Japanese dietary taboos

Regarding the taboos associated with funeral traditions, the etiquette requirements of formal occasions, and the soft consensus of public dining, there is no nationally unified ironclad rule of "if you commit a crime, you will die in society." Tolerance fluctuates greatly depending on the region, scene, and age group of the person you associate with. Most of the "never touch" rules circulated online are content that travel bloggers overly exaggerate to gain attention.

To be honest, I had dinner with friends at an izakaya in Namba, Osaka, two years ago. The girl I was traveling with went to Japan for the first time. She filled a bowl of miso soup and stuck her chopsticks vertically in the rice. We who knew some rules at that time were all sweating. But the old man behind the bar looked up and saw it. Instead, he laughed, waved and said, "It's normal for tourists not to know. When I was young, I opened a restaurant in Okinawa for ten years, and people there are not so particular at all."

This taboo on inserting chopsticks is one of the most popular ones. It originated from traditional Japanese funeral rituals, where chopsticks are inserted vertically into the rice when serving rice to the deceased, which is considered a taboo image linked to death. But the actual scale of implementation is very different: elderly families in the core cities of Honshu do pay attention to it at formal weddings and funeral banquets, but in ordinary izakayas and young people’s gatherings in Kyushu and Okinawa, basically no one takes it seriously. I even saw several Japanese young people in a student izakaya in Shinjuku, Tokyo, who got drunk and deliberately stuck their chopsticks in their rice to make a joke. Friends around me just laughed and cursed.

It has the same origin as the rule of "not using chopsticks to pass food to others." It originated from the fact that relatives need to use chopsticks to alternately pass the ashes of the deceased during the funeral process. The popularity of this rule is even more mixed. Last year, I was having dinner with a photographer friend who was born in 1995 in Tokyo. He picked up a piece of tamagoyaki with chopsticks and handed it to my bowl. After I reminded him, he was stunned for two seconds, scratched his head and said, "Oh, yes, my grandma told me before, but I don't remember it at all."

Interestingly, many so-called "taboos" actually only take effect in formal scenes.

For example, there is a widespread saying on the Internet that "you must carry a bowl when eating, and you cannot lie down to eat rice." You must pay attention when you go to a high-end kaiseki banquet in Ginza or visit an elder's home. But when you go to a Chinese restaurant in Yokohama or a roadside yatai in Fukuoka, many Japanese people put the bowl on the table when eating ramen, bury their faces low and eat it quickly, and no one will think it rude. There is also the argument that "you must speak loudly to praise the chef when eating ramen", which has been argued in China for almost 20 years: the older generation of ordinary ramen shop owners do think that the louder you slurp, the more face you will get. However, high-end ramen shops and chain ramen shops opened in office buildings now mostly post reminders to customers to "eat in moderation and do not disturb others." If you slurp shockingly in a quiet shop, you will be looked at by the neighboring tables.

When I did folklore research before, I asked Japanese people of different ages. Elderly people over 60 years old could casually name more than a dozen dietary taboos, such as not placing chopsticks horizontally on the rim of the bowl, not using chopsticks to pull dishes on the plate, and eating as much as you can eat without leaving anything behind.； Most middle-aged people around 40 years old only remember four or five core points, and the rest think "it doesn't matter, as long as everyone is comfortable"” ； Many young people under the age of 20 have never heard of anything other than not being able to insert chopsticks. Last time I was at a Kaiseki restaurant in Kyoto and I couldn't finish the last bowl of red rice. I apologized to the chef and said that I couldn't finish it because of my small appetite. Instead, the old man smiled very happily and said, "It seems that the amount of food I gave you in front of you is enough, and you can be full than anything else." The so-called "no leftovers" is just for fear of waste and fear that the host will think that you did not eat well. Be honest and make it clear that no one will blame you for this.

To put it bluntly, there is no need to memorize the "Japanese dietary taboo list" on the Internet. Whether traveling or working, as long as you don't intentionally offend others in serious situations, even if you accidentally touch the so-called taboos, everyone will be tolerant if you smile and say "I'm sorry, I don't understand the local customs." After all, the purpose of eating etiquette is to make everyone happy when eating, not to set shackles on others. If you really have to pay attention to the details according to the rules, you will fall behind.