The Japanese government is planning a series of guidelines for overseas restaurants to ensure they are preparing Japanese food according to traditional methods.
The guidelines will be offered to the more than 89,000 Japanese restaurants outside of Japan, and will ceritify whether foreign chefs are preparing dishes such as sushi according to Washoku, the traditional dietary culture of Japan which is on UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
Fans of Australia fusion-sushi may be disappointed, as favourites such as the California roll and newer Australian trends like dessert gyoza are not considered authentic.
The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries of Japan told SBS there was no official name for the program, but the working title translates to “Japanese Cuisine Skills Certification Guidelines".
"The aim of this program is to simply provide a guideline for cooking techniques of Japanese cuisine since Japanese cuisine often involves handling of raw ingredients such as raw fish and needs special hygienic attentions and knowledge," a spokesman said.
"The guideline will assist private entities to offer course and seminar to overseas chefs who wish to learn more about Japanese cuisine including food hygiene and safety aspect of it, and certify chefs’ knowledge and techniques that meet the standards set by the guideline."
The Japanese government said that as of 2015, there were 89,000 Japanese restaurants outside of Japan and that number is rapidly growing, having increased 1.6 times since 2013.
What's in and what's out?
Sashimi, that is raw fished sliced and served in an authentic way, will make the cut, as well as sushi prepared with fish and ingredients commonly used in Japan.
But the new trend of sushi burritos? While these monsters are delicious and starting to pop up in Australian sushi restaurants, they are not authentic, and any restaurants serving them will not be certified.
For the hundreds of Japanese restaurants in Australia who will be able to apply for certification a choice will have to be made; to go authentic, or experiment with the hybrid sushi which has become popular in Australia.
Thankfully, karaage fits the guidelines!
Wondering about that panda sushi? It's very fashionable sushi, appearing at a Jimmy Choo collection launch - check it out at .
Only food prepared using traditional Japanese practises will meet the new guidelines. Source: Tumblr: GIFOOD3D
