茶席で食べる料理を、「懐石」と呼びます。現代の料亭が出す懐石は、珍しい材料を使った、手の込んだものです。最初にお酒のおつまみが出て、刺身や出汁をはった煮物椀が出るのが基本です。しかし室町時代の茶席では、素麺や葛きりなど、簡素な料理を食べていました。記録に残る千利休の懐石も、ご飯と味噌汁にちょっとしたおかずが付くという、簡単なものです。豪華な懐石は、江戸時代から近代に発達したものなのです。
The meal which is served at a tea gathering is called a kaiseki (bosom stone) meal.
The contemporary kaiseki meal is a refined and complex meal of many courses, and in particular traditional Japanese restaurants offer gorgeous kaiseki meals which normally start with delicacies and Japanese sake, and include sliced raw fish, cooked fish and meat in broth, and so on.
However in the Muromachi period (from the 14th century to the beginning of the 16th century) simple dishes, for example simple noodles, sômen, or jelly made from arrowroot, kuzukiri, were served at tea gatherings.
Rikyu, regarded as the father of the modern tea ceremony, also served very simple meals of just rice, miso soup, and a few simple side dishes.
Spectacular kaiseki meals were created after Rikyu’s time and developed in the modern period.
