Takénoko (bamboo) shoots that are left to grow become mature pole-like bamboo trees.The youngest, most tender, barely breaking-through-the-ground shoots, however, are edible after brief parboiling (instructions on how to do this in this month’s KITCHEN CULTURE Blog).  The flavor potential of takénoko can be awoken in many ways. Indeed, bamboo shoots easily become the focus of a menu, served…

The world’s oldest known cookbook, “The Art of Cooking,” attributed to Marcus Gavius Apicius (AD 14–37) contains a “recipe” for garum, a funky fish sauce made by layering fatty fish with salt and packing the mix in clay pots. When set in the hot sun for several months, the contents of the pots fermented. The fermented…

Akila Inouye runs the Tsukiji Soba Academy in Tokyo. A fan of molecular cuisine, his teaching method relies on getting to know the history of soba, grasping the underlying chemistry of its preparation and of course cooking and eating them in different ways. In November 2023 I embarked on a research trip to Japan for…

This collective offers illustrators the chance to represent the Japanese capital by adapting the style of covers from ‘The New Yorker’. With regard to press illustration, the publication that has long been considered an international reference is The New Yorker, founded in 1925. Across the world, graphic designers have since paid homage to the American magazine,…

On April 14th 2023 I hosted an online session called “Slow prosperity: Empathy and Business” with 6th generation Japanese master craftsman Takahiro Yagi of Kaikado. Kaikado has been making tea caddies – 茶筒, chazutsu – since 1875. The wide-ranging conversation followed some of the topics covered in Taka’s book, “共感と商い” (“Empathy and Business”), published in March 2023, and…

Do tomatoes taste better when eaten from a nice Japanese ceramic plate? Objectively, no. But the experience of serving and eating the tomatoes does improve. That is because human experience is not limited just to the physical characteristics of the food but how we interact with it, from the sensorial stimulation to the meaning we…

  Japanese poster design reflects the country’s rich visual culture and printmaking  tradition, and was used throughout the 20th century to represent the country to domestic and international audiences. Two world wars in addition to rapid industrialization, urbanization, and the rise of mass media fundamentally transformed modern Japan, and its specific journey as both an…

The connection between maker and owner I love product catalogues. When I was a kid I spent hours flipping through the LEGO booklets that my parents would bring back from their trips abroad (LEGO was not widely available in Argentina in the ‘80s). I would check out every detail of the sets featured in those…

Despite being far less visited than the other islands of Okinawa, Kumejima offers natural treasures and invaluable craftsmanship. When travellers think about the island of Okinawa, it’s the eponymous island that comes to mind first, or the traditional Taketomi. Kumejima, however, which covers an area of 59 km2 and has 8000 residents, has its fair share…

Through the initiation story of a young city dweller, this graphic novel pays homage to the community of the ‘women of the sea’. Japan in the late 1960s. Nagisa, a young, chaste Tokyoite, meets her aunt Isoé on Hegura Island to escape from her past and family dramas. Far from the frantic pace of life…