In order to understand what sort of whalemeat dishes the Japanese have eaten, I surveyed a number of cookbooks published from the Edo Period to the present day.
The “Geiniku Chomikata, ” an Edo whalemeat cookbook, describes in detail recipes of Bizen no Kuni (today in Nagasaki Prefecture). These have clearly been influenced by Chinese and Korean dietary style.
During the Meiji Period whalemeat was classified both as fish and as meat, and its final classification as meat was made around the end of the World War Two.
Whalemeat has been used in boiled dishes, with sauces, in soups, grilled, raw, deep fried, steamed and in rice and noodles; and prepared in Japanese, Western and Chinese styles. As such it can be used in any kind of dish. Deep fried cooking of whalemeat became popular all over Japan in the middle of the Taisho Period.
Whalemeat, then, has been an important foodstuff for Japanese people.
