Hello Worldwide: 96 Vegetarian Japanese Foods

Japan is a vegetarian paradise wrapped in a vegetarian hell.

Love of seafood is deeply engrained in Japanese culture. Japan is mostly mountains and has little arable land. It's also an island with a high population density. Historically, fish was key to survival.

In Japan, you will quickly start to feel that there's fish in everything.

The good news is that Japan has a rich tradition of cooking with vegetables. Hundreds of interesting vegetarian foods await you. If you only know how to find them.

This list may help. It's roughly the 96 most common vegetable dishes in Japan.

1. Gohan

Japanese rice is a short grain, slightly sticky variety.

The Japanese are mostly convinced it's the best rice in the world. If you spend enough time in Japan you may begin to agree.

If you can't find enough vegetable dishes on the menu to fill up. It's often possible to order a bowl of plain rice.

2. Nama Tofu

Fresh tofu served with grated ginger and shoyu. There's a big difference from one tofu to the next. You might be surprised how good tofu can taste if you hit a tofuya (restaurant that specializes in tofu dishes).

3. Kirimochi

Mochi are used in a wide variety of tasty dishes. The simplest is toasted or grilled mochi known as Kirimochi. It's topped with shoyu or kinako (roasted soy flour).

4. Zaru Soba

Cold buckwheat noodles served with a dipping sauce, negi, sesame seeds and shredded nori. Considered a summer dish.

5. Kitsune Udon

Kitsune Udon (literally: fox wheat noodles) are thick Japanese wheat noodles with aburaage on top. Aburaage is a favorite food of foxes and gods.

6. Ochazuke

A simple dish of green tea on cooked rice. Normally served with vegetables such as negi.

7. Edamame

Everyone's favorite salty young soybeans. A popular Japanese party food.

8. Dashi

Dashi is a simple Japanese soup and cooking stock made with umami ingredients such as kombu, shiitake mushrooms, niboshi (dried infant sardines), katsuobushi or chemical flavor enhancers.

Dashi isn't typically a dish on its own. It's an ingredient in hundreds of Japanese foods. It's often vegetable based and it's often fish based.

9. Miso Vegetables

Miso is produced by fermenting soybeans, rice, wheat or barley. Miso paste is another fundamental ingredient in Japanese cuisine. It's also used as a vegetable dip for fresh or steamed vegetables.

10. Miso Soup

Miso soup is a staple of the Japanese diet that's easy to find. It's often vegetarian.

At its most simple, miso soup is just dashi and miso.

The goal of any good miso soup is to balance ingredients that float and ingredients that sink in the soup. Vegetable and tofu ingredients are most common. It's also common to add fish.

(miso soup with daikon)

11. Shiitake Yakitori

Yakitori restaurants are focused on grilled meat. However, they typically offer a number of vegetable items such as skewered, grilled shiitake mushrooms (shiitake yakitori).

12. Kabocha

Boiled or steamed Japanese winter squash is a common bento item and side dish. It's naturally sweet and filling.

13. Taiyaki

Taiyaki are fish shaped cakes filled with anko, custard, chocolate, cheese or sweet potato. They are a popular festival food.

14. Daikon

Daikon are amongst the most common Japanese vegetables. They may be served grilled with a rich sauce such as miso.

15. Ganmodoki

A fried tofu fritter made with vegetables. Contains egg whites. Ganmodoki are said to taste like goose.

16. Nama Yuba

Nama Yuba (fresh tofu skin) has a texture similar to mozzarella cheese. It's served with a light dipping sauce such as ponzu.

17. Natto

Natto are smelly, slimy, stinky fermented soybeans that people love. It's a common breakfast food that's thought to be healthy. Anything that tastes like natto must be healthy.

18. Yudofu

A simple hotpot of tofu and vegetables in hot water. Served at Japanese temples. Temple restaurants are often an amazing value. Many have a view of a garden. They usually serve beer.