Kitchen Culture
Tasty tidbits from the old-fashioned Japanese kitchen
UCHIWA (flat fans)
In Japan, hand-held, flat fans called uchiwa have been creating cooling breezes for millennia. Uchiwa can be many things: In addition to being practical tools in the kitchen (for fanning rice when making sushi... for fanning cooking fires when broiling), uchiwa often...
BIWA (loquats)
This month I was inspired to choose biwa as the theme for my newsletter and web posts when I was gifted a box of luscious loquats from friends in Chiba. The southern Boso Peninsula is famous for Boshu Biwa, a premium variety cultivated there since 1751 and...
Osozai Side Dishes
Modern households everywhere are challenged with balancing a desire to eat healthfully with limited time to prepare meals. In Japan, the food industry’s response has been to offer a vast assortment of prepared foods for sale through various outlets: convenience...
Using Food Fully
Meals planned around a single ingredient prepared in many ways are referred to as tsukushi (or zukushi) 尽くし menus. The verb tsukusu means "to use, or consume, entirely." This no-waste approach is both a frugal and practical way to cook, making the most of what is...
The Language of Learning
Although we are all born with some innate capabilities, we also must LEARN in order to survive and thrive. Different cultures manage learning differently. The Japanese language has two verbs that can be used when talking about acquiring information and experience....
