Rick Lapointe - The Japan Times

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Apr 18, 2003

The air is clear and the food gives cheer

Now in my early 30s, I find myself no longer able to just pick up and head off for a break. Ten years ago, my friends and I would take off anywhere, just about anytime. One of our last considerations — being in motion was the first — was what to do when we got there or what to eat when the time came....

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Apr 4, 2003

You win some, you lose some

Last Saturday I cooked behind the counter of my friend Kiyomi's small restaurant on the outskirts of Kyoto City. One of his good customers was having a birthday gathering and Kiyomi's mother, who typically helps out on days like this, was in the hospital with pneumonia.

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Mar 28, 2003

Goodness gracious, great balls of rice

Just 60 years ago, preparing food was a time-consuming process that for some — mainly the suburban housewife — could occupy much of the day. Though we had long since progressed from hunter-gathering and industrialization had created a class of consumers rather than producers of food, keeping the...

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Mar 21, 2003

Nyumen: Warming noodles are just the ticket

The other day we lined up for standing-room tickets to see the grand sumo tournament here in Osaka. It must have been 10 years since I had attended a tournament — it only comes to Osaka once a year.

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Mar 7, 2003

Savor slow food in a fast-food world

There are not enough purists left in the food world. In the West, and no less here in the East, food is gradually moving toward the indistinguishable middle. The globally homogenized products of contemporary fashion, music, art and architecture can be created and received interchangeably in most of the...

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Feb 21, 2003

Good home cooking in a category all by itself

Being an enthusiastic consumer of home cooking, or sharing your home with a skilled culinarian, is no guarantee that you'll ever be able to cook decent food for yourself. Three good meals a day sometimes only serve to make one a good eater.

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Feb 14, 2003

Ultra-sweet treats to round off a kaiseki feast

The best way to close an impeccable kaiseki meal is perhaps a piece of seasonal, perfectly ripe fruit. A small pile of peeled Concord grapes or a honey-sweet muskmelon signal the time of year and leave the palate clean and refreshed. There are, however, a few popular washoku desserts that may be prepared...

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Jan 31, 2003

Rice works well as a finale or as the main event

When dining at a fine Japanese restaurant, after the raw, fried, vinegared, steamed and simmered courses, if you still have room, the final savory course of rice — gohanmono — appears. It might also be called o-shokuji, or simply meshi, the colloquial word for rice.

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Dec 13, 2002

Even classics can be improved

As a mercenary chef — jumping from kitchen to kitchen, to help out for a few days or to just observe — I've picked up new and interesting ways to approach the things I've done so many times before. Even the best dish from the best chef needs an occasional reworking. Last year's plates and presentation...

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Dec 6, 2002

Rice vinegar is key to the pause that refreshes

I must admit I have never been a huge fan of televised sports. Most holidays, growing up in the eastern United States, I was in the kitchen, either cooking or dispensing advice on food and otherwise.

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Nov 24, 2002

Many different ways to play the frying game

One of the most popular washoku dishes — among Japanese and foreigners alike — is tempura. Diners seem to enjoy delicately batter-fried shrimp or fish and the dozens of vegetable combinations.

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Nov 10, 2002

Delicate pauses to refresh

There are really two kinds of restaurants.

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Nov 3, 2002

A special sauce that can travel anywhere

Not too long ago I had a chance to shrink a gap in cultural understanding. A regular customer had brought his young grandchild in to eat one afternoon, and he was eager to have the talkative boy engage me in conversation.

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Oct 27, 2002

The fish, my friend, can be dried in the wind

In empty lots close to the piers of small fishing towns, up and down the coast of Japan, stand huge drying racks, hung heavy with the gutted, cleaned and butterflied morning catch. Empty, these racks look like a fantastical gymnastic apparatus. Fully laden, they resemble rows of clotheslines strung with...

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Oct 20, 2002

Straight from the grill to the kitchen table

An expertly grilled fish stands out as one of the simplest to prepare — and most satisfying — dishes to complement crisp tsukemono pickles, a comforting bowl of miso soup and the staple of steaming hot rice. There are many incarnations of grilled fish in Japan. Almost every home is equipped with...

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Oct 13, 2002

Ni-mono is a many-splendored comfort food

When we first eat outside of the family kitchen, we realize that there is a whole different world of flavors out there. Most of the time, however, the flavors we end up longing for are the comforting tastes of the hearth that nurtured us. It's funny that even when we encounter the same dish, in new versions...

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Oct 6, 2002

Simmered veggies just like mama used to make

In a traditional Japanese restaurant's kitchen, the head chef — the oya-kata, literally the boss — wields the knife and rules the cutting board. He watches and directs each phase of food preparation, beginning with the early-morning procurement of fish. Standing close to the chef and performing an...

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Sep 22, 2002

Yes, you too can roll your own raw fish at home

Even after several years apprenticing in professional Japanese kitchens, I feel inadequate when it comes to slicing raw fish for presentation. This possibly comes from an intimate knowledge of the expertise of my mentors — though even my most astute customers may not notice a difference in quality....

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Sep 15, 2002

For that rare occasion, why not try conger eel?

The o-tsukuri course in a traditional Japanese meal generally consists of the freshest seasonal fish available, served raw and unfettered. Standard sashimi fish include tai (sea bream), hirame (flounder) and maguro (tuna). There are, however, some fish that are rarely served raw, for one of several reasons....

LIFE / Food & Drink / THE WAY OF WASHOKU

Sep 8, 2002

Tataki : a tasty starter created in a flash

After the hors d'oeuvre course is served, the first dish presented in a traditional Japanese meal is most often a course of raw fish or other meat. The general term for this course is o-tsukuri. The root of the word, tsukuru, means to make, create or — if you read into the meaning — to arrange. ...

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