How to eat three meals a day in Kyoto, Japan?

Teacher Lin described the scene of eating tofu in Kyoto, Japan in his prose collection "Ten Directions and One Idea". He said that after eating the sweetness of Kyoto tofu, he felt that all Hong Kong ate were gypsum bricks. "I usually eat tofu in Japanese restaurants in Hong Kong and feel uncomfortable in my room. I fantasize about flying and making a special trip to Kyoto to have a good time. "

In fact, it is also tasteless tofu. Even the best materials, the best technology and the best seasoning, how much difference can it make? What makes Lin and other literati like him like is the environment and mood of food.

In these two aspects, there are really few countries whose diet can rival Japanese cuisine. And three meals a day in Kyoto is the ultimate Japanese sentiment.

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breakfast

/The taste of Guangdong morning tea/

Why are there no outdoor breakfast stalls on the streets of Japan? This is a question that many international students and tourists have just arrived.

No pancake fruit, no tofu, no fried dough sticks, no white flour steamed bread. ...

"Japanese usually have breakfast at home" is indeed the biggest reason. This is related to the Japanese marriage structure: full-time wives will get up early in the morning to cook breakfast and lunch for the whole family, and then the whole family will go out separately after dinner.

For single men and women living in a big city like Tokyo, there are not many choices for breakfast. They just go out with a glass of milk and a piece of toast, go to a convenience store to buy a sandwich with coffee, and find a fast food chain to eat "fast food".

There are many chain stores on the streets of Japan.

But in a slow-paced city like Kyoto, many people don't need to rush to work. Therefore, one of the most emotional enjoyment here is the traditional Japanese breakfast.

In addition to the ordering and buffet provided by hotels and homestays, if you want to sleep in, you can also eat in the teahouse after the street shop opens at 90: 00. A brunch and a cup of matcha can be eaten from morning to afternoon, which is quite like Cantonese morning tea.

The traditional Japanese breakfast consists of several basic elements: rice, main course, side dishes, pickles and miso soup.

In Japanese culture, porridge is usually considered as food for patients. On the contrary, Japanese people are more accustomed to holding a bowl of white rice in the morning and choking.

Goro is addicted to rice.

Of course, the way to eat rice should also follow the tradition. Knock on a raw egg, add soy sauce, natto and other salty seasonings and stir well, which is the simplest and most traditional protagonist of Japanese breakfast. In Kyoto, I also ate an improved version of raw egg bibimbap-the eggs were frozen one day in advance, thawed for an hour before eating, and then beaten on hot rice. Egg yolk tastes like pudding, which is very interesting. This also reflects that Kyoto, a thousand-year-old ancient capital, occasionally shows a little innovation and vitality.

The main course is fish. Japan has a long history of banning meat. Even today, meat only appears in new western food and formal dinner, which is one of the important reasons why Japanese people are rarely obese. Fish is the protagonist in the breakfast that shows the traditional plot.

Salted salmon was the most common breakfast main course in the past, just like sufu and salted eggs in China. Add the salty taste, and you can cook a lot of meals at one point. In recent years, I may think that pickled fish is unhealthy, so I change it to grilled salmon, add a pinch of white radish, and pour a little soy sauce to taste. This is the best partner for oily and juicy grilled salmon.

Roasted salmon in Japanese drama quartet

Salmon sashimi, which was popular in China a few years ago, has been badly criticized recently. Experts say Japanese people don't eat salmon at all. In fact, salmon with high fat content tastes very heavy. As sashimi, it really deviates from the pursuit of "fresh and original flavor" in Japanese food, and is far less than the "white fish" represented by snapper. However, after baking and pickling, the fat and protein are decomposed into smaller particles, which brings a delicate taste and is a traditional diet loved by Kyoto people.

Side dishes are usually cooked with jade seeds, and Japanese stock, sugar and eggs are made into the shape of egg rolls, which is simple to cook. It is the best choice for appetizing and refreshing breakfast.

There are many kinds of pickles, and a few pieces of seaweed are indispensable. It is usually wrapped in transparent paper to prevent it from becoming brittle when it is wet. There is also a high-end Japanese restaurant, where a piece of seaweed baked on the spot with charcoal fire is crisp and hot. There are all kinds of pickles and sour plums, and their main taste is sour, not pickles in China. Because kimchi is not eaten in Japanese breakfast, it adds flavor to the food.

Cai Lan has a girlfriend from Kyoto. He said that the best breakfast in Japan is to spend the night at his girlfriend's house and eat rice and miso soup cooked by his girlfriend the next morning. I don't have his happiness, but it is also an interesting experience to sit at the window of a street shop in Kyoto, eating an authentic Japanese breakfast and looking at the newly awakened ancient city.

02

lunch

/Human feelings and traditions in the market/

To some extent, Osaka is like Shanghai and Kyoto is like Beijing.

For the residents of Kyoto, the life under the emperor's feet for thousands of years always gives them a natural sense of superiority. Laughing at Osaka people who only recognize money and uneducated Tokyo people is the content of many Kyoto people's daily chat.

Imperial Palace in Kyoto

Although since the Meiji Restoration, in order to better command various state machines, the imperial palace of the emperor has been moved to Tokyo, but Kyoto still retains the imperial palace with totem significance and no use value. Many Kyoto people still stubbornly believe that the Emperor is only going to Tokyo on business, and Kyoto is his real home.

What this atmosphere breeds is a society where human feelings and traditions are intertwined. For Kyoto people, acquaintance relationship is very important. Spending more time maintaining old friends just reflects that they are more in pursuit of "flowing water" feelings than "fast food" and "phased" communication.

Therefore, if you want to have a lunch with the most local flavor in Kyoto, you must go to the most popular and humane place. As one of the few remaining farmer's markets, Cam Market is a good choice.

Kam market is different from Heimen market in Osaka and Tsukiji market in Tokyo. If the latter two are one side of the diversified life state of metropolis, then Kam Market vividly shows the complete urban temperament of Kyoto: a tourist attraction in the eyes of foreigners, a hidden city in the eyes of literati, an ancient inheritance in the eyes of believers, and daily necessities in the eyes of housewives.

In all fairness, the narrow facade and simple kitchenware of the brocade market are really not suitable for chefs to play their cooking skills, but the benefits of the farmers' market-freshness-are remarkable.

Sashimi is a dish that best reflects the freshness of ingredients. In a disposable plastic bowl, there are sea urchin sashimi opened on the spot and tuna sashimi sliced on the spot. It is better to eat soy sauce in the street without dipping or adding wasabi, rather than sitting in a high-end kiosk.

Moreover, the layers of sugar, glutinous rice and adzuki beans are distinct, retaining the most pristine sweetness. Fruit was originally used to worship gods and serve emperors. Of course, in front of spiritual idols, there is no room for small moves and fancy. The so-called simplicity of the avenue lies in the small mutton soup and great happiness.

Barbecue is the handle of the market. Japanese barbecues are very different from those in China. No cumin, no pepper, almost no seasoning. Bake it half-cooked, dip it in soy sauce, or eat the natural taste of ingredients without adding anything. Rock oyster is a kind of wild oyster, which is not as expensive as Xianfengtoe oyster or Hyogo oyster. Its shell is thick and its meat is small. It is most suitable to be made into civilian food baked with open fire. Add a piece of butter and bake until the oyster shell turns black. The natural salty taste of seawater in oyster meat shrinks just right.

Mullet roe was originally a delicacy in Taiwan Province province, and people in China used it to fry garlic sprouts and rice. The Japanese way of eating is to cut it into slices, bake it with a spray gun and eat it with white radish slices. Maillard reaction and carbonization reaction form a burnt taste on the surface of roe slices. Although it is expensive, it is really a good thing to eat while walking in the market.

One-night drying is a kind of thing that marinates all kinds of seafood overnight and then dries it. Natural flavor is very strong, and it is also very suitable for barbecue. Dried bamboo tube fish, golden pheasant fish, squid and barbecue stalls in the gold market are all sold overnight. They are placed on bamboo sticks like kebabs in China. You can ask the store for a kumquat sauce to accompany them, as if you can smell the sea breeze blowing from the Sea of Japan.

Like most merchants in Kyoto, the brocade market closed long ago, and basically at 4 pm, the shops closed one after another. So it is not a wise choice to go to the brocade market for dinner. Even if there are a few scattered people who insist on opening the door until night, the categories are not rich enough and the taste is not good enough-to some extent, the taste of restaurants is always inversely proportional to the service attitude.

Businessmen, of course, go home from work and enjoy life-this is the biggest advantage of a slow-paced city. In the evening, standing on the edge of Yakawa, you can see the lights lit by countless people. I think this kind of atmosphere is much warmer than standing on the sky tree in Tokyo and watching the brightly lit night scene in the downtown area.

03

dinner

/Customs inside and outside izakaya/

A long time ago, Japanese people didn't eat dinner.

This life custom originated from the influence of China culture in Tang and Song Dynasties. In ancient China, people had two meals a day. The first meal is called cooking, also called dog, at about nine o'clock in the morning. The second meal is called feeding, also called eating, about three o'clock in the afternoon.

This kind of two meals a day, which is in line with the rhythm of "making food at sunrise and resting at sunset", did not end until the invasion of the western culture of three meals a day in Meiji era. However, in Kyoto, an ancient capital full of nostalgia, the tradition of having a simple dinner and going home to solve it is still maintained, and most food stores close early.

But it is not without places to experience the midnight snack in Kyoto. At eight or nine o'clock in the evening, after dinner, izakaya's business became lively. Unlike bars in Britain and America, izakaya in Japan not only offers a variety of sake, shochu and beer, but also serves quite delicious appetizers. If you are not full, staple foods such as fried noodles and fried rice will also give you the best comfort for your hungry stomach in the middle of the night.

At the same time, as a place that pays equal attention to dining and socializing, izakaya is more lively than ordinary cooking places, without the noise of bars, which is quite in line with China people's understanding of the value of food. And when dining in izakaya, you don't have to abide by the rules of the separate dining system. A snack comes to the table, and everyone grabs food. The atmosphere is good. Coupled with the attentive attitude of waiters, many people in China will forget to return after drinking their glasses.

In fact, many snacks in izakaya have deep roots with China.

Most of izakaya's "Tangyang" in Kyoto has maintained a very high standard, which is different from the tempura brought by the Portuguese in the17th century. The meat salted first and then fried, and the garlic-flavored seasoning are very different from the light Japanese diet in the general concept. The most interesting thing is that no matter how humble izakaya is, Japanese Tangyang will be carefully shaped, fried and served with exquisite utensils. This is in sharp contrast to Korean fried chicken beer, which does not require appearance. It must be said that the Japanese have reached a high aesthetic level, and this is a nation with a particularly developed aesthetic consciousness of life.

Tofu soup is another highlight of izakaya. Spread a piece of kelp on the bottom of the pot and simmer slowly to let the umami ooze. After the whole tofu in the soup is tasted, it is extremely simple to dip a bamboo spoon in soy sauce. This kind of food from China is regarded as a "delicious" product in the country of origin, fried, braised and stewed with Chili; The Japanese, on the other hand, are getting farther and farther on the road of "original taste". This is a dramatic manifestation of the dual nature of tofu and a vivid manifestation of the coexistence of Chinese and Japanese cultures.

Oolong noodles are also worth a try. Different from the simple noodles made of kelp and bonito flowers with a little soy sauce in ordinary restaurants, the oolong noodles in izakaya have more fireworks flavor. In addition to sliced fried tofu and fish cake, there is also wild duck meat with Peaches, and the soup is more delicious. This kind of noodles from Fujian is between wheat flour and coarse flour, much like China soup powder. As a snack in izakaya, it is refreshing.

It was past zero when I came out of izakaya. At this time, the streets of Kyoto are another scene: the old people wearing old clothes have messy hair and slow pace, the office workers with hangovers frown, and the checkout counters of convenience stores that are open 24 hours a day are all replaced by Southeast Asians. This is the other side of fatigue and truth under the glamorous and reserved appearance of Kyoto on weekdays.

They constitute a part of three meals a day in this ancient capital, and also reflect another light of its independent temperament. For example, Shu Guozhi described the city like this: "I stood under the eaves of Kyoto, where the lights were first lit, watching the light rain outside. Suddenly, this blue-gray tone, which is the most difficult to rest, smells a kind but distant sadness, which seems to come from the depths of people who lived here 30 years ago or 500 years ago. "