I will share my part for the mini research.
Meals in Japan
- A traditional meal is served with rice, vegetables and miso (fermented soybean paste) soup and fruit are often eaten as a desert. Miso soup and rice are a dietary base, often eaten for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
- Breakfast (asa-gohan) is generally eaten between 7:00 am and 7:30 am. A typical breakfast consists of rice, miso soup, spinach and egg. Most people eat breakfast at home.
- Lunch (hiru-gohan) is generally eaten between 12:00 noon and 2:00 pm. Many people eat out, grabbing a quick meal or snack such as a bowl of noodles, sandwiches, rice balls or Chinese food.
- Dinner (ban-gohan) is generally eaten between 6:00pm and 8:00pm. It generally an informal meal with meat or fish, rice and miso soup. Main dishes made at home, include thing things like curry rice and pork cutlets.
- Japanese often drink nothing with their meals, Miso soup often serves the purpose of a drink.
Chopsticks, Servings and Dishes in Japan
- Japanese eat all Japanese-style meals with chopsticks. Even soup is consumed with chopsticks (the ingredients are eaten with chopsticks and the soup is drunk from the bowl). Many Japanese pick up their rice bowl when they are eating and place it under their mouths and use it as a safety net for anything that falls down. When a rice bowl isn't available they place their free hand under their chopsticks for the same purpose. Most food is soft or small enough that it can pick up or cut with chopsticks.
- Japanese prefer disposal wooden chopsticks at restaurants and laminated wooden ones at home. In Japan, when you finish you using your chopsticks you should set your chopsticks in a little chopstick tray or place them horizontally on your plate or bowl in such a way that they are not pointing at anyone.
- Meals often consist of many dishes, which are passed around and carried from the kitchen on trays and placed in the table. Each person serves himself some food from the dishes onto a small plate. Sometimes there are different plates for different foods.
- Leaving chopsticks sticking up in a bowl of rice should be avoided. It is a sign of death.
