Think beyond sushi

All you need to know about Japanese food (and what makes it such a distinctive cuisine), in bite-sized portions

- VIR SANGHVI

Is Japanese the world's greatest cuisine?

No, it isn't. Because there is no such thing in the world's greatest cuisine. There are many great cuisines: Chinese, French, Indian etc. And Japanese is one of them.

So why do so many chefs swear by Japanese cuisine?

Because it is philosophically different from nearly every other cuisine. Indian food is about taking ingredients and cooking them with spices. French food used to be based on great sauces.

Japanese food is about searching for outstanding ingredients and making them taste like the best versions of themselves.

Indian chefs will look at a piece of fish and think of the masalas he or she will fry it with or the curry it can go into. A Japanese chef will look at the same fish and wonder how its flavour can be preserved. Can it be served raw as sashimi? Can it become part of a delicate tempura? Can it be marinated in miso to bring out its flavour?

This approach so inspired the French that much of the nouvelle cuisine revolution of the 1970s was based on the same principles: less sauce, more ingredients that taste of themselves with minimal human intervention.

I love Japanese food. I'm going to like eating in Japan, right?