Culinary Detour

 

  ASIAN FOOD CULTURE 

 

There is not one, but many Asian cuisines, even if we can clearly observe a common base among Asian different types of cuisine, common staple foods such as rice or spices, and same types of cooking such as steaming or frying.

 

Food in Asia is very rich, varied, and healthy because of the strong influence from Taoism and Buddhism, which promote healthy diets rich in fruits and vegetables, balanced way of eating without any type of food in excess. To learn more, go to our Healthy category.

 

 

Food characteristics in Asia

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                              

 

                                                                                                                                                                  

As said before, in Asia diet and health are closely linked. Also, most culinary techniques found in almost all Asian countries are:

 

                 • Bouillons: The most popular dish in Japan is miso soup, which is a soybean paste, fermented and salted

                 • Foods are eaten raw

                 • Grilled or sauteed dishes

                 • Pickled or salted dishes

                 • Dishes in sauce

                 • Fried foods

 

Some conservation techniques such as fermentation, drying, maceration and smudging are very well developed in Asian countries.

 

Food staples in Asia

 

• Starchy foods: whether in China, Mongolia, Japan, India or Pakistan, starchy staples are wheat flour and then rice. Pulses occupy a central position in India, Pakistan and Lebanon.

 

• Vegetables: strongly represented in soups, accompaniments, meat or fish dishes, in the form of macerated vegetables too. Algae, bamboo shoots and lotus root, vine leaves are widely used.

 

• Fruits: high quantity and diverse.

 

• Dairy products: used to be in very small quantities, even though the European model for the consumption of dairy products tends to be exported.

 

• Meat-Fish-Eggs: Fish dominates widely, while meat is generally absent. Natto and tofu replace it in most places in Asia. However, India is in big part vegetarian and vegan for religious reasons.

 

• Fats: Different specific vegetable oils are widely used, such as sesame and soybean oils.

 

• Drinks: tea, matcha tea in Japan for the tea ceremony, rice alcohol.

 

 

 

Asian food: around the meal

 

Food practices: part of Asia eats with chopsticks, another part, especially countries where Islam dominates, eats with the hands or with a fork and a big spoon. There is also the art of knife cooking in Japan: the art of cutting with many shapes, each has a specific name.

 

The mezze, for example, is a Lebanese traditional meal, but very representative of the Asian cuisine. It is a set of varied dishes, consumed by small bites. There may be about sixty dishes on the table including taboulé, hummus, aubergine puree, fermented cheese, vegetarian slippers, slippers made from grape leaves...

 

We can also find this type of way of eating as well in China, at dinner or lunch, where dishes are spread on the middle of the table on a rotating round platform on which every guest can take small bites with their chopsticks.