Dear friends, colleagues and those who have expressed an interest in the FOOD & CULTURE of Japan:   W…

Before mechanical refrigeration was available, people throughout the world struggled with keeping fresh food f…

Takénoko (bamboo) shoots that are left to grow become mature pole-like bamboo trees.The youngest, most tender,…

The world’s oldest known cookbook, “The Art of Cooking,” attributed to Marcus Gavius Apicius…

Like many foods the Japanese currently enjoy, its likely that miso originated in China and traveled by way of …

Kumquats are called kinkan 金柑 in Japanese, meaning “golden citrus.” The scientific name is Citrus …

The potato is native to the Americas; the Incas are believed to have been the first to cultivate wild tubers a…

How are the three objects pictured above — a broom, a bright pink bush and a package of greenish-black s…

Farmers around the world deploy “scarecrows” to guard their crops from undesirable flying, crawling, and burro…

OBON, the summertime holiday season in Japan, is when the spirits of the departed are believed to return to th…