JEDDAH – The five-day Japanese Food Festival will start today (Feb. 11) at Al Safina Restaurant, Jeddah Hilton at 8:00 p.m. Three chefs were flown in from Hilton Tokyo to prepare the uniqueness of Japanese dishes. Chefs Genta Aoyagi, Chef Jun Saitoh & Chef Takanori Itoh are excited to show the diversity of Japanese cuisine. Coinciding with Japan National Foundation Day and Setsubun (beginning of Spring in Japan), the food festival will celebrate Japanese dishes showcasing the rich diversity of Japanese cuisine beyond commonly-known dishes such as sushi. The festival will focus on some of Japanese cuisine's best-kept secrets. "Though sushi remains the most popular Japanese food, there's much more to explore in this Far Eastern cuisine," said Kevin Brett, Cluster General Manager of Jeddah Hilton and Qasr Al Sharq – A Waldorf Astoria Hotel . “Our Japanese Food Festival will feature dishes like crab meat, cucumber in vinegar dressing ,sukiyaki (slices of beef, tofu, & vegetables simmered with sweet soy sauce) ,tuna, yellow tail “hamachi”, squid, prawn, salmon roe Soba buckwheat noodle, boiled komatsuna green vegetable in dashi stock, “chirashi sushi” (slices of seafood on sushi rice). Japanese cuisine is known for its emphasis on seasonality of food, quality of ingredients and presentation. "The style of presentation of Japanese food is very unique". Japanese cuisine is based on combining staple foods, typically rice or noodles, with a soup and okazu - dishes made from fish, meat, vegetable, tofu and the like to add flavor to the staple food. Japan has a deep-rooted food culture and the cuisine is rich in food value with less usage of oil that ensures a great taste with the health in mind. Many Japanese localities have popular dishes made with traditional recipes and local ingredients such as tonsoku , yaki ramen, warabimochi (a kinko-smothered confection), okonomiyaki ,yakitori and konnyaku which will inspire visitors with a taste for more authentic specialty Japanese food. Look for ikinari dango (a dumpling of potato and red bean), taipi-en , famous kamaboko (fish cakes) made from a technique used since the Edo era and the Yuzusco brand citron pepper seasoning. — SG
