The study of food culture should consider the cultural aspects of human activities related to a series of actions, from the acquisition of food from the environment, through cooking and eating with cutlery, to finishing the digestion process. This chapter focus on the level of 'ethnic food', equivalent to 'national food", paying special attention to its relationship with 'foreign food".

Chinese civilization had a strong influence on the history of East Asian culture, comprising China, the Korean Peninsula, and Japan. The biggest event in the history of Japanese traditional food culture was the introduction of paddy rice cultivation in the first half of the final millennium BC. By starting rice cultivation, Japan became a full-scale agricultural society, and the nation was established. Since then, rice has become the most important food in the Japanese diet. Traditional Japanese cuisine was developed with the goal of skills to match the taste of rice cooked without any seasoning and of sake made from rice. In the Edo period (1603-1868), when Japan was under the rule of the Tokugawa Shogunate, the country was isolated from foreign influences. During this is period the traditional Japanese food culture reached its maturity. In the early 20th century. 'western food stores' where popular western cuisine could be eaten prospered in the cities. However, in a western restaurant, rice was more likely to be served than bread, adapting western cuisine to match the taste of Japanese customers. This is how a unique local western cuisine was born, including curry with rice and pork cutlets, croquettes, omelette and rice, and so on. However, western food was only eaten at home by upper and middle-class families, whereas common people maintained their everyday eating habits as an extension of the Edo period