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Fucha Ryouri (Fucha cuisine)

Fucha ryori is a Chinese version of Shojin ryouri(traditional vegetarian dishes). Fucha ryori was first introduced in the early Edo period by Chinese Buddhist priest "Ingen", a founder of Oubakuzan Monfuku temple in Kyoto. Fukucha ryori was also called as Oubuku ryouri, and served in temples Nagasaki and Uji. There were two large differences between Japanese Shoijin ryori (vegetarian dishes) and Fucha ryori. Since Fucha ryori used a lot of vegetable oil and plenty of kudzu vine(kind of starch) as ingredients, Fucha ryori was much more satisfied and richer in taste. Another difference was the style of eating. The typical style of eating Fucha ryori is to sit around the square table (refer to the picture)and eat. During Edo era, people were normally eating from the individual tray placed in front of each person. So, it was a quite fresh experience for Japanese people. A typical Fucha ryori came with two types of soup and six different dishes starting with tea. (refer to the picture 2) Several small dishes, and main dishes are served one after another. People take the food from the center of the table to individual small plate to eat. Sesame tofu (mafu), stair fried vegetable(unpen), vegetable stew(shunkan) are the well known items of Fucha ryori. Plentiful seasoned vegetable are always used for ingredients.

(Junji Tsubouchi)