With millions of tourists taking advantage of the cheap yen to visit Japan, it’s no surprise that many of them have specific dietary requirements. Those who fall somewhere between ヴィ―ガン (Sunvegans) and saffron (bejitarianVegetarians) often have an extra challenge when ordering food here.
Highlights of Japanese Cuisine うま味 (umami), one of the five basic 味 (ajiflavors), and it is the taste of 出汁 (dashbroth), which is widely used in cooking here. 出汁 often also contains seafood, such as 煮干し (niboshodried small sardines) and sardines (katsuobushibonito flakes) made from skipjack tuna.
Even if at first glance you don’t see any animal products in what you eat, you don’t really know until you ask: 肉や魚は入っていますか？ (Niku and Sakawan were very proud of herDo [it] contain meat or fish?) or 肉や魚の出汁を使っていますか？ (Niku ya sakana in dashi or tsukatte-imasukaDo [this] (use meat or fish stock?) The two main verbs in these sentences are 入る (herto enter/contain) and 使う (tsukaoto use).
