Gluten-free

Food without gluten from wheat, barley or rye. Japan's rice-flour tradition makes this easier than it looks.

Definition and the situation in Japan

Gluten is a protein found in wheat, barley and rye. For people with coeliac disease or wheat allergy, avoiding it is a medical necessity; others avoid it because it does not agree with them.

Japan has no official gluten-free threshold equivalent to the 20 ppm standard used elsewhere. What it does have is an unusually deep range of rice-flour noodles, breads and confectionery. Many rice-flour products are effectively gluten-free without saying so — and conversely, some “rice flour bread” has wheat gluten added for structure.

What to check

Whether added wheat gluten appears in the ingredients of a rice-flour product
Soy sauce, miso and dashi frequently contain wheat
Soba noodles usually use wheat as a binder — juwari (100% buckwheat) soba is the exception
If this is medical for you, ask the manufacturer about line separation

Why Japanese cooking suits it

Japanese home cooking adapts well. It is built on rice, tubers, beans, seafood and vegetables; the things to avoid are mostly wheat-based seasonings and noodles. Swapping standard soy sauce for tamari or a gluten-free soy sauce handles most of a domestic kitchen.