These larger than life meatballs are inspired by the stuffed meatballs found in Iran's Tabriz Bazaar.
LIFE / Food & Drink / The Recipe Box
Feb 23, 2025
Cold with a chance of kimchi meatballs
Warm up with a comforting hot pot of ground meat stuffed with the Korean fermented vegetable.
Created by a Hokkaido workshop, this Camembert represents the vanguard of Japanese cheeses no longer content with a reputation as low-quality, processed slices.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 16, 2025
Fresh off awards, Japanese cheese seeks a taste ‘unique to this land’
A growing number of Japanese cheesemakers are gaining international recognition, and some are aiming for a new frontier of flavor.
No South American fare is complete without empanadas, one of the traditional recipes in Kiera Wright-Ruiz's cookbook.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 16, 2025
Chewing on race, culture and 'okonomiyaki' quesadillas
Kiera Wright-Ruiz’s debut cookbook serves up deep thoughts on her biracial heritage alongside delicious recipes.
Born from the necessities of the Edo Period, this method of preparing and serving daikon is a small way to make a tiny dent in your weekly grocery bill.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 16, 2025
Cut and dried daikon: A time-tested frugal treat
Take some sting out of inflation by stocking up on this preserved radish you can serve in stews and salads.
Together, Shinsuke Yamagai (right) and his younger brother, Ryota, have elevated the cuisine at Shintaku, putting it on the map as one of Niigata Prefecture’s premier gastronomic destinations.
Brothers’ local focus lifts Shintaku to Niigata’s highest rank
From the ashes of a devastating 2005 fire, Shinsuke and Ryota Yamagai have remade their family’s historic Niigata restaurant into a beacon of Japanese gastronomy.
Arranging your dish in this checkerboard pattern is said to bring good luck, but if that holds true for eating this to start the year, what's stopping you from cooking in a bit of good fortune whenever you need it?
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 9, 2025
Some traditional Japanese culinary rules are meant to be broken
It might tick off Japanese cuisine purists, but there’s room on the table for classic new year ‘osechi ryōri’ dishes whenever you please.
Ramen with simmered tuna cheek meat and soup made from bluefin tuna bones in Tokyo's Koto Ward
LIFE / Food & Drink
Feb 4, 2025
Novel seafood noodles become flavor of the moment in Tokyo
Noodles served with tuna, yellowtail, whale meat or other ingredients are gaining in popularity.

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Pedestrians commute through Shibuya Station in central Tokyo, an area that is almost never devoid of people.
As the rest of Japan shrinks, Tokyo grows