Why Almost Every Japanese Meal Comes With Pickles
How a tiny serving of Japanese pickles can make a huge difference
What is this little thing in my bento box?
If you’ve ever picked up a Japanese bento box or ordered a traditional Japanese meal, more likely than not you would’ve found that it came with a tiny portion of pickles. Perhaps a small red umeboshi on your rice, or a bit of purple shibazuke piled up on the side, it’s not uncommon to find one or the other tucked into a Japanese meal.
Pickles are hardly the main event, yet why are they so ubiquitous throughout Japanese cuisine?
Pickles are so commonly found in Japanese dishes, that they’re actually seldom mentioned — like how you’d expect your fries to come with a packet of ketchup or your steak to come with potatoes, it’s known to be the default pairing to rice and miso soup.
But the interesting thing about these pickles is that the amount you’d be served in a meal is usually so tiny, it can be hard to imagine why it’s even included in the first place. To be honest, I often wondered to myself why so many people bothered to include such a small detail in their meals — the pickles are hardly the main event, yet why are…
