by Elizabeth Andoh | Apr 17, 2025 | Kitchen Culture
In Japan, April is the time for new beginnings — the start of a new school year, a new fiscal year, and changes to many established programs on TV, radio and other media outlets. In tune with this custom, I’ve made some changes at A Taste of Culture this...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Mar 25, 2025 | Kitchen Culture, Spring
The Japanese take great pleasure in celebrating the seasons and SAKURA (cherry blossoms) are emblematic of spring. From the time buds (tsubomi 蕾) first appear to the official pronouncement of blooming (kaika 開花) it is often less than a week. And from there to...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Feb 26, 2025 | Kitchen Culture, Tools & Techniques
Cloth is the work horse, and often unsung hero, of the kitchen. In the Japanese kitchen, cloth enables the cook to perform a wide range of tasks such as lining steamers, draining and straining, enveloping, and shaping. fukashi nuno 蒸し布 Cloths known as fukashi nuno 蒸し布...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Jan 28, 2025 | Kitchen Culture, Winter
Winter weather reports predicting SLEET (mizoré), are rarely welcome news. After all, the bone-chilling mixture of rain and snow is messy under foot and creates hazerdous road conditions. But when mizoré appears on a menu, it conjurs up tasty fare. Snowy white daikon...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Dec 21, 2024 | Culture, Holiday, Kitchen Culture, Year-Round
Year-Passing SOBA… New Year-Welcoming UDON The Japanese bid farewell to the current year by slurping l-o-n-g noodles at midnight. Though most areas of Japan eat soba, calling the noodles toshi koshi (year-passing), those hailing from the Sanuki region eat udon....
by Elizabeth Andoh | Nov 19, 2024 | Autumn, Holiday, Kitchen Culture
In Japan, rice is more than just sustenance. It holds symbolic and sacred significance. Rice yield was also a measurement of wealth during the Edo Period (1603-1868). Early records of rituals celebrating the harvest and entreating future prosperity, called nii namé...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Oct 18, 2024 | Kitchen Culture, Year-Round
Silky, savory egg custards called CHAWAN MUSHI 茶碗蒸し are served in cups with a spoon. The egg and dashi mixture is delicately seasoned with mirin and light-colored soy sauce. Various tidbits such as mushrooms, ginko nuts, chicken, shrimp or kamaboko (fish sausage) can...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Sep 5, 2024 | Autumn, Kitchen Culture
The Japanese speak of aki no mikaku (autumnal eating pleasures). Of the many foods placed in that category, a slender, sleek, and steely-colored fish called sanma (Pacific saury; Cololabis saira 秋刀魚) has always been considered shomin no aji, or “food for the...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Aug 5, 2024 | Kitchen Culture, Summer
The Japanese have long believed that foods beginning with the syllable “U” (written” う in hiragana), have special beat-the-heat properties. Most famous is UNAGI (eel, rich in vitamin B1) known as an antidote for summertime lethargy. The current custom of...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Jul 5, 2024 | Culture, Kitchen Culture
MA-GO-WA-YA-SA-SHI-I(Grandchildren are kind) This acronym helps speakers of Japanese remember the names of food groups that support a healthy diet. Each of the seven sounds represents a food group, while the total spells out a lovely adage (lauding the kindness of...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Jun 11, 2024 | Kitchen Culture, Summer
JUNSAI (water shield; Brasenia schreberi) grows naturally in lakes, ponds and slow streams in many parts of the world but only Japan and China have a long history of cultivating the plant as a food. The Japanese especially love foods with a tsuru tsuru (slippery,...
by Elizabeth Andoh | May 3, 2024 | Holiday, Kitchen Culture, Summer
So named because this sweet is wrapped in kashiwa (oak) leaves, kashiwa mochi 柏餅 is enjoyed during the Golden Week holidays, early in May. Historically this sweet is associated with Tango no Sekku (also known as Kodomo no Hi or Children’s Day). What’s the...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Apr 6, 2024 | Kitchen Culture, Summer
The moment in the culinary calendar when a food is at its seasonal peak of flavor is referred to as shün, and it is the driving force in most Japanese kitchens. Indeed, entire menus are planned around shün ingredients. In the spring, as tender bamboo buds begin to...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Mar 16, 2024 | Kitchen Culture, Year-Round
Before refrigeration became widely available, pre-modern societies struggled with keeping fresh food from spoiling. A variety of ingenious techniques were developed throughout the world, including drying fresh foods in well-ventilated shade. In Japan, the resulting...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Feb 4, 2024 | Kitchen Culture, Year-Round
Fermented Fish Sauce 魚醤 Fermented fish sauces can be found in many parts of the world, most having been produced for thousands of years. It is unclear whether each was an independent “discovery” or whether they influenced each other by way of shared...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Jan 8, 2024 | Kitchen Culture, Year-Round
An Honorable Bowl of Soup The Japanese have several words to describe their ubiquitous soup seasoned and enriched with miso. The prosaic miso shiru 味噌汁 is a generic word meaning “miso-thickened broth” while miso ji-daté 味噌仕立て is a functional, culinary term...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Dec 11, 2023 | Kitchen Culture, Winter
Kumquats are called kinkan 金柑 in Japanese, meaning “golden citrus.” The fruit is native to south-east China where they have been cultivated for hundreds of years, though the scientific name is Citrus japonica. There are dozens of varities of kumquats but...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Nov 3, 2023 | Kitchen Culture, Year-Round
In Japan today, two types of Western-style potatoes are regularly enjoyed: mékuin (May Queen) and danshaku (“Baron”). The former was developed in Great Britain at the beginning of the 20th century and made its way to Japan via America shortly thereafter....
by Elizabeth Andoh | Oct 2, 2023 | Kitchen Culture, Summer
The Japanese eat a number of “unusual” foods, and TONBURI (とんぶり) surely qualifies as one of them. Tonburi are the seeds of Kochia scoparia/Bassia scoparia, also known as 箒草 hōki-gusa. Branches of the mature kochia plant are crafted into hōki brooms (yes,...
by Elizabeth Andoh | Sep 4, 2023 | Culture, Kitchen Culture
Farmers around the world deploy “scarecrows” to guard their crops from undesirable flying, crawling, and burrowing creatures. Japan’s kakashi 案山子 scarecrows that stand guard over rice fields tend to be more whimsical than frightening figures. Above, rice fields in...
