How does your rice taste? A new Japanese dictionary is cooking up a wealth of words for the country’s revered staple

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In January, at the National Agriculture and Food Research Organisation (Naro) in Tsukuba, Ibaraki prefecture, food researcher Fumiyo Hayakawa and others were engaged in heated discussions over freshly cooked rice.

A collaborative effort is under way to refine and define the terminology used to describe rice. Photo: Getty Image

They tried to define terminology that describes differences in rice firmness or graininess, for instance. Hayakawa’s team is partnering with Itochu Food Sales and Marketing, a subsidiary of major trading house Itochu Corporation, to create the dictionary.

Naro sells an agriculture technical encyclopaedia with terms involving crops, as well as management, distribution and marketing. Its Japanese-language texture terminology describes foods including cooked white rice, shrimp, udon noodles, bread and more.

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In production, distribution and sales, experts conduct “sensory evaluations” in which they judge aroma, taste and texture. The results are used to influence the development of new rice varieties, as well as to promote products.

However, there has been concern that there is no uniformity in the recognition of expressions or that the same words are overused, resulting in less accurate evaluations.

Toshiya Amano, general manager of the rice division at Itochu Food Sales and Marketing, which sells milled rice to convenience stores and other retailers, gave an example of the descriptions of rice that have been confusing to some consumers.

“For example, some people consider ‘fresh rice’ to mean ‘sticky rice’,” Amano says.

A bowl of freshly cooked rice. Photo: Getty Images

However, since it was “unrealistic” to quantify all textures and aromas, the company sought a solution by beginning research with Naro in 2021.

First, a dozen researchers skilled in evaluation tasted 32 rice products and shared their impressions

The taste tests involved trying more than 110 types of rice, such as freshly cooked, rice that had been cooked but left out for some time, convenience store rice balls, and rice from packages for long-term storage.

“Spring in the Rice Fields” (circa 1800) by Katsushika Hokusai. Rice is Japan’s dietary staple. Photo: Getty Images
More than 7,000 terms were gathered. Hayakawa says some of the descriptions are unique, such as “a taste like natto” – fermented soybeans – or “an aroma like boiled eggs”.

“If we put them into a dictionary, we can pick up on characteristics that have been overlooked until now because they could not be contextualised,” says Hayakawa, adding they also verified what processes render such distinct flavours.

They have narrowed down the words – in the four categories of appearance, taste, aroma and texture – to about 100 and are now in the process of defining them. The meaning of even standard terms such as “glossy” and “sweet aroma” are hard to convey, Hayakawa says.

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Synonyms and antonyms are introduced, and supplements are added to provide context in evaluations.

The project is scheduled to be completed by the end of March 2025 and will later be released on Naro’s website.

Hayakawa is enthusiastic about what the dictionary will have to offer people fond of rice in its various forms.

“I want to make this a tool to convey the attractiveness of rice not only to evaluation experts but also to consumers,” she says.

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