Simmered In Miso
So welcome to Simmered in Miso where we explore foods in Japan that we don’t often get to try as foreigners and dive into a little bit of Japanese culture as well.
This series was born out of two things. First, I recently got married and my husband is Japanese. We share almost all of the household duties and tasks, but I like to cook so I decided to take that on. I realized pretty quickly that I didn’t know how to make half of the foods he grew up eating and realized how limited my knowledge was about Japanese cuisine. Just One Cookbook can only get a girl so far. Now mind you, he’s never complained about anything I’ve ever made for us, in fact he’s always happy about trying new foods and having time for us to sit down together for dinner whether we’re eating Greek chicken or quick whip up ramen. So, I started thinking about where I could find recipes and dishes for things and found myself overwhelmed and clueless as to where to begin. That brings me to the second half of why I wanted to start this series.
While having dinner together, my husband and I occasionally watch something on TV and one day he suggested this show on Netflix called Kodoku no Gurume, which means solitary gourmet. It’s all about this self-employed Japanese man going about his work, having silly adventures and eating at a bunch of amazing little restaurants along the way. Basically enjoying his solitary life and the simple happinesses and moments that come from good food. It’s really great and I recommend watching it if you find yourself with some extra time and the desire to practice Japanese. While watching it there was an episode on nabe. The man, named Goro Inogashira, orders nabe and yamaimo (mountain yam) salad. My husband at that point turns and says “I really like that salad like it’s so good” and asks me if I’ve ever tried it. I again found myself realising I’ve never even heard of it let alone tried it. After watching more of Goro’s food adventures I started to see all these dishes that I wished I had known about sooner, along with remembering all the times as an ALT living on my own that I felt disconnected from everything here. So thus this series was born.
I thought while all of the ALTs who come here will undoubtedly hear about fried oysters, okonomiyaki, udon and ramen, things like sanma namero and yamaimo salad might never be something they get the chance to try, not to mention that we often spend so much time on our own and forget to take the simple pleasures that come from that and the simple connections we can gain through food. With that in mind, I’d like to share some of these dishes, how to make them and a little bit of culture associated with the places these dishes come from. Please join me for a food journey around Japan as we learn and deep dive into Japan’s cusine.
If you make any of the recipes, please take a picture of them and tag the @wideislandview on Instagram so that we can share in this foodie journey together!
Check out Episode 1: Sanma Namero
