If you ever watch the Japanese series, cartoons or movies, you would always saw the scene where mom is the one who cooks for all family members. Japanese people like to cook and eat at home. They rarely eat out unless there are special occasions such as birthdays, anniversaries, celebrations, etc., due to the high cost of living here. Cooking by oneself is another way to save family expenses. Going out and eating, in addition to increasing food and travel expenses, another thing that Japanese people worry about is their food allergies. Japanese people are allergic to lot of food. Cooking by themselves, therefore, can control the quality of food .and be assured that the ingredients chosen by the mother are "safe" and to be eaten comfortably.
I used to wonder that when Japanese people eat out and there some food left, why they never wrap them home or even buy a take-home ramen? My Japanese friend told me that Japanese people would not take away the leftover food from eating in the shop and would not buy a take-home ramen from the shop because some stores do not allow as they afraid that the food the taste may not be as good as if eaten at a restaurant. As sometimes the ingredients may not be fresh or the customer may not heat it correctly, resulting in the food quality not being 100% like when eating at the restaurant. Some customers even have the diarrhea from doing so. As this can be harmful to the reputation of the restaurant, so most restaurants or ramen shops in Japan cut the problem by not allowing their customers to wrap it back home or selling the take-home version. This is probably another consciousness that shows social responsibility of Japanese people.
My impression about Japanese people is that they have to eat sushi or sashimi on a daily basis. However, it was not like that. What Japanese people eat every day is no different from Thai food because they eat rice as their main meal, with meat or fish dishes and salad or pickles and miso soup as a side dish. In most cases, the food will change depending on the season, such as during the winter season, it will be hot pot menus such as shabu, nabe, oden, etc, where as somen (cold noodle), cold soba, or pickled cucumber are eaten in the summer to help you feel cooler. Another important reason for seasonal cooking is raw materials as organic products are crops that naturally grow without being accelerated by chemicals. Cooking with seasonal ingredients ensures that the ingredients are sourced safely.
Japanese people will prepare food each week in advance in order to save both time and money. For example, if they buy one head of cabbage, it will be divided into parts. Each part will be contributed into a salad of fresh vegetables, stir fried with meat, and used to make pickles. Of course, buying a whole bunch of cabbage makes the price cheaper than buying just one. Therefore, Japanese housewives need to plan ahead of time what food they will cook.
If any home has to make lunch box (bento) for husband and children, the work of the housewives would be really heavy. Planning in advance for food preparation is a good solution, because it is not just that food needs to be full of nutrition, but to decorate it beautifully and appetizing is something that must be practiced as well. I have heard Japanese friends say "bento" is like a letter that a person (mother) will communicate with and send messages to their children or husbands that day such as the exam time of the children or the important presentation day of the husband. Japanese housewives tend to cook dishes that are seen with encouragement, which is considered a trick and luck for important days such as Tonkatsu, Katsudon, whose name is The menu is synonymous with the word "Katsu" (勝 つ) which means "win". Or "Natto" (な っ と う), stretchy and sticky fermented soybeans native to the Japanese with high protein. The viscous and sticky texture of Natto is called in Japanese as “Neba Neba” (ネ バ ネ バ), which sounds similar to the word "Never" in English, but since Japanese people pronounce it "Neba", which, so it connotates the meaning of Never Give up or Don't give up! I think it is probably true with the saying that "love of mom starting from the kitchen. This is a small example of attention that family has for each other.
Author
Uboltip Settasakko
TKLS The Sassy Saitama Lady / The owner of Krobkrueng Japan Page