Japanese food v. Chinese food

[nikuman]

Originally Posted by SeattleUte

Also, most of what you love about Japanese food is similarly derivative of Chinese.

Not what I love. While it's very true that the Chinese had major impact on Japanese foodstuffs, the impact is, oddly enough, more recent than some would believe (i.e., in the last 100 years). I think it's very easy to overstate the Chinese influence. Certainly somethings such as Dim Sum were incorporated wholesale, but most of that is post Meiji Restoration.

The real, traditional Japanese food, which I surmise few have actually had, is no more of Chinese origin than I am. It was simply a product of the three things that Japan had access to: fish, salt and rice.