Japanese breakfast

[Japania]

Could anybody tell me what does the traditional Japanese breakfast consist of? Does it have rice?
Besides, I’d like to know if it has suffered changes in recent years (for example, including ingredients from other countries, as cereal from United States).

[cranks]

和食　朝食 - Google Search

Rice, miso soup, some kind of fish(Salmon or Mackerel is common), an egg of some style(Japanese omelet, fried, poached or… raw), some veggies (stir fried, boiled, pickled, etc.), and in some areas including Tokyo, Natto (fermented soy).

Western style breakfast is pretty popular too, although you never mix some of the things with Japanese dishes, like cereal and Natto sounds impossible. A lot of people do something like egg, sausage and rice.


My breakfast consists of milk, coffee beans and water...

[steven]

When I hear "Japanese Style Breakfast" I have a very strong image in my head. Here's what it is:

Rice
Tsukemono (which could be an umeboshi on the rice or some takuwan on the side or something like that... it's usually eaten with the rice).
Miso Soup (which will usually have green onion type things & tofu & daikon and stuff like that in it)
Tamago-yaki (this is like a Japanese omelette... without cheese.)
Shake/sake (This is the main. It's like grilled salmon. It will usually be garnished with grated daikon with some soy sauce poured on top)

Sometimes you will get tea, but I get the feeling that the miso soup serves as the drink.

Here's a good image of what it looks like:
http://img.travel.rakuten.co.jp/shar...GE/7ZmwRK.jpeg

(just for the record, this picture shows what I think is a softboiled egg which is instead of tamago yaki).

Sometimes they also come with a small salad.

I believe this image comes from the hundreds of posters I've seen in Japanese schools and doctors offices and stuff like that. There are of course variations of it, but that is what the strongest image of a "japanese style breakfast" is. Everyday reality and what's on posters is often different, though.

[cranks]

Originally Posted by steven

this picture shows what I think is a softboiled egg

no that's a raw egg. Raw eggs = Hardcore. Have you seen the movie Rocky? :P

Everything else you said sounds really accurate.

[Nyororin]

Originally Posted by steven

(just for the record, this picture shows what I think is a softboiled egg which is instead of tamago yaki).

Soft boiled egg? Chances are it`s raw and to be put on the rice.

[steven]

Originally Posted by Nyororin

Soft boiled egg? Chances are it`s raw and to be put on the rice.

haha, you're definitely right. I've had softboiled eggs like that though in Japan quite often for breakfast. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that I've probably seen sotboiled eggs more than raw eggs for breakfast in Japan. I thought the cup on the top right was to put the egg in, but upon closer inspection there is tea in that cup so there's no doubt that's a raw egg to put on the rice.

Although I have to admit... I've never cracked open a softboil egg myself as they're always ready-made, or so to speak, in a bowl when ordered.

[MMM]

I believe it is illegal to serve raw egg in most of the US right now. I developed quite a taste for raw egg over rice, raw egg with shabu shabu and the soft boiled egg in Japan. My American friends think I am nuts. We used to think tomatoes were poisonous, too.

[cranks]

Originally Posted by steven

I've probably seen sotboiled eggs more than raw eggs for breakfast in Japan.
... I've never cracked open a softboil egg myself as they're always ready-made, or so to speak, in a bowl when ordered.

Yeah, that's 温泉卵, Japanese equivalent of poached egg.
温泉卵 - Google Search
They are yummy too. drool

Originally Posted by MMM

I believe it is illegal to serve raw egg in most of the US right now. I developed quite a taste for raw egg over rice, raw egg with shabu shabu and the soft boiled egg in Japan. My American friends think I am nuts. We used to think tomatoes were poisonous, too.

I can order raw eggs at my local Japanese restaurant. When I do, I hide it from American guys like I'm smoking something funny. It's true it can be slightly dangerous though. The shell sometimes has salmonella. But in 17 years living in the states and the UK, I had hundreds of raw eggs , and never had a single incident of food poisoning, so I deem it fairly safe. People thought the Japanese were crazy to eat raw fish with rotten soy bean sauce, i.e. Sushi, just 20 years ago. May be raw eggs will be "in" in 10 years... umm... actually, probably not.

[MMM]

Originally Posted by cranks

I can order raw eggs at my local Japanese restaurant. When I do, I hide it from American guys like I'm smoking something funny. It's true it can be slightly dangerous though. The shell sometimes has salmonella. But in 17 years living in the states and the UK, I had hundreds of raw eggs , and never had a single incident of food poisoning, so I deem it fairly safe. People thought the Japanese were crazy to eat raw fish with rotten soy bean sauce, i.e. Sushi, just 20 years ago. May be raw eggs will be "in" in 10 years... umm... actually, probably not.

They may be breaking the law. I know a Japanese restaurant here in Portland that got a fined for serving raw fish that hadn't been frozen at least once. That's the law here: raw fish must be frozen at some point. We are 30 something miles from the Pacific Ocean, but that doesn't matter.

There are places here where you can get raw egg and fresh raw fish, but they don't put that on the neon signs.

[steven]

Originally Posted by MMM

That's the law here: raw fish must be frozen at some point. We are 30 something miles from the Pacific Ocean, but that doesn't matter.

That's a shame! Freezing the fish takes a way a lot of the goodness. Unfortunately that happens a lot of the time in Japan too...