments to create a wide variety of dishes. Japan witnessed the arrival of Buddhism religion during the 7th and 8th centuries which was against consuming animal flesh. According to this religion, the act of killing animals is was not right, so almost the entire Japanese population had stopped their consumption by the 10th century.

During the 7th and 8th centuries, the spread of Buddhism throughout Japan resulted in a gradual reduction in the amount of meat consumed by the Japanese, with almost the entire population adopting pescetarianism by around the 10th century.

They began to consume freshly caught fish from the ocean during the Edo Period The cuisine of raw fish gradually developed over the years to include more flavors and improve its presentation. In modern Japan, eating meat is more widely accepted, but the traditions persist, and raw fish is still a substantial part of the national diet. The geography of Japan makes it particularly suitable for fishing, with many seaports and harbors as well as accessible lakes and rivers.

Japanese people consume both saltwater and freshwater fish raw, usually opting for whichever species are in season at a particular time of year to avoid exhausting precious fish stocks. Once caught, the fish are flash-frozen nowadays this happens on the fishing boats themselves in order to ensure that they are free from potentially harmful parasites.

The simplest way to serve raw fish, or sashimi, is with soy sauce and wasabi. The soy sauce provides an intense umami flavor that complements the delicate fish, while the wasabi adds a pungent hit similar to strong mustard. There are seven primary ingredients in Washoku: fruits, vegetables, pulse crops mainly soybeans , root crops, greens, marine plants, and grains mainly rice.

Fish forms are the oldest supporting ingredient as a source of animal protein. Washoku is a complete meal because it supplies all the necessary nutrients.