Vegetables

In recent years an increasing number of exotic vegetables and fruits have been introduced to the West, and many Japanese varieties are now available, which makes Japanese cooking a lot easier. It is interesting to see, too, how Japanese and Western varieties of many ordinary vegetables, such as cucumber and pepper, differ in size, shape and taste.

As Japanese cooking is largely vegetarian oriented, due to Buddhist traditions, the Japanese painstakingly developed the best way to wash, cut and cook each vegetable in order to retain its natural flavour and texture. The following are some of the typical Japanese vegetables.