Food in Japan

It is said that the Japanese "eat with their eyes"—meaning that the food not only has to taste good, it has to LOOK good as well. The quality of food in Japan, at least what we saw and tasted, is remarkable. We ate lots of things that we didn't recognize and some we did, but the basic ingredients were usually fresh fish, soy, rice, vegetables and seaweed in various forms. We loved almost all of it (the fermented soy beans for breakfast were a bit much for the girls, and the baby bee larva in soy surprised us all).

Since we were there in the fall, we saw a lot of the harvest, but of special note were the two kinds of persimmons. The first we saw and tasted in Hokkaido. They were slightly squarish and had a sweet fresh taste almost akin to a mango. The second was the rounded variety that we are more familiar with that can really make you pucker. The heavily laden

Ships made entirely of vegetables at the Fresh Vegetable Harvest Festival in Tokyo

persimmon trees, already bereft of leaves, were being harvested, the fruit peeled, cut in strips and hung to dry outside houses until the air becomes sweet all around Fujimi.

We didn't recognize the grapes offered at the Angel household because they were as big as plums. We were advised to peel them though, because of all the chemicals used in their production. On the train from Tokyo to Jeremy's house in Fujimi to the north of Tokyo, we had seen many tree branches covered with many small white paper bags. When we asked Jeremy about it, he replied that these were tied over apples (and possibly pears) to protect them from the cold "and when you see the price of a Japanese apple, you'll know why!" (they ran about $3 each—in 1996).

Our dinner at the ryokan in Hokkaido was so bountiful and beautiful we could hardly describe it all. But my favorite was the trout that had been formed into bends and skewered to look like it was still swimming up stream—then broiled with a lightly breaded crisp outer skin and moist tender meat. There were also little tied packets made of vegetables and stuffed with rice or other delicacies. And whole huge crabs that looked like a cross between spider and king crab, sukiyaki, tempura, pickles of various sorts, miso soup and rice.

Every dinner at the Hata household was special. The first night we had blowfish that Dr. Hata had brought especially from Kyushu, the southernmost island of Japan where he had been on business. This was a delicacy that George had been "dying" to taste because of the stories of its potential danger from the release of deadly toxins. It seems that you can only eat fish from certain places, at certain times of the year, and then only if it is handled by certain certified people. To do otherwise is to play a deadly game of Japanese blowfish roulette. Dr. Hata was the chef, and he hadn't had any sleep for two days, so when Etsuko grabbed her throat and acted like she was poisoned, there was much commotion around the table. This was just the first glimpse of Etsuko's puckish humor, and the fish we had was delicious and safe. I can see why people would take the risk.

Our last night at the farm the Hata's had a sushi party, with everything from ikura (salmon roe) to soba (buckwheat noodle) sushi, and an assortment of sashimi as well.* All the folks we had met on the farm popped in, and a talented friend played blues on his guitar while Asumi's son played great drums (well!) on everything in sight. Etsuko, who was a singer for five years before coming to the farm, sang, as did the Hata's (songs of their own devising), and some of us danced. What a wonderful evening and memory!

When Mutsuguro cooks, he gets his creative juices flowing with the same passion he has with writing and life, and he easily creates new dishes. We sampled one recipe from Japan during the sushi party.

Mutsuguro's "Moulin Rouge Sushi"

I don't really know the basics about making sushi, but from what I can tell, begin with a good quality, cold, cooked sticky (short-grain) rice that is formed into a ball about the size of a walnut (I think it has just a bit of vinegar in it too). The rice is then wrapped in a sheet of nori (seaweed) about 2" by 3", creating a little pillow of rice for some delicacy to rest on, and leaving a little empty well at the top of about 1/4 to 1/2 inch on which to place it. Place a small chunk (about 1" square by 1/4 " thick-enough to sort of cover the rice) of good goose liver and truffle pate' on top of the rice (and the nori wall), and top with about 1/4 teaspoon of minced garlic.

The result is a real delight!

*The difference between sashimi and sushi is that the former is thin slivers of raw fish, the latter usually features a bed of sticky rice and a wrapper of "nori" (paper thin flavored seaweed). Both are served with shoyu (soy sauce) and wasabi (hot ground horseradish). Usually the sushi has the wasabi tucked inside it.
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