Now in my early 30s, I find myself no longer able to just pick up and head off for a break. Ten years ago, my friends and I would take off anywhere, just about anytime. One of our last considerations — being in motion ...

Last Saturday I cooked behind the counter of my friend Kiyomi's small restaurant on the outskirts of Kyoto City. One of his good customers was having a birthday gathering and Kiyomi's mother, who typically helps out on days like this, was in the hospital ...

Just 60 years ago, preparing food was a time-consuming process that for some — mainly the suburban housewife — could occupy much of the day. Though we had long since progressed from hunter-gathering and industrialization had created a class of consumers rather than producers ...

The other day we lined up for standing-room tickets to see the grand sumo tournament here in Osaka. It must have been 10 years since I had attended a tournament — it only comes to Osaka once a year. Back in the days when ...

There are not enough purists left in the food world. In the West, and no less here in the East, food is gradually moving toward the indistinguishable middle. The globally homogenized products of contemporary fashion, music, art and architecture can be created and received ...

Being an enthusiastic consumer of home cooking, or sharing your home with a skilled culinarian, is no guarantee that you'll ever be able to cook decent food for yourself. Three good meals a day sometimes only serve to make one a good eater. My first ...

The best way to close an impeccable kaiseki meal is perhaps a piece of seasonal, perfectly ripe fruit. A small pile of peeled Concord grapes or a honey-sweet muskmelon signal the time of year and leave the palate clean and refreshed. There are, however, ...

When dining at a fine Japanese restaurant, after the raw, fried, vinegared, steamed and simmered courses, if you still have room, the final savory course of rice — gohanmono — appears. It might also be called o-shokuji, or simply meshi, the colloquial word for ...

As a mercenary chef — jumping from kitchen to kitchen, to help out for a few days or to just observe — I've picked up new and interesting ways to approach the things I've done so many times before. Even the best dish from ...

I must admit I have never been a huge fan of televised sports. Most holidays, growing up in the eastern United States, I was in the kitchen, either cooking or dispensing advice on food and otherwise. Yet, for some reason, I always enjoyed watching ...