Japan — Cooking and Culture
This is a 3 part series sharing how God used an international trip to help me heal a little more after the loss of my husband.
In 2018 I began planning an international trip, my first ever. Steven’s brother & his family, Brian, Meredith, Olivia, & Brianna, were stationed in Fussa, Tokyo. Meredith and I kept in touch pretty often and mostly talked about all the adventures they went on as a family. I had never traveled outside the US and thought the best way to take my first international trip should be with others who knew the area. I wasn’t sure when I would go, but my goal was August of 2019. Meredith and I spent a lot of time talking about the various things we should plan to do while I was there; little did I know that this trip would be healing.
Meredith mentioned a cooking class to learn how to make sushi. No discussion was necessary; I love to cook and particularly love to learn new recipes. Not only did we learn how to make sushi we learned about Japanese culture and dining etiquette.
Yoshimi-san is such a gracious host and teacher! She has a great space for hosting her classes. Tokyo Kitchen Japanese Cooking Class in Asakusa, Tokyo, offers a variety of cooking types from sushi to ramen and she even offers cooking classes for children. I was so excited to learn from her.
Our class included sushi, miso soup, and 2 sides, spinach with sesame sauce and chilled tofu with toppings. I called the toppings Japanese salsa and honestly could have eaten it with a spoon! One of the easy ways to remember how to make miso soup is just making the broth. Dashi (fish broth) and miso paste then add your favorite ingredients. We used potato and wakame seaweed in our class. She explained that oftentimes the items used are whatever is in season at the time. Diakon (radishes) were in season while I was visiting; you could find them on every table everywhere we ate.
Cooking is where I recharge. There is just something that heals my heart and soul while I’m in the kitchen. As we learned each recipe Yoshimi-san spoke of the culture. She taught us words to describe food, proper etiquette to show you enjoyed the meal, to clean your plate as a sign of good food, how rice is considered the most important item. I truly enjoyed learning about all things Japanese food and etiquette. A note for those who are curious about chopstick etiquette in Japanese culture: Place our chopsticks horizontal to yourself across our bowl or plate when we are finished eating. It’s a sign that you are done. Placing them horizontally keeps them from pointing at someone across from you. A warning you may have heard about chopsticks is to not stick them straight up in a bowl of rice. I believe the tale is that you will be haunted or cursed. Simply put, in Japanese culture, it’s disrespectful. When honoring a loved one who has passed you place chopsticks in a bowl of rice vertically.
The high respect and honor aspects of Japanee culture were so intriguing and healing. I noticed that just being around that culture was healing. This was the first adventure we took and it allowed me to recharge, learn about the culture, and prepare for the next adventure.
