Salmon and Vegetables in a Sweet Vinegar Marinade

Several Japanese dishes carry the word namban in their names. Namban means “southern barbarian.” This word was applied to the Portuguese and Spanish, the first Westerners who came to Japan, during the sixteenth century. Until this time, the Japanese had traded predominantly with Koreans and Chinese, with whom they shared similar physical characteristics. The word namban reflects the shock the Japanese felt upon encountering Europeans, who had, by comparison, large noses