The presentation was... thoughtful. I rather wished that I didn't need to destroy the presentation in order to eat it. Symbolism in food... The fish could be a bit tough to bite through without causing the rice substrate to crumble, But the pieces were large for one mouthful. Flavor varied by type, but nothing was unpleasant. I also sampled some dumplings, mixed tempura as well as teriyaki. Mmm...
And I learned which end of the chopsticks to use for serving, and that it would be considered rude in Japan to deburr their edges... altogether, it was both tasty and educational. A lovely distraction from the prior week's nastiness.
minifrown, because ideally the rice shouldn't crumble. (And neither should you feel compelled to deburr your chopsticks. The reason it's considered rude is because it implies "the restaurant gave me chopsticks that would cause me to injure myself!".)
What symbolism do you see? What I see is a Japanese esthetic principle that everything should be beautiful, even the most mundane things.
The restaurant implication makes sense... hopefully most Japanese eating places will provide higher-quality chopsticks, unlike the cheap US disposable wooden ones that really do require deburring after breaking them apart.
I saw symbolism in the plate placement order (animal, then plant, then sea), symmetry and balance in presentation (even manifest in the odd-shaped tempura vegetables). Or the balance of smoked - raw - steamed on the plate (salmon, yellowfin, prawn) Or a vertical band of seaweed that restrained the long horizontal unagi. Plates of dumplings on opposing corners, flanking the sushi like rooks on a chessboard. Perhaps I was just reading in too much to a simple meal, but I thought I saw multiple layers of meaning beyond simple nourishment. It was fun.
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jay
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Date: 2003-05-01 10:53 pm (UTC)And I learned which end of the chopsticks to use for serving, and that it would be considered rude in Japan to deburr their edges... altogether, it was both tasty and educational. A lovely distraction from the prior week's nastiness.
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Date: 2003-05-02 09:12 am (UTC)What symbolism do you see? What I see is a Japanese esthetic principle that everything should be beautiful, even the most mundane things.
no subject
Date: 2003-05-04 11:53 am (UTC)I saw symbolism in the plate placement order (animal, then plant, then sea), symmetry and balance in presentation (even manifest in the odd-shaped tempura vegetables). Or the balance of smoked - raw - steamed on the plate (salmon, yellowfin, prawn) Or a vertical band of seaweed that restrained the long horizontal unagi. Plates of dumplings on opposing corners, flanking the sushi like rooks on a chessboard. Perhaps I was just reading in too much to a simple meal, but I thought I saw multiple layers of meaning beyond simple nourishment. It was fun.