What ’s "Seasoning among a mouth" and “Triangle-eating”! as Japanese gastronomic culture （口中調味と三角食べ）

Adjusting the taste among a mouth by moving chopsticks to a triangular form as Japanese gastronomic culture

How do you eat a meal every day? Various cuisines exist all over the world. And there are table manners, which responded to the dish and to eat. Table manners are not the special things used at a restaurant etc. Table manners are required for a daily life. Thanks to table manners, people who have a meal together can sit around the table of each other pleasantly. Moreover, table manners express the feeling of gratitude to the person who made the meal. I think that parents usually have been teaching children table manners at their home.

In many cases, it seems that Europeans and Americans eat one dish, and after they finish the dish, they eat the following one dish in order. However, in Japan, the method is used, only when special. Usually, especially at home, boiled rice, soup such as miso soup, and some dishes are simultaneously arranged in a table and we eat together them. If a child drinks up only soup first, parents teach a child “No. Put a little boiled rice into a mouth, and also eat a dish somewhat together, after drinking slight soup.” We Japanese put soup, boiled rice, and a dish into a mouth in order little by little simultaneously, and eat them. This is the foundations of the manners of the meal of Japan, called "Triangle-eating".

 

Each quantity or turn, which are put into a mouth at once are not so severe. The taste of boiled rice seems to be same taste as bread, and the taste of a dish is rich. Therefore, the favorite taste only for itself can be completed in a mouth by adjusting the quantity put into a mouth by 1 time, such as boiled rice and a dish. As a result, people can enjoy their own taste. That is, it is "Seasoning among a mouth".

 

Many people consider that Japanese people like acting like others and do not assert individuality and personality. However, in fact, Japanese people have been developing and  respecting individuality and personality carefully from their small child's time by “Triangle-eating” and "Seasoning among a mouth" which is the method of not affecting others’ feeling as Japanese gastronomic culture.

 

毎日食べるゴハン。あなたはどうやって食べていますか？
世界中に色々な料理があり、その料理に応じた食べ方、作法がありますね。
作法(さほう=manners) は,、レストランなどだけで使う特別なものではありません。
毎日の生活に密着（みっちゃく=stick to, adhere)しているものです。
一緒に食事する人同士(どうし=each other)が、お互いに気持ちよく食卓(しょくたく=table)を
囲む（かこむ=sit around, surrounded)ことができるためのものです。
また、食事を作ってくれた人に感謝（かんしゃ=thankds, sratitute)の気持ちを表すもので、
多くの方は、家庭で子供の時から両親に躾けられている(しつけられている=be disciplined, be trained)と思います。

 

日本人の好きな西欧料理では、料理に応じてスプーンやナイフ、フォークなどを使い一品を食べ終わってから次の一品を食べるという方法が多いようです。
日本でも、同じように一品を食べ終わってから次の一品を食べる料理がありますが、
通常、特に家庭ではご飯、みそ汁などのスープとおかず何品かを同時にテーブルに並べて食べます。
もし、子供が先にみそ汁だけを全部飲んでしまったら、親が「ダメですよ、みそ汁を少し飲んでから、ご飯を少し口に入れ、おかずも少し一緒に食べなさい。」と教えます。みそ汁とご飯とおかずを少しずつ順番に口に入れて食べるのです。これが「三角食べ」という日本の食事の作法の基本です。

 

一回に口に入れるそれぞれの量や順番はあまり厳しくありません。ですから、味の薄いご飯と味のあるおかずなどの一回で口に入れる量を自分で調節して、自分だけの好きな味を口の中で作り上げて、料理を美味しく頂くことができるのです。すなわち「口中調味」です。

 

日本人は他人と同じようにふるまうことを好み、個性が見えない民族だと思われることが多いようです。しかし実は、他人に迷惑をかけず、他人に知られず、自分だけの味の世界を自分で作り上げることを通して、個性を育んで(はぐくんで=bring up)いるのです(^_^)。


----- Written by Mori-sensei in Murasaki Japanese Institute