Grandma's Recipes

Using okara to stuff fish

I am always amazed at how many videos there are on Japanese culture and how YouTube has become a platform for them.  My latest discovery is a series of small vignettes called Grandma's Recipes by Yu Nakamura about disappearing recipes from rural Japan that are kept alive by old women.  The videographer explains what they are doing this way.

"Our team especially tries to focus on eccentric, lovely but “Rock” ladies above the age of 80, who have lived through World War Two. We interview them with great care, and through their recipes which represents the relationships they share with those they care about, we are able to uncover great depth in their life stories. We want to spread those stories to the young generations living today. We believe that if we can share the stories of those beautiful and loving ladies to the world, regardless of borders and languages, people may appreciate even the dinner table just a little bit more."

"There are many grandmas over the age of 80 who have collected many "wrinkles" of joy throughout the years.  We collect those "wrinkles" in the form of their favorite recipes and we try to understand the depth of their life stories." 

The photography is beautiful even if you don't want to try the recipes, the majority of which seem to be Osechi, New Year's dishes.

• Sansai (Wild Vegetables, picked in Spring)
• Grandma Mitsuko from Haida making whole fish sushi.
• Tatsuko - san, a shoyu-maker from Fukui, making a soup for New Year's
• Osechi made by Keiko oba-chan in Tokyo, nishiki eggs and other dishes
• Teacher Tsunko on Noto Island making cod for "Kishu-sai", the festival of fishery.

Japanese Food

Ekiben at Tokyo Station

Juan is beginning to get excited about Japan and has been emailing me links to his favorite Ramen shop in Kyoto, to ekiben (railway bento boxes) at Tokyo Station, and to Furusato Matsuri (regional festivals) exhibition they are having in the Tokyo Dome while we are there.  Yes.  They are all related to food.  That's how the Japanese celebrate.

Japan Talk has lots of articles explaining their food and lists of what to eat:  105 Kinds of Japanese Food, 96 Vegetarian Japanese Foods (in case you can't eat fish), 12 Things to Put in Your Miso Soup, 34 Ingredients for Japanese Food and 29 Japanese Street Foods.  They tell you important things about Miso Soup: "Any good miso soup balances ingredients that float and ingredients that sink" and "miso soup is as important to breakfast as coffee".  And you learn weird things like Panko, the Japanese bread crumbs, "are made by passing an electric current through dough as it bakes."  Also aburaage (deep fried tofu) is difficult to make at home and generally factory produced -- which is good to know and I won't try to deep fry it anymore.

Supposedly Fernando has a whole bunch of stuff on food, beginning with natto...

I was looking for a list of supermarkets but Food Sake Tokyo said to go to the Shotengai (traditional shopping arcades) instead and gave a list of his favorites.  Unfortunately the list is from 2010 but hopefully the streets are still there.
Kagurazaka is east of Shinjuku and I'm assuming the street is Waseda Dori.
Yanaka is the oldest area in Tokyo and I've come across other suggestions for visiting it.   It's only about a half hour walk from Minowa station so maybe we could do it on Sunday before Juan and Mandy arrive.  The route goes along the Nippori fabric street as well.

Walking Route from Minowa Station to Yanaka Ginza