As a farmer, I tend to eat a large portion of rice for breakfast, boiled and then lightly fried with onion, garlic, 2 eggs and a drizzle of soy sauce. The energy usually keeps me going until the early afternoon, when I have a meat pie with potatoes or broccoli. Dinner is usually the lightest meal of the day.
I read a book written by a Serbian traveler, he was in Japan in 1914 and he described his experience, basically he found Japanese fascinating and amazing, one thing that particularly stuck in my memory was his description of what one mine worker ate, he said they work half a day in a mine and then have a brake, and during that brake they eat a fist full of rice and a little fish (and perhaps vegetables can't recall) and that holds them the entire day until they come home. Apparently around that time it way also noticed that Japanese soldiers in China could outmarch European armies and also ate little like that. He was also invited to a dinner by one wealthy man, and after they ate a Japanese dinner he offered him to send his servant to buy him a steak fearing it wouldn't be enough but he refused because he didn't want to spoil his Japanese dinner experience which he considered splendid.
Calorie intake per day was much different than calories per day by any other traveling or waring nation. Eating rice and chicken works if you are skinny and 5 feet tall but these books do not account for the fact that all these people were short and petite. Compared to the Roman's or the English or even the American Indians of the time were all thick healthy individuals with laborious daily chores
@@tehubernam Milorad Rajčević na dalekom istoku (In the far east), I think I read it more than a decade ago probably downloaded from the piratebay or some similar site. I would't know where to look for it now, google doesn't help, there are only articles describing his travels around the world.
@@mooserbegg1623 Average European man in middle ages was around 160 cm tall, while in Japan it was 150 cm, with woman being 10 cm shorter ... people worked more and harder back then as well, so it can't be compared to someone who sits most of his day ...
People worked harder and had fewer ways to keep warm, so the carbs in all that rice were vital for survival. I live on two wheels in a part of the country that gets really cold part of the year and have to adjust accordingly. That said, I really enjoyed learning about the diet of the samurai, and the methods used in the past. You're a great teacher!
Yes, I was just thinking this. People back then were constantly moving and working, which meant that they were burning lots of carbs. Those carbs from rice would have been critical. Also, I have a feeling that they probably ate until they felt full, and saved leftover morning rice for later in the day. I interpreted those pictures of a massive rice bowl as the total amount of rice that was cooked in the morning for the entire day.
It seems like most historical Societies ate more grains than modern people. My guess is that it was easier to fill upon things like rice, bread, or pasta than on things like vegetables or animal products. Also animal products were a much bigger investment in resources like time, feed and space than the calories could justify for most people. Also, this is really cool
Probly just stating the obvious, but people back in samurai period assumedly had to work much harder to survive, & not only that, worked harder to get that food on the table. So no doubt worked up big appetites, & burned a lot more calories than a modern-day school teacher in Japan, lol. I think I'd be mixing that rice in with the other elements of the meal, to make it more interesting & flavorful. Is there anything to indicate they did or didnt do this? The rice could be put in the soup, or mixed in with the veggies, etc.
@@annevoigt6653 In the past animals were mostly used for their dairy and on special occasions for meat. But mostly dairy. They couldn't afford to constantly slaughter their live stock. Even to this day many Asians only have meat as a side not the main. Meat as a main only became super popular in the 50's here in the US and massive processing plants were born which in turn as we now know have caused so much damage both to the environment and body....and of course the poor animals.
Even here in the US eating meat before the 50's and the advent of the manufacturing/processing plant/storage for long term IE; canning and frozen foods on a mass scale, meat was considered a luxury. Eaten only by the rich or on special occasions. And back then people walked and moved constantly so butter was the norm and not an issue for most. fats and sugars the same. Only after WW2 did weight issue's start becoming a huge issue when America entered the 50's and the wealth WW2 brought us. We (not all but most) became "consumers" and had cars to move us or mass transit. Without all that exercise which was a normal thing that you just did naturally the butter and fats and sugars started killing us because we were not burning it off.
Yeah, but the Samurai moved around and did everything manually requiring more calories. That's why you can't eat as much, you're not burning as many calories.
I'm a small woman and I even eat 100g rice easily (plus side dish and a protein source) when I work out a lot (4-5 times a week). So... 150g seems to me like a normal amount of rice for a very active man. But it's also depending on how much food you're used to eat. If you're not used to it, your stomach is naturally smaller.
This may sound strange, but I am struggling with eating disorder and sometimes it can be really tough to eat as much as I am supposed to. Watching Aki work hard to finish a big meal can really help me to motivate my self to eat enough to be healthy today. Thank you for sharing. ♡
Well I don't have an eating disorder but whenever someone hands me a meal even if it doesn't taste good I always finish it to the last piece as I always remind myself of how blessed I am to be able to eat more than I want.
People from that period probably had to do heavy work all day long, which is why they were able to eat that massive amount of rice. They needed food in order to have the energy to perform their duties. Did you also drink your matcha during this challenge? Did people use to drink matcha in the Samurai period? Thank you for sharing your country's culture!
@@ronnato162I would agree for things like hunter gatherers but for serfs and peasants you generally spent all day working fields and doing chores around the home involving what livestock and crops you had. For someone in a city it was probably less, but you were likely still doing 8+ hours of non leisure activity a day.
@@ronnato162 You're not wrong, however, Although they were less busy, to do anything they had to use their physical body, which burns lots of calories.
I found the discussion about the amount of rice fascinating. We in Brazil think of the Japanese as people who eat a lot of rice. So the current amount of 150g seemed very little to me. But Brazilians also eat a lot of rice and a worker here easily eats 750g or more of rice in just two meals (lunch and dinner), and every single day!
@@njambs-tm5pthe is talking cooked Rice which wheights a lot more, but some people here Just eat a Ton of Rice, me for example i lift wheights and im on a heavy Bulk period i eat 400 grams of uncooked Rice a day, that be over 1 kg of cooked Rice a day
@@njambs-tm5pt Yeah tbh I found odd that he struggled eating that amount of rice 😂To some people in Brazil that's just the ordinary amount. Some construction workers would even eat rice with pasta or/and potatos
Wow, I can not imagine how you felt after eating so much rice. My belief is that all countries back in time would consume vast amounts of a starch or carbs because their lifestyle was very harsh and they would need all those calories. Nice to see you had made it through. And as always, thanks for all the interesting information and how to pronounce words in your language; I learn so much.
This is what i thought. Carbs are only 4 calories per gram, whereas fat is 9 calories per gram. This is not a lot of calories. I can eat 3 cups of rice easy as a 5’7 130lb woman plus vegetable sides for one meal because I eat low fat and high carb. It’s the best diet out there for maintaining weight, energy, fitness, cardiovascular health.
@marissabohk7929, the idea that fat is bad and carbs are good is based on outdated information. Now it is believed that natural fats are good for cardiovascular health while too much carbs (especially simple carbs like sugar or processed carbs like white bread/white rice) is bad for your health. So the new guidance is to eat lean proteins, natural fat, and some whole carbohydrates (whole grain/brown rice, whole wheat, etc) while limiting simple and processed carbs.
@@Intranetusa babe, most of the population survives on a 70% or more carb diet because it's all they can afford. rice, corn, potatos, bananas fuel the world's labor and everything that is possible for us in the west. kings and queens in the 18th century would go back to the peasant diet of white bread and vegetables when they got too sick and fat from their fat and protein rich diets. that shein shirt you bought was made by a worker who eats a predominantly rice based diet. that iPhone you scroll on has a cobalt battery mined in Africa by a woker who eats a corn based diet. these people are healthier than us. have you ever stepped into the real world or looked at trends rather than propaganda from the last 10 years of big pharma salesmen telling you that asians, indians, and africans who are healthy are wrong? you think all of humanities history and survival was wrong? the protein loving us lost the vietnam war to skinny rice eaters. youve clearly never been in a poor country and seen how effortlessly skinny and happy and healthy they are.
We definitely need more videos like this in the world. I have always been curious about the type of meals various cultures ate throughout history. Thanks for the great video! 👍
Actually, my grandmother's grandfather was a samurai. Thanks for sharing some things about his life with me. :-) And my grandmother was a chanoyu teacher too. So, whenever I watch your videos I'm reminded of my family. :-)
@@yivelihumekaa9523 it's about the tea ceremony... so... basically teach people how to boil water, put stuff into the hot water and then drink it, but in some fancy way. You know... Japanese stuff...
How interesting that this way of eating continues to this day in Shojin Ryori (Japanese Zen temple food). Go to any training temple and you will have rice, miso soup and pickles for most of your meals. Also, rinsing your bowls with hot water is part of oryoki (eating ritual). Thank you for sharing this. 🙏
@@hatetheeyes3726 If you look up "Shojin Ryori" (both on youtube and internet, you can learn all about it. Traditionally, it is vegan, no onions or garlic, and making use of local, wild foods if possible. 🙏
I woke up 2 hours early today and had trouble getting settled again…then this showed up in my feed. A calm, happy host, the soothing music, touching on history. This is like another version of Townsends :)
I actually probably eat this much rice everyday haha And I'm only 84kg at 1m89. Good carbs don't actually make you fat, that concept was invented by old Western doctors who didn't understand how carbs work. It's the stuff Westerners put on carbs, like butter, cream, meat etc that actually make you fat. Americans for example love eating protein and talking about protein deficiency, but they are obese. Italians eat a lot of carbs but are healthy weight. Plus all the carbs samurais ate helped fuel their bodies for the day and activities. Great video!
I do question how healthy it was in the long run because of the lack of other vitamins due to the limited amount of vegetables and protein (asides from tofu).
As an American watching you eat this amount of food and "almost threw up," you made me feel really self-conscious. Thank you. 🤣That amount of rice is like a side dish here in America.
Keep in mind that the average Japanese man is 5'7 compared to an American height of 5'9. Most of the males in my own family top over 6ft and need a lot more food. Everyone has different caloric needs, so don't feel self-conscious.
Thank you for a very fun video. I am sure people in the past lived more physically than us, both working and walking. We have cars and elevators etc. Still that is a lot of rice! Well done Samauri.
About portion size, I agree with the previous comments, people used to spend much more energy - farming, building etc. My granny would wake up at 4 am and work till sunset, and I don't mean she was working on her computer. People used to sepnd A LOT more energy than we do noweadays.
In Germany, if you had a farm for example, they eat in ther morning at 5, bevor they went into the stable and feed their cows, pigs and do other farmwork. It were for example fried potato slices, eggs with bacon and pickles (for example cucumbers), the second breakfast at 9 was bread with butter or lard, cheese, sausage. They did their work without machines so the ate more kalories as today. If you look into a cookbook from over 100 years ago and you see what ingrediences they used for example 10 eggs for baking a cake and you think you would try it today... no thanks 😉 , you would gain to many wight because of this. One meal from your example and I have had that day nothing more eaten I were fed up 😁
@@Anthrolithos sorry, are you Yoda or do you only use a bad translator program? What you wrote makes no sense like that 🤷 I only can guess what you could mean...
A cake is normally supposed to be for multiple people anyway, and generally cakes are fattening also today. I dont think eggs are fattening on their own, they satisfy well and that helps you eat less calories in total, and they cover a big portion of your overall nutrition needs as well, which also helps you eat less
I love eating a LOT of rice. maybe it fits well with my job as a construction worker. like what samurais do in this era i also wake up very early. but to do meal prep of my breakfast and lunch. cooking a huge batch of rice is just easy and i just bake salmon and im ready to go. usually dinner is where i don't eat that much, most of the time i just don't eat dinner at all LOL it feels good to eat a lot of carbs when doing labor intensive activities so i guess samurais do a lot of labor in that period.
In the Edo period most people all over the world did more manual labor even with household responsibilities and burned a significantly higher amount of calories doing so necessitating the need for more calories to maintain a healthy weight and energy levels needed to perform.
This is so interesting! I've never thought of putting Natto in miso soup. I've also never chopped Natto before. For breakfast I usually just eat the Natto on rice. I need to give this a try!
I really like how modern Japanese have a very healthy breakfast. bowl of rice, miso, seared salmon, and natto mixed with raw egg and green onion. It's so delicious and healthy!
The soup looks delicious as always. I do enjoy rice, it is a staple ingredient in Puerto Rican cooking. However, that was too much rice! 5 cups for 1 person? They needed that energy for all their work. I liked your Samurai hat!
Hey I’m a new viewer, and I usually never comment on videos, but I am so impressed with your video, your English skills, and the subtle comedy! I learned so much, I’m definitely a subscriber now
Wow! I'm surprisied that my favourite breakfast in Japan (during a two-week stay) was samurai breakfast😂 Miso soup, rice and pikled plum (if there was omelette or okra with soybean paste, I added it too). This was the perfect combination for early breakfast. I missed it so much when I returned home, so I bought all the ingredients and a rice maker to recreate this at home😂😂😂😂 P.S. This was not because there was nothing else to choose from. This was just my preference every single day. And, of course, the portion of rice was way less😂 Nevertheless, I felt full of energy for the entire day (unlike my partner, who only prefers pizza and burgers)
Yeah as 30 y/o man who's been a vegetarian since the age of 6 (I did it before it was cool lul) I'm also a big perfectionist and when I see a dish I want to find the most perfect and appropriate substitution for all the non-vegetarian ingredients without changing too much of the healthy benefits the meal should deliver. For dashi I just used kombu and dried shiitake, I've got the rice but I use Thai jasmin rice since it doesn't need to be presoaked and I just like the taste, some nori strips for with the rice and miso soup with tofu and some veggies. The only problem was the damn grilled fish which I could find no substitute for. Tamagoyaki is an occassional option but no good for eating every day, so in the end I just decided with a sunny side up egg on my rice for the extra protein and b12 and call it a day lol.
now imagine if you'd spent this past year eating like this and picked up a hard workout plan you'd be an absolute beast right now man. Honestly the food looks really good I hope lifes doing good for you and you can still enjoy making these videos because I sure enjoyed watching and learning :)
Very interesting. I think in that time people may have been much more physically active and need the rice calories. Please do a day of traditional Okinawan diet. I've read about the high number of healthy centenarians in this Blue Zone.
You're videos are full of positive energy, interesting information, inspiring and authentically you....I really enjoy watching them and always looking forward for your next video although I am not into minimalism so much :) thank you 🙏🏻 lots of greetings ☺️🙂
As a Hispanic, 5 cups is the average diet. Rice for breakfast, rice for lunch, rice for dinner, also rice for a drink too. Rice rice rice. I didn't get any culture shock, also knowing how cold it gets here in Indiana. I can only imagine how cold it gets in Northern Japan. When it gets cold, I always crave nice warm carbs. I also find myself getting hungrier faster than when it was warm All those ingredients are super filling. I imagine between training, learning, etc plus the cold, yeah I can 100% agree that carb diet.
there is absolutely know way a wealthy warrior was eating like this. these guys had to be eating some meat and seafood throughout the day and probably the best quality available.
Sensei San! I appreciate much the japanise fine kitchen. And its so clean and fine made. In the edo period I guess the Samurai had a hard life training every day in Dojo jiu jutso or so. So they must be happy to eat a lot in the morning. Thank You! Good Japanese history!
SO Samurai san's were mainly vegans hey ? lol! 😃 and fought in war ? they were considered the most powerful warriors at the time ? Love it! the food in edo period was mainly vegan. ;) If Samurai's and people in edo jidai can eat a vegan diet and be more powerful than the Japanese in modern day why not celebrate their diet! I loved this information. They never shared this information when we studied about Edo Jidai in University in Japan...... so thank you for sharing! oh and I love Japanese white rice! I think I can eat that amount every single day!
As a blue collar man, who had a labor intensive childhood, i can confirm i ate much more food than i do now. I simply do not work as hard as i did then. No doubt that lends itself to this crazy large amount of rice. Edo Japanese likely worked before daylight, til after dark.
Thank you for doing all the research and sharing these historical gems with us! Wonderful video and loved your outfit. Since I am not a great "chef" I am impressed by all the prepping you did for the recipes. The food looks ok but not as delicious as the food you normally prepare, which looks colorful and more interesting, more variety? Again, thanks !
I follow a diet based on studies about how people used to eat before fast foods, the starch solution diet. So I do eat a lot of rice too. Loved the information . I really like your videos.
@@wallacesousuke1433 anything too much is bad. If you’re eating carbs just make sure you’re using the energy from it in either walking or doing other physical activities.
I was homeless for six years in America. I would buy a give pound bag of rice and a gallon of soy sauce. Constantly being on my feet, always moving. I would go through that in a week. I was 6ft tall 150#. And I never felt full.
As a Japanese-American on a low carb diet, I rarely eat rice these days. It hurt watching you force yourself to eat so much rice (carbs). Generations ago, people were much more physically active, and did a lot of heavy physical work daily, just to survive. This might be why they ate so much rice. I enjoy your videos, this brings back good memories of my childhood meals. Now I'm craving ochazuke...
I'm going to pitch a fun theory- Maybe the illustrations of the heaping piles of rice are much like the trend to render livestock animals as being enormous. A sort of flex/culturally implied prosperity thing?
Thank you for this funny video. Well done Samurai 😄 I would like to learn more about autumn and winter seasons in Japan. Do you have special traditions, ceremonies or festivals during autumn or winter time ? Stay safe and healthy 💚
Looks delicious! Great job recreating the meals from the Samurai period. It's fascinating to see what they ate and how much rice they consumed. Keep up the fantastic work!
Rice was the fuel of growth for a nation. it fed Asia and the Americas for centuries. It is such an accommodating and versatile crop. From glue to mochi, from baby toys to sake.
they ate that much because they were actually spending the energy from the rice on samurai things, but you just sat around the house pretending to be samurai. . . this is why you can not eat all this rice
whilw I lived in Hawaii, I ate (for breakfast) white rice (cold - with milk) and then sprinkle some sugar on the top. It had to be “fluffy rice” or it did not work at all. It was delicious. I even (now) cook hot rice (boiled in 15 drops of honey into the water and some butter (or butter substitute). I then put the rice in the liquid and wait for it to cook. Some times, I put raisins in the rice. It adds an even more sweet taste to the morning meal. I can see the Samurai eating a lot of rice.
There's one very important ingrediant you are missing from this video that makes everything so much better. Hard trainng. Remember, during the Edo Period of Japan, a Samurai's only profession was to be a weapon prepared to die at any moment for the Daimyo. Thus, the majority of their day was spent in some form of physical training (either bowmanship, swordsmanship, horse riding, exercising, etc) until late into the evening. This physical labor made for awesome appetiess and made eating heaping helpings of rice that much easier. and while people of today talk ad infinitum about the portions that modern day people eat, it is because we have found substitutes for bulky grains such as rice to round out our meals (this in Western culture could be substituted for things like bread). I applaud you that you were able to finish those meals. I'm sure it was a chore for someone not accustomed to "competative eating." But goood on you. Liked the video and hope to see another one soon.
Interesting video! Thank you. Japan's neighboring country, Korea, ate much more rice during the Joseon Dynasty around the same time. The size of the rice bowl increases as it goes back to the Goryeo Dynasty and the Goguryeo Dynasty. Why people ate so much, the amount of activity at that time is admirable.
We, Filipinos sometimes eat rice 6 times a day for our Breakfast meal, mid-day Snack, Lunch meal, afternoon 4pm snack, 7pm dinner and 10pm night snack. Most of our Filipino native sweet snacks are made of sticky rice cake, coconut and sweet fruit. Filipinos love to drink coconut, mango and pineapple juice as their cool refreshment beverages.
That container you used to store the rice is how much I eat in one serving. Rice is amazing , especially with butter, Hawaiian pink sea salt, cracked pepper and slight ginger powder with baby bok Choy and ground beef or a nice white fish
Their diet was so much healthier than what most people eat today. Protein is in plants too, so no wonder they were both energetic and strong 💪🏼 Also, takes less energy to digest plants versus animal products, so you get more energy out of plants.
Thank you for going through all that to show us this historical piece! It is interesting to learn about customs and habit of people from days long gone, and it seems people in Japan of feudal period must have had lots of physical activity during the day to be able to eat such large meals.
carbs are called "staples" for a reason! the bulk of most peoples' diets were grains (bread, rice, cereals) or tubers of some kind. especially since there's not much meat in the diet.
6:18 In its original meaning, "ban-zuke" is equivalent to a ranking table in sumo, and it is also used in modern professional sumo. In sumo, the banzuke consists of the names of the wrestlers arranged in order of rank, and is divided into two categories: "East" and "West." The East category is considered to be slightly higher than the West category. Even if wrestlers are of the same rank, those who are categorized as east are considered to have a higher evaluation of their overall ability. However, this includes a lot of emotional content, and I think it's a gentle grading of the two wrestler, using the terms East and West, which makes it difficult to rank them better or worse just by looking at their performance numbers. It is typical of Japan that we like such ambiguous expressions. Now, 200 years ago in Japan, it was popular to create ranking tables modeled on banzuke for various genres. All sorts of topics were created, including "sweets banzuke", "restaurant banzuke", and "historical villain banzuke". As a side note, the banzuke on the right side that is displayed here is from the era before "Yokozuna" was established as a rank for sumo wrestlers, so the highest rank is "Ozeki." In the old days of sumo, the highest rank of sumo wrestlers was Ozeki. At the end of the 18th century, two talented sumo wrestlers who competed in a special match watched by the Shogun were allowed to wear pure white ropes as part of their entrance costumes. Even in modern sumo, this rope, which the highest-ranking sumo wrestlers tie around their abdomens during ceremonies, has almost the same meaning as the "shimenawa" (*1) installed at traditional Japanese religious facilities. In other words, the sumo wrestler with the rope wrapped around him acts as a proxy for the god who governs the sport of sumo. This event is said to be the beginning of yokozuna, but it did not immediately spread as a system. It was around the middle of the 18th century that the custom of awarding the special title of yokozuna to ozeki with particularly outstanding ability took hold. For several decades after that, the title yokozuna seemed to be treated like a medal, separate from the official rank of sumo wrestlers. At the beginning of the 20th century, when sumo became closer to its modern style, it was incorporated into the system as an official rank. (*1) A rope that indicates virginity. They are installed at facilities, objects, or land that are judged to be inhabited by "something beyond human comprehension."
10:40 Westerners who visited Japan in the 19th century were surprised to see "hikyaku" who could run tens of kilometers on just rice. they thought. "If you can run tens of kilometers on rice alone, you should be able to run 100 kilometers on meat..." Thinking so, I tried feeding it some meat, and it turned out that it could no longer run 10 kilometers. In order to eat like people did 200 years ago, we would have to do strenuous physical labor like people did 200 years ago. If you want to drink spring water, run! At that time, there were restrictions on riding horses! Much less a car! It is said that employees of large stores in Edo were served company meals. In many cases, there were all-you-can-eat pickles. In other words, even in ancient times, people needed side dishes to eat large amounts of rice. It's not a very elegant way to eat it, but I think they probably poured miso soup over the rice and added pickles as needed.
I remember seeing the Kurosawa film "Throne of Blood". There was a scene where the samurai gathered for a formal dinner. They were served bowls of rice and I was struck by how magnificently tall and dome-shaped the rice looked. I mean, the servings were huge! Kurosawa certainly did his research and I believe your video confirms this was how it was.
I truly believe that we as people almost everywhere in the world have gotten lazy, including myself because things are easier now. Its so easy for us to eat whatever we want now such as restraunts and if you want something to cook with its pretty much ready for you but with a few more steps like at grocery stores. Theres rice packets that you heat up for 1 minute and its done. People back then didn't have this overlooked luxery like we do today. I don't like it at all to be honest. Ive gotten fat and lazy. Times were very different back then, especially for the samurai. It was all about survival back then and hard work. Plus they had to be ready for war at all times.
Furthermore, Japanese during the Edo period were prohibited from meat consumption, livestock or land animal more specifically; they even had medicinal pills made with cow meat to only have that to cure illness! The only source of protein was seafood or mushroom or chicken egg (maybe) or beans( tofu and Natto)
I eat close to around 1kilo of cooked rice weight a day. Lunch is 500grams of potatoes, breakfast fruits and cooked porridge. Always lean proteins with lunch and dinner, with vegetables. I’m very lean, nothing wrong with carbs. It’s what westerners add to the meals like fat, oil and butters.
Just think like a filipino, we eat that much rice. At least I can. I especially love japanese soft fluffly rice. They probably ate that much rice because protein was harder to obtain and rice keeps you sustained for hours. I could eat that kind of rice all day. The rice probably gave them more stored energy with harder labor back then also. Rice is energy fuel next to protein for me. With filipino dishes, most of our food has to go with rice so we're used to eating that much. I feel weird if i eat filipino food without rice, it's weird.
I think that large amount of rice is reasonable. A hard-working Filipino farmer uncle eats that much (or even more) rice for breakfast too. Usually paired with last night's leftover fish stew, some dried salted fish cooked near coals and a pair of hard-boiled eggs with tomatoes. Being a rice and sugar cane farmer for about 10 years, I eat that amount of rice for two or even three meals a day lol. In the Philippines during about the same time period (and even now), people usually put eggs in the same iron pot (we call it kaldero) where we cook rice. This saves on firewood and coals. So everytime rice ready, there is almost always a serving of hard-boiled eggs that goes with it
Just found this video(wish I had found your channel sooner), and like one of your other commenters said, they worked harder and had fewer ways to keep warm. When I was in the military and stationed in Alaska, when winter hit the chow hall was suddenly full of carb rich dishes. During the Summer months(if you can call it Summer up there lol), it was more protein/lipid(fat) based. So I understand what that commenter was saying, in cold climates(which areas of Japan have in excess, this is from experience) a more carb heavy diet is vital to survival. A lot of Japan's climate is actually comparable to the Appalachian area of the U.S., a temperate environment, which can mean anything. Mild winter/summer to severe winter/summer. Just a few days ago we had massive storms hit with upper 80 degree weather, then just last night, it was in the 40s.
Boiled rice boiled chicken or fish steamed vegea rice vinegar are my staple diet here in New Zealand after watching samurai movies for years, Zatoichi introduced me to these simple but delicious samurai food oh and simple rice balls with a filling in the middle 💕
It's just like in the southern parts of America, back a hundred years ago. My Grandfather ate 8,000 calories a day. If he could get it. And he needed them. He worked harder than 50 teenagers alive in my country today. That sounds like hyperbole, but it's actually not hard to outwork a modern teen. You can match them by building a fire, cooking a breakfast, taking a dump, collecting the day's water, boiling it, washing yourself and your clothes, and other ordinary chores they know nothing about. If, rather than samurai, you're a farmer supporting a family and several animals, you can't even begin to compare anymore. Now, you're talking about 12-18 hours of hard work per day. Hence, the figure I purposed earlier, referencing the 50 teenagers. Math.
I paint houses for a living and exercise a lot . I can eat a few cups of brown or white rice easy without gaining weight . Kind in mind, just getting water in those days , and in some cultures still was physical work. Want some vegetables ? Got to go pick them yourself . And chop the wood to cook. And catch the fish . DNA can play a big part too . I'm German/Irish . I can eat a whole chicken or mountain of pork and feel just fine . Interesting how important pickled and fermented foods were in so many different parts of the world since there was no refridgeration
If you look into Chinese Farmers eating videos, you'll see that they eat the same amount of food as the people of the Japan's Kamakura period did. Extreme physical labor along with harsh winters demands a lot of food intake to keep up
Correct me if I’m wrong, Samurai Matcha-san. Miso soup base is made from fermented soybean paste. So the idea of turning natto into miso soup is not completely wild.
As a farmer, I tend to eat a large portion of rice for breakfast, boiled and then lightly fried with onion, garlic, 2 eggs and a drizzle of soy sauce. The energy usually keeps me going until the early afternoon, when I have a meat pie with potatoes or broccoli. Dinner is usually the lightest meal of the day.
Makes sense, you're done burning the majority of calories by then, so you just need to get by until you sleep and wake up hungry again!
@@ChargeQM Exactly. Plus I do not like being full and sluggish. Retaining a bit of hunger is good for motivation and concentration.
awesome what kind of meat pie
@@burgerlord1297 Steak and ale or chicken and leak/mushroom
I EAT NO BREAKFAST OR LUNCH.. SOMETIMES I EAT DINNER..
I read a book written by a Serbian traveler, he was in Japan in 1914 and he described his experience, basically he found Japanese fascinating and amazing, one thing that particularly stuck in my memory was his description of what one mine worker ate, he said they work half a day in a mine and then have a brake, and during that brake they eat a fist full of rice and a little fish
(and perhaps vegetables can't recall) and that holds them the entire day until they come home. Apparently around that time it way also noticed that Japanese soldiers in China could outmarch European armies and also ate little like that. He was also invited to a dinner by one wealthy man, and after they ate a Japanese dinner he offered him to send his servant to buy him a steak fearing it wouldn't be enough but he refused because he didn't want to spoil his Japanese dinner experience which he considered splendid.
Name of the book?
Calorie intake per day was much different than calories per day by any other traveling or waring nation. Eating rice and chicken works if you are skinny and 5 feet tall but these books do not account for the fact that all these people were short and petite. Compared to the Roman's or the English or even the American Indians of the time were all thick healthy individuals with laborious daily chores
@@tehubernam Milorad Rajčević na dalekom istoku (In the far east), I think I read it more than a decade ago probably downloaded from the piratebay or some similar site. I would't know where to look for it now, google doesn't help, there are only articles describing his travels around the world.
@@mooserbegg1623 Average European man in middle ages was around 160 cm tall, while in Japan it was 150 cm, with woman being 10 cm shorter ... people worked more and harder back then as well, so it can't be compared to someone who sits most of his day ...
I gotta know the name of this book, I had no idea one of my countrymen went to Japan that far back.
People worked harder and had fewer ways to keep warm, so the carbs in all that rice were vital for survival. I live on two wheels in a part of the country that gets really cold part of the year and have to adjust accordingly. That said, I really enjoyed learning about the diet of the samurai, and the methods used in the past. You're a great teacher!
Yes, I was just thinking this. People back then were constantly moving and working, which meant that they were burning lots of carbs. Those carbs from rice would have been critical. Also, I have a feeling that they probably ate until they felt full, and saved leftover morning rice for later in the day. I interpreted those pictures of a massive rice bowl as the total amount of rice that was cooked in the morning for the entire day.
It seems like most historical Societies ate more grains than modern people. My guess is that it was easier to fill upon things like rice, bread, or pasta than on things like vegetables or animal products. Also animal products were a much bigger investment in resources like time, feed and space than the calories could justify for most people. Also, this is really cool
Probly just stating the obvious, but people back in samurai period assumedly had to work much harder to survive, & not only that, worked harder to get that food on the table. So no doubt worked up big appetites, & burned a lot more calories than a modern-day school teacher in Japan, lol.
I think I'd be mixing that rice in with the other elements of the meal, to make it more interesting & flavorful. Is there anything to indicate they did or didnt do this? The rice could be put in the soup, or mixed in with the veggies, etc.
@@annevoigt6653 In the past animals were mostly used for their dairy and on special occasions for meat. But mostly dairy. They couldn't afford to constantly slaughter their live stock. Even to this day many Asians only have meat as a side not the main. Meat as a main only became super popular in the 50's here in the US and massive processing plants were born which in turn as we now know have caused so much damage both to the environment and body....and of course the poor animals.
Even here in the US eating meat before the 50's and the advent of the manufacturing/processing plant/storage for long term IE; canning and frozen foods on a mass scale, meat was considered a luxury. Eaten only by the rich or on special occasions. And back then people walked and moved constantly so butter was the norm and not an issue for most. fats and sugars the same. Only after WW2 did weight issue's start becoming a huge issue when America entered the 50's and the wealth WW2 brought us. We (not all but most) became "consumers" and had cars to move us or mass transit. Without all that exercise which was a normal thing that you just did naturally the butter and fats and sugars started killing us because we were not burning it off.
Yeah, but the Samurai moved around and did everything manually requiring more calories. That's why you can't eat as much, you're not burning as many calories.
time of action
Right
Yes, besides meat or other animal foods may have been much rarer on the menu, and you need to eat much more to compensate if not having that
I'm a small woman and I even eat 100g rice easily (plus side dish and a protein source) when I work out a lot (4-5 times a week). So... 150g seems to me like a normal amount of rice for a very active man. But it's also depending on how much food you're used to eat. If you're not used to it, your stomach is naturally smaller.
This may sound strange, but I am struggling with eating disorder and sometimes it can be really tough to eat as much as I am supposed to. Watching Aki work hard to finish a big meal can really help me to motivate my self to eat enough to be healthy today. Thank you for sharing. ♡
❤
this is my favourite comment
Be strong in your journey! 🫶 it’s not easy, but you’ll certainly get to a point that is good.
i had my fixed by smoking weed
Well I don't have an eating disorder but whenever someone hands me a meal even if it doesn't taste good I always finish it to the last piece as I always remind myself of how blessed I am to be able to eat more than I want.
People in the past had lot more physical activities vs today
People from that period probably had to do heavy work all day long, which is why they were able to eat that massive amount of rice. They needed food in order to have the energy to perform their duties. Did you also drink your matcha during this challenge? Did people use to drink matcha in the Samurai period? Thank you for sharing your country's culture!
I'm pretty sure my Chinese dad eats 5 cups of rice a day 😂 It's easy when you don't include bread or pasta too much in your diet
People in ancent times were actually not as busy as you may assume. They didn't have to drive in traffic or any of those modern problems we have now.
@@ronnato162I would agree for things like hunter gatherers but for serfs and peasants you generally spent all day working fields and doing chores around the home involving what livestock and crops you had. For someone in a city it was probably less, but you were likely still doing 8+ hours of non leisure activity a day.
@@ronnato162 You're not wrong, however, Although they were less busy, to do anything they had to use their physical body, which burns lots of calories.
お茶については鎌倉時代(1192～1333頃)に中国の宋から日本に入ってきて、広がったそうです。その後、形が少しづつ変わりつつ、安土桃山時代(1573～1600頃)に茶道の形が出来上がったそうです。なので、江戸時代(1600～)の一部武士は、お茶を嗜む方もいたと思います。
ちなみに、安土桃山時代当時の茶道は、抹茶を楽しむというのもありますが、海外から輸入された器などの茶器を楽しむ場だったそうです。言い方を変えれば、海外から入ってきた当時最先端の物に触れ思いを馳せる場だったそうです。
I’m a broke American, who works a regular 8-5 job.. I eat more rice than the Samurai. Lmao
Im a broke Pole who works office job. I eat more rice than the samurai daimyo😅
I respect the fact he actually tried to follow all the way through with the routine and finish all the food. 🎉
I found the discussion about the amount of rice fascinating. We in Brazil think of the Japanese as people who eat a lot of rice. So the current amount of 150g seemed very little to me. But Brazilians also eat a lot of rice and a worker here easily eats 750g or more of rice in just two meals (lunch and dinner), and every single day!
日本人です。朝はパン、昼は白米、夜は白米を食べます。
これが基本的な日本人の食生活です。
THREE QUARTERS OF A KILO OF RICE FOR ONE PERSON????
@@njambs-tm5pthe is talking cooked Rice which wheights a lot more, but some people here Just eat a Ton of Rice, me for example i lift wheights and im on a heavy Bulk period i eat 400 grams of uncooked Rice a day, that be over 1 kg of cooked Rice a day
@@Andre-hu4je Ooh I see
@@njambs-tm5pt Yeah tbh I found odd that he struggled eating that amount of rice 😂To some people in Brazil that's just the ordinary amount. Some construction workers would even eat rice with pasta or/and potatos
Wow, I can not imagine how you felt after eating so much rice. My belief is that all countries back in time would consume vast amounts of a starch or carbs because their lifestyle was very harsh and they would need all those calories. Nice to see you had made it through. And as always, thanks for all the interesting information and how to pronounce words in your language; I learn so much.
He ate 2000-2500 calories. Notice, there was oil in cooking, but now oil is everywhere
This is what i thought. Carbs are only 4 calories per gram, whereas fat is 9 calories per gram. This is not a lot of calories. I can eat 3 cups of rice easy as a 5’7 130lb woman plus vegetable sides for one meal because I eat low fat and high carb. It’s the best diet out there for maintaining weight, energy, fitness, cardiovascular health.
generally that was what humans did in norther colder climates load up on carbs as they were cheap calories
@marissabohk7929, the idea that fat is bad and carbs are good is based on outdated information. Now it is believed that natural fats are good for cardiovascular health while too much carbs (especially simple carbs like sugar or processed carbs like white bread/white rice) is bad for your health. So the new guidance is to eat lean proteins, natural fat, and some whole carbohydrates (whole grain/brown rice, whole wheat, etc) while limiting simple and processed carbs.
@@Intranetusa babe, most of the population survives on a 70% or more carb diet because it's all they can afford. rice, corn, potatos, bananas fuel the world's labor and everything that is possible for us in the west. kings and queens in the 18th century would go back to the peasant diet of white bread and vegetables when they got too sick and fat from their fat and protein rich diets. that shein shirt you bought was made by a worker who eats a predominantly rice based diet. that iPhone you scroll on has a cobalt battery mined in Africa by a woker who eats a corn based diet. these people are healthier than us. have you ever stepped into the real world or looked at trends rather than propaganda from the last 10 years of big pharma salesmen telling you that asians, indians, and africans who are healthy are wrong? you think all of humanities history and survival was wrong? the protein loving us lost the vietnam war to skinny rice eaters. youve clearly never been in a poor country and seen how effortlessly skinny and happy and healthy they are.
We definitely need more videos like this in the world. I have always been curious about the type of meals various cultures ate throughout history. Thanks for the great video! 👍
日本語の動画ならたくさんあるよ
Actually, my grandmother's grandfather was a samurai. Thanks for sharing some things about his life with me. :-) And my grandmother was a chanoyu teacher too. So, whenever I watch your videos I'm reminded of my family. :-)
Same for me 😌
That's nice!
Nice :D
What's a chanoyu teacher? 🤔🧐
@@yivelihumekaa9523 it's about the tea ceremony... so... basically teach people how to boil water, put stuff into the hot water and then drink it, but in some fancy way. You know... Japanese stuff...
You have to remember they were much more physically active.
How interesting that this way of eating continues to this day in Shojin Ryori (Japanese Zen temple food). Go to any training temple and you will have rice, miso soup and pickles for most of your meals. Also, rinsing your bowls with hot water is part of oryoki (eating ritual). Thank you for sharing this. 🙏
Thank yu for your comment! Do you know anything else about what they eat :3?
@@hatetheeyes3726 If you look up "Shojin Ryori" (both on youtube and internet, you can learn all about it. Traditionally, it is vegan, no onions or garlic, and making use of local, wild foods if possible. 🙏
I woke up 2 hours early today and had trouble getting settled again…then this showed up in my feed. A calm, happy host, the soothing music, touching on history. This is like another version of Townsends :)
Wonderful video! I was extremely interested in the traditional Japanese side dishes and pickles. I hope you make more!
Channels like these are what UA-cam was made for. Keep up the great informative content!
I actually probably eat this much rice everyday haha And I'm only 84kg at 1m89. Good carbs don't actually make you fat, that concept was invented by old Western doctors who didn't understand how carbs work. It's the stuff Westerners put on carbs, like butter, cream, meat etc that actually make you fat. Americans for example love eating protein and talking about protein deficiency, but they are obese. Italians eat a lot of carbs but are healthy weight. Plus all the carbs samurais ate helped fuel their bodies for the day and activities. Great video!
And alot of calorie intake will make you fat, the sumo wrestlers eat very healthy but silly amount of food and they are all huge
I do question how healthy it was in the long run because of the lack of other vitamins due to the limited amount of vegetables and protein (asides from tofu).
As somone from south-east Asia it's pretty funny watching east asians trying to eat a "large" amount of rice
It was fun. You should try to recreate more recipes from the Edo period... With an appropriate amount of rice 🍚
As an American watching you eat this amount of food and "almost threw up," you made me feel really self-conscious. Thank you. 🤣That amount of rice is like a side dish here in America.
Keep in mind that the average Japanese man is 5'7 compared to an American height of 5'9. Most of the males in my own family top over 6ft and need a lot more food.
Everyone has different caloric needs, so don't feel self-conscious.
Thank you for a very fun video. I am sure people in the past lived more physically than us, both working and walking. We have cars and elevators etc. Still that is a lot of rice! Well done Samauri.
Such a funny and entertaining video. Very interesting to learn this about the Edo period.
About portion size, I agree with the previous comments, people used to spend much more energy - farming, building etc. My granny would wake up at 4 am and work till sunset, and I don't mean she was working on her computer. People used to sepnd A LOT more energy than we do noweadays.
I enjoyed watching you roll in pain trying to finish the food lol
but also, what a beautiful way to teach us about japanese culture
In Germany, if you had a farm for example, they eat in ther morning at 5, bevor they went into the stable and feed their cows, pigs and do other farmwork. It were for example fried potato slices, eggs with bacon and pickles (for example cucumbers), the second breakfast at 9 was bread with butter or lard, cheese, sausage. They did their work without machines so the ate more kalories as today. If you look into a cookbook from over 100 years ago and you see what ingrediences they used for example 10 eggs for baking a cake and you think you would try it today... no thanks 😉 , you would gain to many wight because of this.
One meal from your example and I have had that day nothing more eaten I were fed up 😁
Can only agree. I am Austrian myself and what amazes me is the amount of pork fat they used....
Mensch dick sein nur in einem bequemen Leben wird.
@@Anthrolithos sorry, are you Yoda or do you only use a bad translator program? What you wrote makes no sense like that 🤷 I only can guess what you could mean...
@@Nemi-pp2zs It's been a long time since I have spoken German. But my German is comparable to your English.
A cake is normally supposed to be for multiple people anyway, and generally cakes are fattening also today. I dont think eggs are fattening on their own, they satisfy well and that helps you eat less calories in total, and they cover a big portion of your overall nutrition needs as well, which also helps you eat less
I love eating a LOT of rice. maybe it fits well with my job as a construction worker. like what samurais do in this era i also wake up very early. but to do meal prep of my breakfast and lunch. cooking a huge batch of rice is just easy and i just bake salmon and im ready to go. usually dinner is where i don't eat that much, most of the time i just don't eat dinner at all LOL it feels good to eat a lot of carbs when doing labor intensive activities so i guess samurais do a lot of labor in that period.
Love ❤the old samurai foods with all veggies,🥗 for sure there’s enough protein in plants 🌱 💚✌️nice/fun videos, 🎥
Equating protein with meat, destroyed human health.
Samurai were also typically high or drunk as well...
They had to wear a lot of heavy armor, so they must need a lot of energy. The meals show that.
In the Edo period most people all over the world did more manual labor even with household responsibilities and burned a significantly higher amount of calories doing so necessitating the need for more calories to maintain a healthy weight and energy levels needed to perform.
Hope you didn't feel too terrible after all that rice! Great video, you are definitely suffering for your art 😆We appreciate it.
I'm Ok now! haha
This is so interesting! I've never thought of putting Natto in miso soup. I've also never chopped Natto before. For breakfast I usually just eat the Natto on rice. I need to give this a try!
I love your videos and your personality. Thank you for sharing your life with us and teaching us about Japanese history and culture. ☺️
I really like how modern Japanese have a very healthy breakfast. bowl of rice, miso, seared salmon, and natto mixed with raw egg and green onion. It's so delicious and healthy!
Nowadays a lot of people eat bread toox The traditinal breakfast isnt eaten by everyone
The soup looks delicious as always. I do enjoy rice, it is a staple ingredient in Puerto Rican cooking. However, that was too much rice! 5 cups for 1 person? They needed that energy for all their work. I liked your Samurai hat!
Hey I’m a new viewer, and I usually never comment on videos, but I am so impressed with your video, your English skills, and the subtle comedy! I learned so much, I’m definitely a subscriber now
Wow! I'm surprisied that my favourite breakfast in Japan (during a two-week stay) was samurai breakfast😂 Miso soup, rice and pikled plum (if there was omelette or okra with soybean paste, I added it too). This was the perfect combination for early breakfast. I missed it so much when I returned home, so I bought all the ingredients and a rice maker to recreate this at home😂😂😂😂 P.S. This was not because there was nothing else to choose from. This was just my preference every single day. And, of course, the portion of rice was way less😂 Nevertheless, I felt full of energy for the entire day (unlike my partner, who only prefers pizza and burgers)
Yeah as 30 y/o man who's been a vegetarian since the age of 6 (I did it before it was cool lul) I'm also a big perfectionist and when I see a dish I want to find the most perfect and appropriate substitution for all the non-vegetarian ingredients without changing too much of the healthy benefits the meal should deliver.
For dashi I just used kombu and dried shiitake, I've got the rice but I use Thai jasmin rice since it doesn't need to be presoaked and I just like the taste, some nori strips for with the rice and miso soup with tofu and some veggies. The only problem was the damn grilled fish which I could find no substitute for. Tamagoyaki is an occassional option but no good for eating every day, so in the end I just decided with a sunny side up egg on my rice for the extra protein and b12 and call it a day lol.
Samurai have no honor
now imagine if you'd spent this past year eating like this and picked up a hard workout plan you'd be an absolute beast right now man.
Honestly the food looks really good I hope lifes doing good for you and you can still enjoy making these videos because I sure enjoyed watching and learning :)
Very interesting. I think in that time people may have been much more physically active and need the rice calories. Please do a day of traditional Okinawan diet. I've read about the high number of healthy centenarians in this Blue Zone.
Hahaha.. that was funny.. keep up the good work.. gambatte ne .
You're videos are full of positive energy, interesting information, inspiring and authentically you....I really enjoy watching them and always looking forward for your next video although I am not into minimalism so much :) thank you 🙏🏻 lots of greetings ☺️🙂
As a Hispanic, 5 cups is the average diet. Rice for breakfast, rice for lunch, rice for dinner, also rice for a drink too. Rice rice rice.
I didn't get any culture shock, also knowing how cold it gets here in Indiana. I can only imagine how cold it gets in Northern Japan. When it gets cold, I always crave nice warm carbs. I also find myself getting hungrier faster than when it was warm
All those ingredients are super filling. I imagine between training, learning, etc plus the cold, yeah I can 100% agree that carb diet.
i admire your tenacity to do these challenges (like the 1 item a day challenge WHAT!!!) all the way to the end! you are a true samurai sir!
there is absolutely know way a wealthy warrior was eating like this. these guys had to be eating some meat and seafood throughout the day and probably the best quality available.
Sensei San! I appreciate much the japanise fine kitchen. And its so clean and fine made. In the edo period I guess the Samurai had a hard life training every day in Dojo jiu jutso or so. So they must be happy to eat a lot in the morning. Thank You! Good Japanese history!
Woah that rice itself feels like a good workout. Good job!
SO Samurai san's were mainly vegans hey ? lol! 😃 and fought in war ? they were considered the most powerful warriors at the time ? Love it! the food in edo period was mainly vegan. ;) If Samurai's and people in edo jidai can eat a vegan diet and be more powerful than the Japanese in modern day why not celebrate their diet! I loved this information. They never shared this information when we studied about Edo Jidai in University in Japan...... so thank you for sharing! oh and I love Japanese white rice! I think I can eat that amount every single day!
As a blue collar man, who had a labor intensive childhood, i can confirm i ate much more food than i do now. I simply do not work as hard as i did then. No doubt that lends itself to this crazy large amount of rice. Edo Japanese likely worked before daylight, til after dark.
Thank you for doing all the research and sharing these historical gems with us! Wonderful video and loved your outfit. Since I am not a great "chef" I am impressed by all the prepping you did for the recipes. The food looks ok but not as delicious as the food you normally prepare, which looks colorful and more interesting, more variety? Again, thanks !
For working cultures. Eating a large breakfast was important for all the labor and work that went into life. Lunches and dinners were usually smaller.
I follow a diet based on studies about how people used to eat before fast foods, the starch solution diet. So I do eat a lot of rice too. Loved the information . I really like your videos.
Terrible idea, too much carb is bad
@@wallacesousuke1433 anything too much is bad. If you’re eating carbs just make sure you’re using the energy from it in either walking or doing other physical activities.
@@AbdelFlix yeah but with carb, anything above 50g per day is too much, considering we dont need it at all to survive and thrive
You should have walked to the spring instead of driving you would have LOVED all that rice
本当は玄米ご飯を食べてたので脚気にならなく、大盛御飯を食べれたんですよ！糠の中にはビタミンや沢山の体に必要な栄養がたくさん含まれてたので
日本人は世界一健康でイギリス人が、日本人の食事を研究してました。
これは、白米が江戸に広がってきてからの食事です。僕も色々と調べましたが、地域によっても時代によっても全然違うので、正解がないんです。こういった食事を食べていた人もいただろうという僕なりの一つの答えです。
I was homeless for six years in America. I would buy a give pound bag of rice and a gallon of soy sauce. Constantly being on my feet, always moving. I would go through that in a week. I was 6ft tall 150#. And I never felt full.
As a Japanese-American on a low carb diet, I rarely eat rice these days. It hurt watching you force yourself to eat so much rice (carbs). Generations ago, people were much more physically active, and did a lot of heavy physical work daily, just to survive. This might be why they ate so much rice. I enjoy your videos, this brings back good memories of my childhood meals. Now I'm craving ochazuke...
I'm going to pitch a fun theory- Maybe the illustrations of the heaping piles of rice are much like the trend to render livestock animals as being enormous. A sort of flex/culturally implied prosperity thing?
like the fruit basket here in Europe?
Thank you for this funny video. Well done Samurai 😄 I would like to learn more about autumn and winter seasons in Japan. Do you have special traditions, ceremonies or festivals during autumn or winter time ? Stay safe and healthy 💚
Looks delicious! Great job recreating the meals from the Samurai period. It's fascinating to see what they ate and how much rice they consumed. Keep up the fantastic work!
As a bodybuilder, this amount of rice is chump change 😂 good work edo Japanese guys
Rice was the fuel of growth for a nation. it fed Asia and the Americas for centuries. It is such an accommodating and versatile crop. From glue to mochi, from baby toys to sake.
they ate that much because they were actually spending the energy from the rice on samurai things, but you just sat around the house pretending to be samurai. . . this is why you can not eat all this rice
whilw I lived in Hawaii, I ate (for breakfast) white rice (cold - with milk) and then sprinkle some sugar on the top. It had to be “fluffy rice” or it did not work at all. It was delicious. I even (now) cook hot rice (boiled in 15 drops of honey into the water and some butter (or butter substitute). I then put the rice in the liquid and wait for it to cook. Some times, I put raisins in the rice. It adds an even more sweet taste to the morning meal.
I can see the Samurai eating a lot of rice.
Very cool. I make miso soup every day, but never thought about putting natto in it! Gonna try it tomorrow morning.
There's one very important ingrediant you are missing from this video that makes everything so much better. Hard trainng. Remember, during the Edo Period of Japan, a Samurai's only profession was to be a weapon prepared to die at any moment for the Daimyo. Thus, the majority of their day was spent in some form of physical training (either bowmanship, swordsmanship, horse riding, exercising, etc) until late into the evening. This physical labor made for awesome appetiess and made eating heaping helpings of rice that much easier. and while people of today talk ad infinitum about the portions that modern day people eat, it is because we have found substitutes for bulky grains such as rice to round out our meals (this in Western culture could be substituted for things like bread). I applaud you that you were able to finish those meals. I'm sure it was a chore for someone not accustomed to "competative eating." But goood on you. Liked the video and hope to see another one soon.
Interesting video! Thank you.
Japan's neighboring country, Korea, ate much more rice during the Joseon Dynasty around the same time.
The size of the rice bowl increases as it goes back to the Goryeo Dynasty and the Goguryeo Dynasty.
Why people ate so much, the amount of activity at that time is admirable.
Waw that''s a lot of rice!! 😀 Am glad to see u can finaly finished it 👏👏👍😊
We, Filipinos sometimes eat rice 6 times a day for our Breakfast meal, mid-day Snack, Lunch meal, afternoon 4pm snack, 7pm dinner and 10pm night snack.
Most of our Filipino native sweet snacks are made of sticky rice cake, coconut and sweet fruit.
Filipinos love to drink coconut, mango and pineapple juice as their cool refreshment beverages.
That container you used to store the rice is how much I eat in one serving. Rice is amazing , especially with butter, Hawaiian pink sea salt, cracked pepper and slight ginger powder with baby bok Choy and ground beef or a nice white fish
侍は日々の鍛錬などでたくさん運動していたからこの量を食べることができたのでしょう。
肉を食べなくても必要なタンパク質を補給できた理由は、米と大豆のアミノ酸スコアの組み合わせが素晴らしく良いからだと思います。
Their diet was so much healthier than what most people eat today. Protein is in plants too, so no wonder they were both energetic and strong 💪🏼 Also, takes less energy to digest plants versus animal products, so you get more energy out of plants.
Thank you for going through all that to show us this historical piece! It is interesting to learn about customs and habit of people from days long gone, and it seems people in Japan of feudal period must have had lots of physical activity during the day to be able to eat such large meals.
carbs are called "staples" for a reason! the bulk of most peoples' diets were grains (bread, rice, cereals) or tubers of some kind. especially since there's not much meat in the diet.
As for someone who dreams about visiting japan, but lives in Hungary, i really enjoyed this video!
Your country is so cozy though.
Very interesting video. Eating that amount of rice in a day couldn’t have been easy, so well done.
6:18 In its original meaning, "ban-zuke" is equivalent to a ranking table in sumo, and it is also used in modern professional sumo.
In sumo, the banzuke consists of the names of the wrestlers arranged in order of rank, and is divided into two categories: "East" and "West."
The East category is considered to be slightly higher than the West category.
Even if wrestlers are of the same rank, those who are categorized as east are considered to have a higher evaluation of their overall ability.
However, this includes a lot of emotional content, and I think it's a gentle grading of the two wrestler, using the terms East and West, which makes it difficult to rank them better or worse just by looking at their performance numbers.
It is typical of Japan that we like such ambiguous expressions.
Now, 200 years ago in Japan, it was popular to create ranking tables modeled on banzuke for various genres.
All sorts of topics were created, including "sweets banzuke", "restaurant banzuke", and "historical villain banzuke".
As a side note, the banzuke on the right side that is displayed here is from the era before "Yokozuna" was established as a rank for sumo wrestlers, so the highest rank is "Ozeki."
In the old days of sumo, the highest rank of sumo wrestlers was Ozeki.
At the end of the 18th century, two talented sumo wrestlers who competed in a special match watched by the Shogun were allowed to wear pure white ropes as part of their entrance costumes.
Even in modern sumo, this rope, which the highest-ranking sumo wrestlers tie around their abdomens during ceremonies, has almost the same meaning as the "shimenawa" (*1) installed at traditional Japanese religious facilities.
In other words, the sumo wrestler with the rope wrapped around him acts as a proxy for the god who governs the sport of sumo.
This event is said to be the beginning of yokozuna, but it did not immediately spread as a system.
It was around the middle of the 18th century that the custom of awarding the special title of yokozuna to ozeki with particularly outstanding ability took hold.
For several decades after that, the title yokozuna seemed to be treated like a medal, separate from the official rank of sumo wrestlers.
At the beginning of the 20th century, when sumo became closer to its modern style, it was incorporated into the system as an official rank.
(*1) A rope that indicates virginity. They are installed at facilities, objects, or land that are judged to be inhabited by "something beyond human comprehension."
10:40 Westerners who visited Japan in the 19th century were surprised to see "hikyaku" who could run tens of kilometers on just rice.
they thought.
"If you can run tens of kilometers on rice alone, you should be able to run 100 kilometers on meat..."
Thinking so, I tried feeding it some meat, and it turned out that it could no longer run 10 kilometers.
In order to eat like people did 200 years ago, we would have to do strenuous physical labor like people did 200 years ago.
If you want to drink spring water, run!
At that time, there were restrictions on riding horses!
Much less a car!
It is said that employees of large stores in Edo were served company meals.
In many cases, there were all-you-can-eat pickles.
In other words, even in ancient times, people needed side dishes to eat large amounts of rice.
It's not a very elegant way to eat it, but I think they probably poured miso soup over the rice and added pickles as needed.
I remember seeing the Kurosawa film "Throne of Blood". There was a scene where the samurai gathered for a formal dinner. They were served bowls of rice and I was struck by how magnificently tall and dome-shaped the rice looked. I mean, the servings were huge! Kurosawa certainly did his research and I believe your video confirms this was how it was.
I truly believe that we as people almost everywhere in the world have gotten lazy, including myself because things are easier now. Its so easy for us to eat whatever we want now such as restraunts and if you want something to cook with its pretty much ready for you but with a few more steps like at grocery stores. Theres rice packets that you heat up for 1 minute and its done. People back then didn't have this overlooked luxery like we do today. I don't like it at all to be honest. Ive gotten fat and lazy. Times were very different back then, especially for the samurai. It was all about survival back then and hard work. Plus they had to be ready for war at all times.
はらぺこで定食屋でバカ盛りの米が出てきた時、地味に嬉しいのは遺伝子に組み込まれてると思う笑笑
You needed to add in all the physical work done during that time! Loved your samurai 'hair'! 🙂
Yes! Thank you!
Furthermore, Japanese during the Edo period were prohibited from meat consumption, livestock or land animal more specifically; they even had medicinal pills made with cow meat to only have that to cure illness! The only source of protein was seafood or mushroom or chicken egg (maybe) or beans( tofu and Natto)
I eat close to around 1kilo of cooked rice weight a day. Lunch is 500grams of potatoes, breakfast fruits and cooked porridge. Always lean proteins with lunch and dinner, with vegetables. I’m very lean, nothing wrong with carbs. It’s what westerners add to the meals like fat, oil and butters.
Just think like a filipino, we eat that much rice. At least I can. I especially love japanese soft fluffly rice. They probably ate that much rice because protein was harder to obtain and rice keeps you sustained for hours. I could eat that kind of rice all day. The rice probably gave them more stored energy with harder labor back then also. Rice is energy fuel next to protein for me. With filipino dishes, most of our food has to go with rice so we're used to eating that much. I feel weird if i eat filipino food without rice, it's weird.
I think that large amount of rice is reasonable. A hard-working Filipino farmer uncle eats that much (or even more) rice for breakfast too. Usually paired with last night's leftover fish stew, some dried salted fish cooked near coals and a pair of hard-boiled eggs with tomatoes.
Being a rice and sugar cane farmer for about 10 years, I eat that amount of rice for two or even three meals a day lol.
In the Philippines during about the same time period (and even now), people usually put eggs in the same iron pot (we call it kaldero) where we cook rice. This saves on firewood and coals. So everytime rice ready, there is almost always a serving of hard-boiled eggs that goes with it
Hot water or green tea can be added to rice, this makes rice easier to eat for farmers that are in hurry to get back to work.
I’m always curious about stuff like this so thank you!
Just found this video(wish I had found your channel sooner), and like one of your other commenters said, they worked harder and had fewer ways to keep warm. When I was in the military and stationed in Alaska, when winter hit the chow hall was suddenly full of carb rich dishes. During the Summer months(if you can call it Summer up there lol), it was more protein/lipid(fat) based. So I understand what that commenter was saying, in cold climates(which areas of Japan have in excess, this is from experience) a more carb heavy diet is vital to survival. A lot of Japan's climate is actually comparable to the Appalachian area of the U.S., a temperate environment, which can mean anything. Mild winter/summer to severe winter/summer. Just a few days ago we had massive storms hit with upper 80 degree weather, then just last night, it was in the 40s.
Modern Japanese people: I don’t believe they really ate THAT MUCH rice.
Me, an American: Those are rookie numbers.
Great history lesson and humorous too. I'm surprised you didn't explode... 😅
Boiled rice boiled chicken or fish steamed vegea rice vinegar are my staple diet here in New Zealand after watching samurai movies for years, Zatoichi introduced me to these simple but delicious samurai food oh and simple rice balls with a filling in the middle 💕
It's just like in the southern parts of America, back a hundred years ago. My Grandfather ate 8,000 calories a day. If he could get it. And he needed them. He worked harder than 50 teenagers alive in my country today. That sounds like hyperbole, but it's actually not hard to outwork a modern teen. You can match them by building a fire, cooking a breakfast, taking a dump, collecting the day's water, boiling it, washing yourself and your clothes, and other ordinary chores they know nothing about.
If, rather than samurai, you're a farmer supporting a family and several animals, you can't even begin to compare anymore. Now, you're talking about 12-18 hours of hard work per day. Hence, the figure I purposed earlier, referencing the 50 teenagers. Math.
Makes sense. Rather simple and filling meals that will go a long way through a full day of manual labor.
Lol. Almost dying from eating rice. You are hilarious. This is me when i had to eat veggies as a kid. Id be trying to eat for hours.
I paint houses for a living and exercise a lot . I can eat a few cups of brown or white rice easy without gaining weight . Kind in mind, just getting water in those days , and in some cultures still was physical work. Want some vegetables ? Got to go pick them yourself . And chop the wood to cook. And catch the fish . DNA can play a big part too . I'm German/Irish . I can eat a whole chicken or mountain of pork and feel just fine . Interesting how important pickled and fermented foods were in so many different parts of the world since there was no refridgeration
If you look into Chinese Farmers eating videos, you'll see that they eat the same amount of food as the people of the Japan's Kamakura period did. Extreme physical labor along with harsh winters demands a lot of food intake to keep up
Correct me if I’m wrong, Samurai Matcha-san. Miso soup base is made from fermented soybean paste. So the idea of turning natto into miso soup is not completely wild.
Matcha's Samurai Ancestor: "I wonder what my descendant 400 years from now will be doing?"
Matcha: (almost throws up from eating too much rice)
大変面白く拝見させて頂きました😊✨
当時の人々の胃腸や筋肉は現代人よりもはるかに強靭だったのですね…！
ナイスチャレンジで考えさせられました！( ꈍᴗꈍ)ありがとうございます。