The Wasabi at Jacksonville

When Vinay invited us to have lunch at a Japanese Restaurant, the prospect seemed promising. The destination chosen was ‘Wasabi’. Wasabi is a Japanese restaurant chain with several branches in multiple towns of US and elsewhere.The restaurant claims that simplicity and tradition are both the essences of Japanese Cuisine, and with fresh ingredients and culinary expertise, a meal with them will bring not only a passion for the food, but also a joy for the moment.

There was nothing extraordinary about the venue nor about the decor of the restaurant that could have elicited more than usual curiosity or  excitement. And as I was getting reconciled to an opportunity to have a good lunch to be forgotten soon afterwards, we were led to a hall that did not have the conventional seating of a typical restaurant. Instead ten of us were made to sit around a rectangular table with a shining metallic top, ringed by a narrow strip of space that served as a platform for keeping the dishes. I did not know then  that the next hour is going to be not only engaging but also delightfully different and delicious. But Wasabi is in fact a spice.

Wasabi is the spicy green paste that is often served with Japanese dishes, primarily sushi and sashimi, as well as soba, a noodle, for an extra kick to taste in the dipping sauce. It can also be enjoyed with other foods that the added spiciness complements, such as roast beef.

Many people consider wasabi a kind of super food because it’s packed with Vitamin C and also has a number of antibacterial properties. It comes from the grating of the thickened stem (rhizome) of the Wasabia Japonica, which belongs to the same family as the horseradish.

But Wasabi is such a remarkable constituent of a typical Japanese meal, that it has become synonymous to Japanese cuisine and is often used as a brand. 

Japanese cuisine may not be as popular as the Chinese, Thai or Italian but they pride in having exclusive followers who arguably have finer taste and palate. No other cuisine reflects reverence for nature and respect for natural flavours as does the Japanese cuisine and no cuisine across the world offers  as many raw and uncooked ingredients as it does. There are no counterparts to Sushi and Sashimi in any other cuisine. The simple philosophy that defines Japanese cuisine is, “Eat it raw first, then grill it, and boil it as a last resort.” 

And yet this cuisine has evolved recently as many of its staple offers were introduced in last two centuries. Even Sushi in its original form used to be quite different from what it is today; and beef was only introduced just 200 years ago.

Even Tempura, the popular deep fried frites, is a word imported from Portugal. The Portugese introduced it in the 16th century, and while they were kicked out, tempura remained along with a whole slew of other foods introduced by them including kasutera, which is a Castilla, a kind of yellow sponge cake from Spain (Castile); or konpeito, which are confections (candies); and karumera, or caramels.

The ubiquitous soy sauce, a Chinese invention, was  introduced only a century ago. And Sapporo, a favoured beer owes its origin to Germany. That Japan today has the highest per capita consumption of mayonnaise bears testimony to Japanese genius of adoption and assimilation.

The Japanese cuisine, however, is best defined by Sushi, Sake and Rice. 

Sushi is a  staple of Japanese cuisine, it’s prominence a result of the many unique and delicious types of seafood native to Japan. It has become one among the most popular global dishes, adapted and changed by regions all over the world.

Every region in Japan has its own variation on how to make sushi.   And sushi could be hand-held or squeezed. Oshizushi (squeezed sushi) was the main style of sushi in the early Edo period(1603-1867) until Nigiri (hand-held sushi) was created.

Sushi, in its original form Nare-Zushi, was very different from what it is today. It began as a way to preserve the fish for several years. A bite-sized piece, or sometimes what looks like a little goldfish, was salted and then rolled in rice flavored with vinegar, and then left to cure. After it is preserved, the soured bacterially-attacked decomposed rice was wiped off and then the fish was preserved for consumption.

In the 15th century, a new method made the fermentation of fish much  quicker enabling rice also to be consumed. By the time the Samurais began to rule Japan, unfermented sushi with raw fish became the vogue.

Then in the 18th century Japanese cuisine saw the creation of hand-rolled Nigiri sushi and it was served as a kind of restaurant and fast food.

This is one dish that demands an eating protocol. The wasabi paste is not to be mixed with the soy source, and only the fish(not rice) is dipped into the soy sauce. The accompanying pickled ginger is not for piling on top of  sushi but eating after a piece of sushi is savoured.

The practice of dipping what we now call Sashimi in soy sauce with wasabi is a 17th-century invention.

Many of Japan’s cultural and even culinary traditions came from China and Korea in particular. The most important of these is rice, which only arrived in Japan at the end of the Neolithic Period, about 2,400 years ago, with immigrants that came from the mainland.

Before that, in the Jomon Era, the Japanese were still hunters and gatherers. The original inhabitants (Ainu) were Caucasian; they had long beards and very light-coloured hair. Their descendants actually still exist in small numbers; most of them are probably of mixed descent and still reside in the mountains.

Asiatic peoples came later from the continent, bringing with them rice and metal tools.

The variety of rice introduced was short-grained, sticky, and is relatively sweet. To this day, the Japanese don’t generally eat long-grain rice. Much of their cuisine is based on the tactile quality of the rice that they use and the fact that it sticks together, making it easy to pick it up with a chopstick.

The respect and reverence afforded to rice is so great that it is not flavoured or seasoned with spices or sauces: It is always white and boiled. Other foods may be added on top of rice, but the rice should be pure and bland to start with. This is a kind of respect for the natural flavor and aroma that the rice has, as nature made it.

The only traditional preparation that alters the rice dramatically is mochi, little rice cakes that are made by pounding steamed glutinous rice with huge hammers. The idea here is to concentrate the pure spirit of the rice and in making it purer, it is an intensification; mochi is one of those celebratory foods that are consumed on New Year’s day.

Japanese meals are incomplete without Sake. It forms part of their meals ranging from the quotidian to ceremonial, for occasions that rejoice to events of mourning. And even though it is a corruption of rice, it is considered raising rice to a finer and more spiritual level. Sake plays an important role in religious festivals. It is the food of the gods in the Shinto religion. It is essential in the coronation of the emperor.

Also known as Nihonshu (Japanese liquor), it originated in the Nara period (710-794 CE) and can be drunk either hot or cold. It's brewed using only 4 ingredients -Rice, water, yeast, and mold.