「Time flies...When you're having fun!!!」　(光陰矢のごとし...それは楽しい時)　第3回

今月は、日本人にとって当たり前の「主食」ということについてお話ししたいと思います。7月末に来日してから、何回も「主食」という言葉を聞きましたが、ちゃんと辞書で調べる前は文脈から意味を推測して「終食」または「重食」と書くかな、と思っていました。結論から言いますと、欧米では日本の白米と同じような主食はありません。

「ヨーロッパの主食はパンですよね？」とよく聞かれます。確かに、フランスでは、レストランに行かなくても昼御飯と晩御飯にパンが添え料理として付く可能性が高いですが、毎日の三食の中心となる日本のお米とは違います。ジャイモが多い国（イギリス）、またはスパゲッティがほぼ毎日食べられている国（イタリア）があると言いながら、シリアル、米、パン、芋、パスタ、麺類、クスクスなど他にも食事の中心になれる食品がさまざまあります。欧米では、このような食品を順番に味わう傾向があります。このため、「イギリスの主食って何？」と聞かれると返答に困ります。そして、欧米人は「なぜ日本人は白米に飽きないか」と不思議に思っています。

みなさんはどうでしょうか。お米なしで生きていけますか。実は来日2ヶ月たって（人生で初めて炊飯器を使って！）お米を炊いた時に、日本にいるんだと実感しました。やはり主食としての白米は日本の象徴の一つかもしれません。

This month I would like to talk about the idea of a "staple food" that seems so natural to Japanese people. Since coming to Japan in July I have often heard the word "staple food", but before looking it up in a dictionary I wondered whether it might be written with the characters end food or heavy food based on the context. Basically, in the West there is no one staple food like white rice in Japan.

People often ask me, "The staple food in Europe is bread, right?" Of course in France even outside of restaurants bread is likely to be provided as a side dish to lunch and dinner, but it is still not the same as the rice around which all three daily meals are centred in Japan. While one might argue that there are countries where potatoes are common (the UK) or where pasta is eaten almost every day (Italy), there are many different foods that can form the main part of a meal, such as cereal, rice, bread, potatoes, pasta, noodles, or couscous. In the West these foods are eaten in turn and savoured. That is why I find it difficult to answer when asked what the staple food of the UK is, and why Westerners sometimes wonder why Japanese people do not get sick of white rice.

What do you think? Could you live without rice? I just made rice for the first time since coming to Japan more than two months ago (and for the first time in my life in a rice cooker!), and suddenly felt like I was really in Japan. Perhaps, as its staple food, white rice is one of the many symbols of Japan.