The Ocean's Bounty: Washoku Dashi

03 Niboshi

text and photos by Hideki Abe

supervised by National Niboshi Association

Washoku, the traditional dietary cultures of the Japanese, was inscribed on to the UNESCO list of intangible cultural heritage in 2013, and the heart of washoku is its traditional stock, niboshi. There are three main types, each made with ingredients sourced from the ocean. This instalment showcases niboshi, or dried small fish (mainly sardines), covering such topics as an introduction to sardines, how they are caught and processed, dashi from other dried fish types, making dashi with niboshi, and ecological threats to sardines.

29 x 24 cm, 40 pages, Full-colour photographs
First published January 2021