Of Food and Art

One of the most striking and memorable things about the food in Japan was the presentation. Restaurant windows show plates with tasteful displays of the available meals. On more than one occasion I ordered in a restaurant by taking the waitperson outside to show them in the window what I wanted.

Bento boxes, common takeout lunches are also tastefully arrange with attention to color, form, and texture. I had never heard of them until my trip to Japan but now I see the boxes for sale and recipes to fill them on websites. I wonder if I just never noticed, or if they are a recent discovery for other Americans.

My Japanese friends seemed disappointed when a few times I opted for a sandwich at lunch, not typically Japanese I was told. I sometimes got hungry for something familiar but the sandwiches were not what we would find at the corner deli. Slice after slice of different breads were layed with a variety of fillings,maybe tuna, egg salad, super thinly sliced meat, and vegetables mixed with some sort of spread. These stacks were then sliced through all the layers to form tall slim sandwiches.

Whether in the shop windows or street stalls or restaurants, every kind of food seemed to be a work of art. Vegetables and fish and meat that look too good to eat, one might spoil the arrangement.