Northeastern University has a fabulous summer program on the Food of Japan. Professors Susan Ito and Jared Young have put together a syllabus packed with lectures with speakers including my mentor, Elizabeth Andoh.
I had the great pleasure of speaking to the students. Ideally we would have done a market tour together, but my tours are limited to two guests. Instead, I brought the supermarket to the class. The group will have a kitchen during their stay in Kyoto so I brought my favorite ingredients to jumpstart meals and some ready-to-eat items like yakitori in a can and tinned seafood.
At the start of the class each student shared with me something they loved while exploring antenna shops. I was so impressed with what they discovered and their take-aways. Popular shops included Hokkaido and Okinawa. I was also happy to hear Yamagata and Wakayama. Favorite foods included soft serve and sandaagi doughnuts (Okinawa). I also love seeing them try new foods like tama konnyaku (Yamagata) which has a very unique texture, but it’s rich in fiber and has very few calories!
We did a maru batsu, true or false, quiz. I put together a list of washoku trivia. The students knew most of the answers. Many of the facts they have learned in their stay so far in Japan. Sugoi! Bravo!
The class will study in Tokyo, Nagano, Toyama, Fukui, and Kyoto. I am very excited for their day in Kurobe at the Seafood Market where they will learn about local seafood and visit the famous kombu shop, Aimono Kombu. The same kombu shop where #Noma #chef #ReneRedzepi sources kombu for his Kyoto pop-up.
Aimono Kombu
Kurobe Toyama Port
The class has a blog and it’s great fun to see Japan and Japanese food through their eyes:
The group’s Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/nujapanfooddoc/
It was a pleasure speaking to the class. Best wishes for the rest of their program.
Food Sake Tokyo 