Tag - japanese-cuisine

 
 

JAPANESE CUISINE

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.
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.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Feb 9, 2025
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.
Though vegan restaurants have been on the upswing since 2017, Japanese vegans still lack a wide variety of options.
ENVIRONMENT / Sustainability / OUR PLANET
Jan 29, 2025
In meat- and fish-loving Japan, veganism is making a comeback
Tourism, climate goals and animal rights concerns are sparking a plant-based renaissance in a country famous for sushi and pork ramen.
Yellowtail caught during the coldest period of the year is delicious enough — but paired with a classic method of marinade and pan-searing, it's divine.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Washoku Essentials
Jan 29, 2025
For two weeks only, cold-water yellowtail can give you chills
According to Japan’s hyperseasonal calendar, January brings with it the chance for yellowtail at the peak of flavor.
"A Very Asian Guide to Japanese Food" is the first edition of the Asia-centric series to focus on rice balls, fermented soybeans and other Japanese staples.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 19, 2025
For kids, Japanese food ‘is a doorway to exploration’
Begun as a response to Asian-directed violence during the pandemic, the “Very Asian” series of cookbooks-slash-cultural primers turns its gaze toward Japan.
'Dorayaki' (red bean paste-filled pancakes) are humble treats with delicate sweetness — and the two Tokyo shops who may have created the treat are similarly light-handed in the way they pursue their claims as the originator of the morsel.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 12, 2025
‘Dorayaki’ creators say flavors trump the dessert’s murky origins
More modern than you may think, filled ‘dorayaki’ pancakes have a past almost as sweet as the treat itself.
Pan-roasted baby beets, carrots, turnips and orange may be an otherwise American dish, but Sonoko Sakai's addition of lemon-miso yogurt turns it into a 'wafū' (Japanese style) marvel.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 12, 2025
The case for Japan-ifying everything you cook
“Wafu Cooking: Everyday Recipes with Japanese Style” coins the term “wafuing” — shorthand for bringing Japanese flavors into anything and everything.
At the new L'Abysse Osaka, Yannick Alleno both pays homage to and casts aside the tradition around Japan's national dish.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Jan 5, 2025
Now in Osaka, Yannick Alleno wants ‘flavors people have never experienced’
Opened in late October, Sushi L'Abysse Osaka is the Michelin-starred chef’s first outpost in Asia.
Japan's traditional New Year cuisine has a long history, though modern developments have led to slight changes in the way things work.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Dec 22, 2024
A brief history of ‘osechi ryōri,' Japan's edible tradition for the new year
In addition to wordplay, color and shape often determine the reason why certain foods are part of Japan’s New Year holiday menu.
Originally from Hiroshima, chef Kenichi Nishi moved to Yaizu, Shizuoka Prefecture, to have better access to the top-flight seafood of Sasue Maeda.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Destination Restaurants
Nov 17, 2024
Chisou Nishi Kenichi: Modern French with unrivaled Shizuoka seafood
When a chef relocates to be within walking distance of his favorite fishmonger, you know the fish must be truly special.
In Japan, these sweet morsels are a traditional New Year's treat, but they share a surprising overlap with American Thanksgiving flavors, too.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Washoku Essentials
Nov 10, 2024
The winter sweet that matches perfectly with autumn
If I’m in America for Thanksgiving, I’ll serve "kuri kinton" (syrup-stewed chestnuts in sweet potato paste) as a festive accompaniment to the holiday turkey.
Yukio Hattori was an integral part of "Iron Chef" broadcasts, though his impact on food culture in Japan went far beyond the TV screen.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Oct 27, 2024
Remembering Yukio Hattori, the voice of ‘Iron Chef’
Yukio Hattori was best known to international audiences as the expert commentator on the original Japanese version of the popular TV program “Iron Chef,”
Yoshinobu Kimura is not afraid to break the accepted norms when it comes to devising surprising new sips for Sushi M.
LIFE / Food & Drink / Kanpai Culture
Oct 6, 2024
Sake, coffee and fish bones: Anything goes for Sushi M’s cocktails
Yoshinobu Kimura's experiments with coffee, cocktails and sushi are just one facet of his boundary-pushing philosophy.
A scene from "Whale Restaurant," a documentary film about whale food culture in Japan
JAPAN / Society
Sep 30, 2024
Documentary on whale food culture in Japan showing in U.S.
Director Keiko Yagi said she found it difficult to find theaters that would agree to show the film.
Hokkaido's cuisine and the culture that underpins it get top billing in Tim Anderson's newest cookbook.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 15, 2024
‘MasterChef U.K.’ winner’s new cookbook puts Hokkaido cuisine on vivid display
Tim Anderson's cookbook covers a lot, but its strength is in presenting Japan’s largest prefecture as a detailed tapestry via straightforward recipes.
Aeon is selling an assortment of 'osechi' (traditional New Year's cuisine) curated with the support of artificial intelligence.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 13, 2024
AI fried chicken, retro chic collabs: Retailers rebrand Japan's New Year's cuisine
Major department stores and supermarkets are trying unorthodox methods to entice younger generations to buy traditional New Year's dishes in Japan.
Few in Japan may be more passionate about the 'onigiri' (rice ball) than Yumiko Ukon, owner of an onigiri specialty shop in Tokyo's Otsuka neighborhood.
LIFE / Food & Drink
Sep 8, 2024
‘When I die, I would like to come back as a rice ball’
There’s no denying the cultural significance of the ‘onigiri’ (rice ball). But there comes a point where an onigiri is surely just an onigiri.

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