Japanese Cuisine and Rice
Japanese cuisine is of course a product of its long history, its nature, its racial features, and its spiritualism and religion.
Japan welcomes listing of "washoku" as UNESCO intangible heritage
English.news.cn 2013-12-05 15:09:48
TOKYO, Dec. 5 (Xinhua) -- Japan said Thursday that it welcomes the news that its traditional cuisine, washoku, has been registered on UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization 's (UNESCO) Intangible Heritage List, hoping it could attract more visitors to Japan.
Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said Thursday that the news is "delightful" and Japan "sincerely welcome" it, adding the traditional cuisine embodies Japan's spirit of respecting nature.
The Japanese government's proposal was approved by UNESCO at a meeting of its Intergovernmental Committee in Baku, Azerbaijan on Wednesday, making washoku the 22nd Japanese asset to be listed on the intangible heritage list, which also covers Japan's Kabuki, Noh and Bunraku.
Japan's Agriculture Minister Yoshimasa Hayashi also said the registration will be "a major tailwind to spread Japanese food overseas," adding it is "not a goal but a start," according to local media.Of course the base of the Japanese cuisine is rice.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/culture/2013-12/05/c_132943667.htm
Before modernization and Westernization of Japan in the late 19th century, rice was delivered by farmers to samurai lords as tax in lieu of money. It might be like colonies of the Roman Empire sent wheat or flour to Rome as tax.
And this rice is a main component in the shinto religion, a unique Japanese religion where spirits of ancestors are deified and enshrined in shinto shrines. Accordingly only Japanese can taste Japanese foods based on rice in a correct manner and sense.
(Of course other Asians who eat rice as the chief article of food like Chinese might have different attitudes toward rice.)
But, it is just what a man eats. It must be open to mankind.
Truly the body is more important than foods as Christ Jesus said.
(Wa is one of special forms of words meaning Japan. Shoku means food. So, washoku is a Japanese food. Western cuisine is called "yo-shoku" in Japanese. And Chinese cuisine is "chuka ryori [simply chuka]" or "chugoku ryori." Chuka, a classic word, and chugoku mean China. Ryori is cuisine.)
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Mat 12:5 Or have ye not read in the law, how that on the sabbath days the priests in the temple profane the sabbath, and are blameless?
Mat 12:6 But I say unto you, That in this place is one greater than the temple.
Mat 12:7 But if ye had known what this meaneth, I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, ye would not have condemned the guiltless.