Japanese stocks and soups are dominated by the omnipresent dashi that constitutes the epicentre around which most of entire traditional Japanese cuisine revolves. As described below, dashi means an aqueous extract. The water-soluble taste substances that provide the flavour of dashi can be derived from several ingredients, most prominently seaweeds, fish, shellfish, and mushrooms. These ingredients are carefully selected and prepared in optimal ways to provide for the most flavourful extracts. The giant kelp species konbu is the seaweed of choice, and when it comes to fish it is bonito (katsuo), and for mushrooms it is dried shiitake, although other ingredients like anchovies, mussels, crabs, as well as chicken bones and pork (e.g., for ramen dishes) are used.