what are bonito flakes?

and, commonly used in Japanese cooking, in the above ways.

You can find bonito flakes in the Asian section of specialty food markets, sometimes with the name Katsuobushi. I get mine at a natural food store. It can be kind of pricey, but a little goes a long way!

Dashi can also be used for a number of other soups besides miso.

Bonita flakes are dried, fermented tuna. One of their most important uses flakes is to make dashi, the broth that's used for miso soup.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Cookbook:Bonito_Flakes

You can google this type of information. Bonito can be all different kinds of fish.