Feb

In the Kitchen with OIC: A Fun Japanese Food Tour!

by Joyce McGreevy on February 2, 2021

Yuma Wada serves sushi in Tokyo, the setting for his Japanese food tour and trivia night. (Image © by Yuma Wada/ Ninja Food Tours)

What could be fresher than sushi made from Japan’s catch of the day?
© Yada Wama/ Ninja Food Tours

Yuma Wada Turns Trivia into Virtual Travel to Tokyo

A funny thing happened on the way to Yuma Wada’s Japanese food tour and trivia night. You know how it is. One minute you’re folding the laundry or microwaving leftovers. Next minute you’re at a fish market in Tokyo.

Maybe I should explain.

Collectively speaking, it was an ordinary weeknight, work had stolen our weekend, the kids were restless, and supper smelled . . . uninspiring. We’d all been “at home” nearly 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, for eleven long months.

We —me and several others from ages 9 to 65—needed a change of scene. Appetizing experiences and cultural insight. Creativity in good company. Something fun. (Remember fun?) And so, from coast to coast, country to country, we converged on Tokyo. Virtually, of course.

Shoppers stroll a scenic street in Tokyo, the setting for Yuma Wada’s online Japanese food tour and trivia night. (Image © by Yuma Wada/ Ninja Food Tours)

A much-missed travel pleasure: exploring dream destinations on foot.
© Yuma Wada/ Ninja Food Tours

“Honey? Just popping out to Japan. Back in an hour.”

There to greet us was Yuma Wada. Tokyo restaurateur, licensed sake sommelier, and self-trained sushi chef, Yuma is the founder of Ninja Food Tours.

“I grew up in a family that runs a traditional Japanese sweets factory, so food is something I cannot run away from,” he says.

While Yuma’s own journey started in Japan, he arrived at his calling by way of a background in corporate finance and extensive travels across Europe and the United States. He found other countries’ versions of Japanese food interesting—in a good way.

Sake is poured into a ceramic cup in Tokyo, the setting for Yuma Wada’s online Japanese food tour and trivia night. (Image © by Yuma Wada/ Ninja Food Tours)

“Nihonshu wa ryori wo erabanai.” Highly versatile, “sake never fights with food.”
© Yuma Wada/ Ninja Food Tours

Okay, there were occasional causes for bemusement. Like the “Japanese” restaurant in Wisconsin that served Korean and Thai food. Or the California bar that served “sake bombs,” shot glasses of sake tossed into beer, which was then knocked back for maximum ill effect. Not quite the Japanese custom of savoring a fine rice wine.

“When I saw that,” says Yuma diplomatically, “I was like, oh wow, this country is something different.”

Yet wherever he went (including Wisconsin), Yuma found that people loved Japanese food and were somewhat familiar with its variety. Wouldn’t it be exciting to extend their range and provide the cultural context?

Oh, Tokyo!

Yuma returned home with a whole new purpose. He founded a tour company and brought other passionate foodies onboard. Together, they created a rich banquet of local experiences—guided walks, cooking classes, online food shows, blogs detailing hidden gems, and more.

Wada Yuma samples Japanese food with fellow Ninja Food Tours tour guides in Tokyo, the setting for his Japanese food tour and trivia night. (Image © by Yuma Wada/ Ninja Food Tours)

Global locals: Yuma with fellow Ninjas Julia, Nathan, and Amanda.
Julia, un amante Giappone, (“fan of Japan”) grew up in Italy, Amanda in Quebec.
© Yuma Wada/ Ninja Food Tours

Three years later, Ninja Food Tours was garnering top-ten ratings in a city that welcomed 15 million visitors a year. Ninja Food Tours drew visitors from around the world to Tokyo, Kyoto, and Osaka. Yuma’s work was being featured on CNN and other major news channels. Meanwhile, Japan had spent more than $25 billion on preparations for the Olympics.

Then the world went into lock-down.

So . . . No Tokyo?

Today, most of us can’t visit our local Japanese restaurants, let alone Japan. So Yuma has come up with a clever way to bring Japan to us—a simple but surprisingly rich hour of virtual travel. Presented as a trivia quiz, it’s also:

a quest for culinary inspiration
a family-friendly tour
a delightful way to socialize
a primer for in-person travel to Japan

Unlike a travel documentary, it offers plenty of interaction. Unlike a cooking class, there’s no prep needed. You’ll come away with a feast of insights into Japanese food, even if you already know your ikura from your izakaya.

Meet the New Chef—You!

The premise of the quiz is half the fun: You’re welcomed as a newly hired chef in Tokyo. As part of your culinary training, you tag along with a master chef who presents you with challenges. Together, you explore Japan’s biggest fish market, the city’s kitchenware capital, and more.

Ninja Food Tours tour guide Kaz displays a chef’s deba knife in Tokyo, the setting for Yuma Wada’s online Japanese food tour and trivia night. (Image © by Yuma Wada/ Ninja Food Tours)

Your master chef (portrayed by Ninja guide Kaz) shares cutting-edge culinary skills.
© Yuma Wada/ Ninja Food Tours

Now I can’t say too much, or I’d give away trivia-quiz answers. But what I can share is that the challenges are varied, creative, and instructive. The quiz is an icebreaker, fun to play with folks you know or folks you’ve just met. You can apply much of what you learn the next time you cook at home or order take-out.

Yuma Wada’s Sake Bar Doron is close to Shinjuku Station in Tokyo, in Tokyo, the setting for his online Japanese food tour and trivia night. (Image © by Yuma Wada/ Ninja Food Tours)

One of my first stops in Tokyo will be Yuma’s restaurant, Sake Bar Doron.
© Yuma Wada/ Ninja Food Tours

Memories of Travels Past Future

Given my thwarted plans to visit Japan in 2020, I was surprised at what I gleaned from this Japanese food tour—virtual travel, for sure. In addition to expanding my culinary skills, I got my questions answered on everything from etiquette and edible gardening to locally-beloved, less touristed neighborhoods. Oh, I see: I now have good memories of a place I’ve not yet been. And the happy prospect of saying, “Kon’nichiwa, Yuma! It’s so nice to see you again.”

Yuma Wada is beta-testing a new Japanese Food Trivia Night. Join FREE—until February 5. Register here.
Join all live events—Japanese Food Trivia Night, here; Sake Class, here; Kitchenware Shopping in Kappabashi, here.
Follow Ninja Food Tours on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube.
Dining solo? Discover food-themed Japanese shows, here. (I love “Midnight Diner.”)

Comment on the post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Joyce McGreevy 4 Comments

Cultural Heritage & Traditions/Japan/The World's Chefs

Jul

Crossing Cultures in an Urban Garden

by Meredith Mullins on July 20, 2020

A cultural exchange via the sweet potato
© Meredith Mullins

A Tribute to Satsuma-imo: The Mighty Japanese Sweet Potato

“In Japan, in autumn, it is customary to collect fallen leaves, put sweet potatoes wrapped in aluminum foil in the leaves, and light the fallen leaves to bake them,” remembers Chiharu. “When I was a child I did this at my grandparents’ home. It was a special time of cooking and eating together.”

“Instead of ice cream trucks circling the neighborhoods to offer treats, we had stone-roasted sweet potato trucks,” says Midori of her childhood in Japan.

Stone roasted sweet potatoes
© iStock/kendoNice

Manami remembers planting sweet potatoes in elementary school and being excited when it was time to harvest the tiny schoolroom crop. And Hisako looked forward to sweet potatoes at snack time. “They warmed my body and my spirit,” she recalls.

Memories of the traditional Japanese sweet potato snack
© iStock/LewisTsePuiLung

Sweet Memories

What unites these memories of sweet potatoes is more than just nostalgia for Japanese culture. This team of Paris-based Japanese garden-lovers are all working in “Le Nid de l’Ortolan” — crossing cultures in a community garden in the heart of Paris.

A team of community gardeners at the rooftop Le Nid de l’Ortolan garden
© Jean Auvray

And thanks to an innovative, cross-cultural idea from garden organizer Julien Chameroy, sweet potatoes are the focus of the moment (as well as a unique opportunity for a Japanese/French liaison project).

Patate douce/Sweet Potato/Satsuma-imo
© Julien Chameroy

Julien, too, had memories of sweet potatoes from his time living in Japan—hearing street vendors hawking grilled sweet potatoes and seeing people hurrying through the streets while taking bites of the warm, sweet treat.

Satsuma-imo: the delicious and nutritious Japanese sweet potato
© iStock/kuppa_rock

More than those memories, though, the Frenchman believes the sweet potato is a nutrient-rich vegetable that should have a place in the Paris community garden. And, he believes that learning about a plant—how it grows and what it needs in order to flourish—are all a part of the connection to nature.

Does food taste different when you grow it yourself?
© Meredith Mullins

His garden mantra: “The more you know about a vegetable, the better it tastes.”

Thus, the Satsuma-imo project was born, with a group of passionate Japanese amateur gardeners at the ready.

The team is ready for the life cycle of the sweet potato (satsuma-imo).
© Meredith Mullins

But First Some History: Le Nid de l’Ortolan

The site of the Satsuma-imo project, Le Nid de l’Ortolan, is a community garden born in 2017—a “nest” perched atop a gymnasium in the 5^tharrondissement of Paris (near rue Mouffetard).

The shared garden idea was seeded a few years earlier when founders Julien Chameroy and Joyce Sasse were working in a community garden in the 4^tharrondissement and realized there was no such jardin partagé in the 5^th.

The corn is as high as an elephant’s eye (well, a small elephant).
© Meredith Mullins

They found the unused plot of “roof” land and went through all the phases of joining the Charte Main Verte (literally translated to Green Hand, but, in English, think Green Thumb).

This city organization of now more than 70 neighborhood gardens in almost all the arrondissements was created to encourage urban gardening, to support education about nature and the environment, and to bring communities together in a more social way.

The “Nid” sits on a gym rooftop and is guarded by a retirement home,
whose residents also participate in the garden activities.
© Meredith Mullins

All of these goals also support Paris Mayor Anne Hidalgo’s ever present plan for the “greening of Paris.”

The “Nid” has about 50 members divided into teams that rotate each year so everyone gets to know everyone. Since the “Nid” sits next to a retirement home, the members of that community are invited to participate also.

The teams decide in January what to plant, and the 240-square-meter space currently hosts beans, chard, squash, spinach, cucumbers, sunflowers strawberries, potatoes, artichokes, rhubarb, peppers, garlic, lettuce, broccoli, herbs of all kinds, and much more.

The telltale signs of squash to come
© Meredith Mullins

The Satsuma-imo Japanese Team

Each member of the Japanese sweet potato team seems to share the overarching goals of the community garden. They all want to see more green spaces in urban areas, particularly in Paris. And they all want to spend more time close to nature.

In the process of the Satsuma-imo project, they are learning about the variety of plants grown in France and the different ways these plants are consumed in France and Japan.

The Paris garden is growing crosnes, also known as a Japanese artichoke.
It’s a forgotten root vegetable that some chefs call the homely tuber.
© Meredith Mullins

You could tell by watching them work that they love touching the earth and feeling a part of the growing cycle. As Chiharu says, “Just thinking about this garden brightens my heart.”

Feeling a connection to the earth
© Meredith Mullins

The Sweet Potato Project

The satsuma-imo project began at a challenging time. Just after the start of the project, France went into a two-month corona confinement period. However, the timing proved serendipitous, as sweet potato seedlings must grow for at least a month to become ready for planting.

Chiharu shows off her sweet potato seedling “children.”
© Meredith Mullins

The seedlings were closely watched in the homes of the gardeners, a small pleasure during a time of little external stimulus.

“They took care of those seedlings as if they were their own children,” Julien says proudly. “And, when it comes to a plant, that makes a difference.”

Midori’s “confinement” seedlings were finally ready.
© Meredith Mullins

The Garden After Lockdown

When lockdown was finally lifted, the garden needed serious tending. First, the battle of the weeds took place (the weeds lost).

The battle of the weeds (the weeds lost)
© Meredith Mullins

Then, it was time to ready the soil for the planting of the sweet potato seedlings.

Choosing the best spots for the satsuma-imo seedlings
© Meredith Mullins

All systems were go. “The team was exceptional, always positive and humble,” Julien said. “It was not a case of ‘me, myself, and I,’ it was ‘what can WE do together to make this work.’”

The plants are now settling in to the warmth of the summer sun and will be ready for a late September or early October harvest.

The sweet potatoes have been gently planted and are now settling in for summer sun.
© Meredith Mullins

The Next Chapter

Aside from having the chance to speak in Japanese for a few hours every week and have a sweet potato harvest party in September, the real raison d’etre of all the Japanese community gardeners is to be close to nature.

“We need to re-create the bond we lost with nature as a whole and between ourselves. Nature has an incredible power to heal.” Julien believes. “We must work with nature, not against it.”

Working with nature, not against it
© Meredith Mullins

And so, after the sweet potato harvest in September—and a celebration of Satsuma-imo memories past and present—the team will plant fava beans immediately—to give back to the soil what the sweet potatoes needed to take.

Oh, I see. Crossing cultures continues on many levels . . . for humans and nature. The cycle continues in this urban garden, and life goes on.

Part of the Satsuma-imo Team (Julien, Manami, Midori, Hisako, and Chiharu)
© Meredith Mullins

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

For more information about Le Nid de l’Ortolan, visit their Facebook page. For more information about the Paris urban gardens, visit Charte Main Verte/Jardins Partagé.

Meredith Mullins 2 Comments

Crossing Cultures/France/Japan/Nature Discovery

Aug

Cultural Encounters with a Competitive Edge

by Meredith Mullins on August 12, 2019

Bullfrog who is part of one of the most bizarre competitions in the world and also a part of the cultural encounters of competitions around the world. (Image ©

Is this the celebrated jumping frog of Calaveras County?
© iStock/Stevelenzphoto

Five of the Most Fascinating Competitions in the World

Grab your frog, your worm, your spouse, your crying baby, your cheese-chasing outfit, your cherry pits, your cockroaches, and your mustache wax.

Let the games begin.

From Calaveras frog jumping, to British cheese chasing, to Japanese baby crying, to Finnish wife carrying, to Indian mustache competitions, it’s time for some competitive cultural encounters.

What is it that drives us to compete . . . besides that thrill of victory? And, more to the point, what is it that drives us to compete in competitions unique to our cultures?

Most competitors in these kinds of contests say the same thing: it’s just fun.

But it may also be the cultural connection. Often, the competition is part of a country’s traditions and customs, shared with pride.

We will leave cherry pit spitting, worm charming, and cockroach racing for another day and focus here on an OIC Moments introduction to five of the world’s most fascinating competitions.

Hip hop at its best
Courtesy of Frogtown

A Hip Hop Dream: The Calaveras Frog Jumping Competition

Mark Twain made this competition famous in his first well-known short story, “The Celebrated Jumping Frog of Calaveras County,” based on a tale he heard in a bar in Angel’s Camp, California during the gold rush.

A bar bet was offered that the jumping frog “Dan’l Webster” could outjump any frog around. A city slicker visitor took the bet and, while Dan’l Webster’s owner went to get the city slicker a frog to compete, the visitor filled Dan’l Webster with buckshot.

When the race started, Dan’l Webster was, as Mark Twain described, “planted like a building.” He was so heavy he could not jump. So the city slicker’s frog won the race and the $40 bet.

Fast forward to the present, where, each May in Angel’s Camp (since 1928), the frog jumping competition continues (minus the buckshot).

Frogs, like current champion Rosie the Ribeter (holding the world record since 1986 of nearly 22 inches), Jumping Jack Flash, E. Davey Croakett, Springs, You Can Croak, San Francisco Warty Niners, and Will B Happening, compete to jump the farthest, cheered on and guided by their frog jockeys.

Slum Frog Millionaire may hold the record for the worst jump, says his frog jockey.
© Merita Callaway

The frogs rest at the “frog spa” until it’s their turn to race. Then they are placed on a small green faux lily pad. They must start with all four feet (including toes) on this “launch” pad.

The next three hops are what count, and must be completed within one minute.

The frog jockeys, naturally, want their frogs to jump in a straight line. However, frogs have their own idea about how, where, and when to hop, making the competition a bit unpredictable.

Some frogs just sit (an homage to Dan’l Webster?), even though their jockeys are yelling, pounding on the stage, and doing anything they can think of to motivate their frog.

How do you motivate a frog?
Courtesy of Frogtown

Some frogs place height rather than distance as a priority, and some make a good first jump but then zig zag or U-turn resulting in a short measurement or even a negative distance.

If a frog breaks Rosie the Ribeter’s world record, an additional $5,000 is part of the prize. However, no recent frog has come close to the 1986 record.

So . . . search for that perfect frog from that secret place for the 2020 competition and begin the training regime. And don’t worry . . . be hoppy.

Extreme Cheese

What better way to welcome spring than to tumble down a steep hill in pursuit of a wheel of Double Gloucester cheese?

The annual Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake in the Gloucestershire, England countryside attracts locals as well as daredevils (or cheeselovers?) from around the world.

The competition, which is thought to have begun long ago as a pagan rite of spring, has been popular since the 1800s and was first mentioned in writing in 1826.

The thrill must be in the “journey,” not the “destination,” since no one ever catches the cheese. The Double Gloucester gets a head start and is heavy enough to reach speeds of up to 70 miles per hour.

The contestants, on the other hand, slide, stumble, dive, somersault, flip, fly, and bounce like rubber balls down Cooper’s Hill—like toy humans whose owners should know better than to hurl their breakable bodies down such a steep slope.

Every year, there are injuries such as fractured bones, bruises, sprains, dislocations, and torn muscles. But everyone seems to have a good time, in spite of the inherent danger. If it’s misty or raining (as it often is in the Cotswolds), the steep hill becomes even more challenging.

Not only do the competitors have to scramble down the hill in pursuit of the cheese, they have to claw their way up the hill to position themselves for the start of the race.

The competition is so wrought with injuries that the official competition was closed in 2010. The rogue competition continues.

If video does not display, watch it here.

The winner is awarded the wheel of Double Gloucester cheese—made by the same cheesemaker for the past 30+ years). (It is interesting to note that during WW II rationing, the competition used a wooden cheese with a tiny bit of real cheese in the center.)

What is the secret to success? As one of the past winners offered, “If you go fast from the beginning, the hill will do the rest.”

What seems to work best is a basic philosophy of reckless abandon.

Why Would You Want To Make a Baby Cry?

The Naki Sumo baby crying competition has the answer to why it’s not cruel to make a baby cry—and why a parent pays $150 to enter a baby in this competition.

In the case of this 400-year-old Japanese tradition, the baby’s cries ward off evil spirits as well as portending good health for the baby who breaks into tears first. (A rare instance where being good natured doesn’t count for much.)

The April competition takes place at several Japanese shrines, but the most famous event is at the Sensoji Temple in Tokyo.

Babies compete in pairs and are held by sumo wrestlers who are, on their own, some might say a bit scary. But it is up to the sumo referee to incorporate clever scare tactics to get the babies to cry.

The referee can wear a mask (often the bird demon tengu), can shout, or can just yell Nake Nake (Cry! Cry!).

The first baby to cry is the winner. If the babies cry at the same time, the loudest crier is the winner.

If video does not display, watch it here.

Strength and Endurance in Wife Carrying

Some competitors in the Wife-Carrying Competition seem to think its Finnish origin is because, after a long dark winter, people just want to go a bit crazy.

Others believe the tradition of Wife Carrying has deep roots in local history. In the Finnish legend, “Ronkainen the Robber,” a gang of men pillage villages and carry the women off on their backs to marry them.

Today, in Sonkajärvi, Finland, the Wife-Carrying Competition takes place on a 278-yard obstacle course that is said to be the distance needed to be safe from these pursuers of yore.

The man carries the woman through the course on a sand track with several obstacles, including waist-high water.

A challenging obstacle course makes wife carrying more difficult than you might think.
© Nick Lambert/Sunday River Resort

The woman doesn’t have to be the wife of the man. The man can convince his wife, “steal a wife” (or so say the organizers), or select any woman who is willing to be carried through an obstacle course on his back.

The woman must be at least 18 years of age and weigh at least 108 pounds (although these rules may differ depending on the country of the competition). Some competitions require helmets for the women; some do not.

The winner receives the trophy, as well as the “wife’s” weight in beer. Awards are also given to the most entertaining couple, the best costume, and the strongest carrier.

Wife Carrying is gaining popularity around the world. Competitions are also held in North America, Poland, Australia, China, and England.

Mustache Magnificence

There are mustache and beard competitions around the world, where categories like most creative beard, most realistic mustache, most Dali-esque mustache, best Fu Manchu, best sideburns, and fullest beard are in the spotlight. Countries vie to be the next facial hair leader.

For a different kind of contest, we travel to India and the mustache competition at the Pushkar Camel Fair, where length, creativity, and volume are the focus of attention.

Men grow their mustaches for years in anticipation of entering the competition. They arrive with their mustaches tightly coiled or carefully woven, so that they can unfurl them dramatically for the crowds.

Some swing their mustaches like lassos. Some raise their arms triumphantly, mustache ends in each hand. Some just strut and smile because they know their mustaches are enviable. They don’t need to win a prize to tell them that.

Each year that these unique competitions occur, they become more embedded in the culture’s customs and traditions. Yes, everyone is there to have fun, but they’re also part of a cultural encounter, which gives them further insight into the country’s traditions. And that makes the competitions even more meaningful.

To prepare for next year’s fascinating competitions:

Calaveras Frog Jumping at Frogtown in Angel’s Camp: May 14-17, 2020

Cooper’s Hill Cheese-Rolling and Wake in Gloucestershire, England: May 25, 2020

Baby Crying Competition in Tokyo, Japan: April 26, 2020 (Of course to enter this one, you have to have a baby born in 2019.)

Wife Carrying Competition in Finland: July 2020

Wife Carrying Competition in North America: October 12, 2019, Sunday River Resort

Pushkar Camel Fair in India: November 4-12, 2019