Japanese daily eating habits

[maye]

Konnichiwa Minna-san.

Just curious:
1) Based on my understanding, Japanese eat mostly fish, meat with least veggies and fruits. Fish to them are the cheapest followed by meat. Thats why they eat more of the two categories. Veggies and fruits are most expensive, esp fruits, thats why its not daily consumed and even if it is, it will be in a very small portion.

2) And, Japanese usually love fried food. Hence, they usually fried their food and rather saltish. Is that true?

[Columbine]

Originally Posted by maye

Konnichiwa Minna-san.

Just curious:
1) Based on my understanding, Japanese eat mostly fish, meat with least veggies and fruits. Fish to them are the cheapest followed by meat. Thats why they eat more of the two categories. Veggies and fruits are most expensive, esp fruits, thats why its not daily consumed and even if it is, it will be in a very small portion.

2) And, Japanese usually love fried food. Hence, they usually fried their food and rather saltish. Is that true?

It varies on the area. In some prefectures, meat is locally reared and so cheaper (chicken is pretty reasonable nationwide), and similarly, fish can be more expensive if you're in-land. They eat more fish than America or England, i'd say, but I don't think it's that big a difference to some areas around the Mediterranean. Portions of meat in Japan tend to be small regardless of price; it's very rare to see whole joints or whole chickens for sale in a supermarket. I would also consider eggs; Egg formed a big part of my diet as they're a cheap source of protein and make meals go further. Fish is by no means always the cheapest option. Actually, i'd say that was noodles.

Veggies and fruits ~can~ be expensive, especially out of season, as Japan puts a lot of emphasis on limited windows of sale; it's not like here where I can buy pears year around for similar cost; in Japan they come in in bulk in season and gradually dwindle and rise in cost as the season continues. But you can buy veg and fruit cheaply, especially outside of Tokyo where prices are inflated. One of my friends lived in the mountains where people farmed a lot and kept allotments; he used to come home and find bags of other people's surplus on his porch.

A Japanese diet can be high in sodium (ie salt-rich) as soy sauce is a pretty common base for sauces and things, but because of my dad's health I'm used to eating meals without salt, and yet I didn't find Japanese food over-salted. Fried food is popular (where isn't it popular?), and a traditional style meal involves one fried dish, but it's often much lighter and much less greasy than Western fried food. To be honest, when dealing with the cold of a Japanese winter, or the sweat of a Japanese summer, you can mostly get away with a little extra fat in your diet. I think much of the frying fat is vegetable oil, not animal fat, which makes it a little healthier. But you can easily have whole meals without anything fried, and there's a difference between panfried/sautéed/stir-fried and deep fried anyway, so it depends what you mean by 'fried'.

[maye]

Thanks much for the explanation!! I'm a little more to understanding Japan lifestyle =D