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April 29, 2024
 

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THE WAY OF WASHOKU

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Apr 7, 2002
Savoring sweet memories of fallen blossoms
The magnificent cherry blossoms came and went much earlier than usual this year in many parts of Japan. Spring-term opening ceremonies at elementary schools across the country will be without their usual bloom. Here on the mountainside east of Osaka, however, many trees are still at their peak and this will be the last weekend for hanami flower-viewing until next year.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Mar 31, 2002
Fancy a bowl of baby eels?
Personal preference, when it comes to taste and flavor, depends as much on conditioning and experience as on the actual taste buds. The same little sensors on different people's tongues may have a violent or favorable reaction to a given food item depending on the individual's personal history with it.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Mar 24, 2002
What squids shine in yonder bay
Squid, octopus and cuttlefish belong to a large group of marine invertebrates called cephalopods. The word means foot-headed, and it is an appropriate name for these creatures because their tentacle feet sprout from above their eyes and brain. They are found all over, and sometimes in the stomachs of whales that has just finished lunch.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Mar 17, 2002
In search of the hidden children of bamboo
While I was growing up, bamboo shoots were an exotic vegetable that came from a can bearing foreign characters — foreign to my American eyes, that is. Despite the slight preservative and tin-can flavor, the tender shoots remained one of the delicacies that deepened my interest in the cuisine of countries far away. I would not be exposed to the fresh shoots of giant bamboo grass until visiting Asia as a young man.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Mar 3, 2002
A simple, elegant mix to celebrate girl power
I first encountered the Hina Matsuri (Girls' Day, or Doll Festival) as a youngster in Washington, D.C., when my father and I attended an event hosted by future Prime Minister Yoshio Mori at the then new Japanese Embassy. As we entered the grand foyer of the modern concrete building, we saw a stadium seating-like platform, displaying dolls that were as big as small children. On the top tier sat the Imperial couple. The lower levels held attendants, musicians, guards and valets, as well as all of the accouterments and provisions necessary for a royal procession. From there, we were led to the quiet garden and the teahouse where we were presented with macha tea and a sticky, green herbaceous mochi (rice cake).
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Feb 24, 2002
Sansai-gayu : a porridge found further afield
There is perhaps nothing more rewarding for a chef than to get out into the field and secure the best ingredients possible: vegetables, dry goods, fish and seasonings. The early spring is especially exciting because the season for foraging wild plants officially begins.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Feb 17, 2002
Mmmm . . . tastes like crab
In virtually every cuisine on the planet, there are attempts to dress food up and make it look like something it isn't. Whether it's a classical Chinese cook carving vegetables to make them look like a phoenix, or a French chef twisting his bread dough to resemble a lobster, food often appears in costume. There are many examples of this phenomenon in Japanese cooking as well, and sometimes the intention goes beyond just trying to delight the eating public.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Feb 10, 2002
Taste of a new season springs eternal in nanohana
There are several children's songs that herald the coming of spring by declaring that the nanohana has blossomed. Brilliant yellow fields of these first flowers of warm weather dot the countryside, and nanohana — young shoots of the aburana — are one of the first vegetables to appear on the vernal family table. Gastronomically, spring cannot begin without eating these sharp blossoms at least once.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Feb 3, 2002
Are you ready to roll with the change on 'setsubun no hi'?
Today is arguably one of the strangest holidays to be observed in Japan: setsubun no hi, the turning of the seasons. Parents around the country strap on plastic ogre-masks and hop around the house while their young children pelt them with dried beans, yelling, "Demons out, good luck in." Beans are scattered around the house in the four cardinal directions to protect against the red, blue, black and white devils in the coming year. The demons have ox horns and wear a tiger pelt, symbols taken from the Chinese compass that governs direction, travel and movement.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jan 27, 2002
Harnessing the preservative power of the sun
Culinary standards are often determined by prosperity. In Japan's past, food was not always as abundant as it is now. In lean harvest years, there was no rice to import from foreign nations and no cheap vegetable stocks to rely on when the local crop failed. Polished white rice was scarce among peasants and a variety of "lesser" crops — millet, buckwheat, etc. — were cultivated to supplement their meager diets.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jan 20, 2002
It's not just tsukemono — it's a responsibility
Pickling is one of the oldest methods of preserving the flavor and nutrients of fresh vegetables. In Japan, pickles (tsukemono) are classified by the main ingredient, the pickling medium and the length of pickling. Most pickles are vegetables but sometimes meats and fish are used. The pickling medium can be vinegar, salt, sake lees, miso or rice bran. Some vegetables, like the cucumber, may be quickly pickled in just 30 minutes (asazuke) while some items are left to mellow for much longer (furuzuke).
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jan 13, 2002
Daikon breathes life into dead of winter
The current watchwords for trends in Western cooking are fresh and local. The chef's ideal is to use ingredients harvested as close as possible to the site where they will be transformed into a meal. While modern greenhouse-farming techniques have certainly extended the growing season of many vegetables, finding and cooking fresh, local produce in the winter months can be a challenge.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Jan 6, 2002
Starting at the root of Japanese cooking
A samurai party — pungent as daikon radish their conversation! — Matsuo Basho (1644-1694)
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Dec 30, 2001
This will be the last slurp of the rest of your year
Even if preparing other Japanese New Year's dishes seems beyond your ability, you can't go wrong with toshikoshi ("year-crossing") soba, the noodles eaten just before midnight on o-misoka, New Year's Eve.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Dec 23, 2001
Kazu no ko — an eggcellent winter delicacy
Salted herring roe, kazu no ko, has been a staple of northern climate native fishing populations for as long as man has been casting a net into the ocean. Tribal groups in Alaska, aboriginal Scandinavians and the indigenous groups of Northern Japan have long considered this preserved food a delicacy, as well as a vital source of nutrients, to be eaten during the cold months of winter.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Dec 16, 2001
Tazukuri: an acquired taste worth acquiring
The o-sechi foods of the New Year exemplify traditional Japanese cuisine, utilizing the fruits of the mountains and the bounty of the ocean to celebrate all of the gifts that nature provides. Nowhere is this land-and-sea pairing more evident than in the classic sanshu-zakana triumvirate of black beans (kuromame), dry-roasted small sardines (tazukuri) and preserved herring roe (kazunoko) used to ring in the New Year holiday.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Dec 9, 2001
Black beans for a fruitful new year
I have cooked dried beans in the past — lots and lots of dried beans — but have never taken as much care as I now do when I prepare kuromame, the elegant sweetened black beans eaten during o-shogatsu, the New Year celebration. The first year I was allowed to watch (for the first several years young cooks only get to watch), I was immediately impressed with the time and effort put into the process of handling each individual bean.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Dec 2, 2001
Gearing up for the New Year
During the busy season, it is not uncommon for a chef to set up a cot in the backroom and take his or her precious few hours of sleep right in the restaurant. In many hotels, it is common policy as well to give rooms to the chefs when there are less than eight-hour turnarounds between clocking out and clocking back in. I have worked in these hotels; I have slept in such restaurants.
Japan Times
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Nov 25, 2001
A hodgepodge that really hits the spot
It's a cold evening and the salarymen are stopping off on their home from a long day of work at open-air stalls to down a cup or two of warm sake and a few pieces of oden — slowly simmered daikon, hard-boiled eggs and tofu, among other things.
LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU
Nov 18, 2001
Kawatare : a fleeting taste of twilight
What's in a name? Often, for a restaurant, a lot rides on the naming of dishes. There is a science — and a whole consulting industry — devoted to food-item names and their placement on menus. Cooks everywhere, even before it became a science, have labored to find names suitable for their latest creations.
Number of homeless in Japan hits record low
Homeless people sleep on the street in Tokyo's Shinjuku Ward in August 2021.
Raising kids in Japan as a single parent? It takes a village.
Making things work as a foreign, single mother in Japan isn't easy, but these tips and tricks can help you through the hardest parts.
JAL cancels international flight after captain gets drunk at Dallas hotel
A Japan Airlines' flight from Dallas to Tokyo was canceled last week after its captain got drunk at a local hotel.
In Japan, regional revitalization fails to halt population decline
Sakiyama elementary school in Tamba, Hyogo Prefecture, in March .Over the past decade, the government has directed efforts toward policies designed to give young people incentives to base themselves in rural areas.
Putin’s war will soon reach Russians’ tax bills
Russian President Vladimir Putin speaks during a meeting in St. Petersburg on Friday.
Japan wants you to spend more with ‘luxury tourism’
Performers play a traditional drum unique to Wajima, Ishikawa Prefecture, in the prefectural capital of Kanazawa on March 16 to mark the extension of the Hokuriku Shinkansen line to Tsuruga Station in Fukui Prefecture.
Theaster Gates’ ambitious ‘Afro-Mingei’ brings Black Chicago to Tokyo
Theaster Gates' “A Heavenly Chord” lines up church pews before seven speakers and a Hammond B3 organ, a type of electric organ prevalent in Black American churches.
Casa del Cibo: A thriving jewel born from Tohoku’s harsh past
When chef Ryohei Ikemi moved to Hachinohe, Aomori Prefecture, and opened Casa del Cibo in 2011, it was the first proper Italian restaurant in the city.
Town to block view of Mount Fuji in response to overtourism
The town government of Fujikawaguchiko, Yamanashi Prefecture, decided to set up a 2.5-meter-high screen to prevent tourists from taking pictures of Mount Fuji looming behind a convenience store.
Kyotographie's strong 12th edition shines light into the margins
Yassine Alaoui Ismaili, who goes by Yoriyas, turned to photography, shooting motion while in motion himself, after an injury forced him to give up his career as a professional breakdancer.

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