🧑🤝🧑 Japanese
Also known as: Japanese people
In the 7th–10th centuries the imperial court made a dairy product called so, and from it daigo.
Japanese are the main population of Japan, an island country in East Asia. For a long time milk was not an everyday food in Japanese cuisine: the diet was based on rice, fish, soy products and vegetables. Even so, the country’s history has a notable “dairy” episode.
From the 7th to the 10th centuries, so was made at the imperial court — a product of milk cooked down over a fire for a long time; a dictionary of the Heian period describes it as a mass of layers of milk skin. According to the Engishiki code (10th century), so was supplied to the court; it was eaten by the nobility and used as medicine and as an offering to the gods. According to the sources, an even more precious product, daigo, was obtained from so, but historians disagree on what exactly it was. After the Heian period this court tradition died out.
Widespread milk consumption in Japan began only in modern times, from the late 19th century, and after the Second World War milk became part of school lunches. In the 1980s a farm in Nara Prefecture revived so as a traditional delicacy.
What it includes
- Traditional products
How it connects to milk
🧑🤝🧑 Japanese ← among ← 🏯 So (dairy product) → made from → 🥛 Milk
Links
- Where they live
- 🌍 East Asia
- Traditional products
- 🏯 So (dairy product)
Frequently asked questions
What was so in ancient Japan?
A dairy product of the 7th–10th centuries made from long-boiled milk or layers of milk skin; it was supplied to the court and used as medicine and an offering.
Did Japanese people drink milk in the old days?
Only a narrow circle of nobles in the 7th–10th centuries; milk became a mass-market food only from the late 19th century.
What is daigo?
A product obtained from so; its exact composition is unknown — it is thought to have been either a cheese or something like clarified butter.