Why is cheese not used in Japanese Cuisine?

Question

This is part of a humanities assignment, and no one really knows, not even the instructor. Is cheese not used in japanese cooking because of health issues? Beliefs?

Answer 1

maybe they traditionally don't have many cows in Japan

Answer 2

Dairy products and sugars are not part of their cuisine.  That's why no cheese

Answer 3

I dunno, maybe it's Americanized sushi recipies, but they have cream cheese in quite a lot of sushi I eat...  And sushi is as Japanese cuisine as it comes.

Answer 4

Lactose intolerance's>>???

Answer 5

Many Japanese are lactose intolerant, they lack the enzyme needed to break down lactose in dairy products.  This causes digestive upset.

Answer 6

why are locusts not included in french cuisine ?

Answer 7

I think all these answers are purely speculative. Where is the proof that all Japanese people are lactose intolerant. When i went over there there were milk products flying around everywhere. I think it is being incorporated into their cuisine more and more. They have many italian restaurants (that utilize cheese), many bakeries and cake shops with cream and custard and dairy fillings, but it doesn't have a place in traditional cooking. Its like asking why native mongolians or australians never invented the wheel. It just wasn't simply part of their culture or heritage- they simply didn't do it!

Answer 8

Japanese, like many Asian countries, are not big dairy countries.  there is not enough farm land to raise cows and the climate is too hot (although Japan weather is okay with the cows). many Asians are lactose intolerance because they are not used to the daily consumption of dairy products

Answer 9

They don't eat cow because there's no room in Japan to raise cattle.

Answer 10

I've never really thought about it much,  but historically,  Japanese culture has been constructed around the harvest of fish.  Also,  again traditionally,  there has never been much dairy production in Japan.  Most of their agricultural resources have been geared toward the production of rice,  and  things like melons,  cabbages and other vegetables.  The climate/soil  in Japan has never been particularly suited to growing  other grains,  so it would have been difficult to sustain dairy farms.  Today's technology makes it much easier,  of course,  but it wasn't that way a thousand years ago.

Answer 11

lactose intolerace and lack of hiostorical context