Like many people, I really love ramen. I have visited lots of restaurants from Kyushu to Hokkaido and tried many kinds of soup. I even have an application on my phone that shows me where all the best shops are. Therefore, when were told by the government to avoid crowded places because of the pandemic, I started to panic. I began to wonder if I could make delicious ramen at home.

I like cooking. It’s a fun hobby, a great stress relief, and I usually cook for my family when I can. However, I believed making a proper tonkotsu soup at home was the only possible in restaurants, in steaming kitchens where busy chefs understood the magic of the bubbling broth. However, after doing a little research, I found there are lots of people who love ramen and many of them live in countries where it isn’t easy to buy it in restaurants. There are plenty of recipes available in different languages, some by Japanese people and some by international ramen lovers. I also found videos showing the technique of making the broth, the tare, the noodles, and the toppings. It took time, but I learned a lot. Once I felt confident, I combined some recipes and began shopping.

What kind of ramen would you try to make first? I like several styles, but there was no question for me. I wanted a thick, tonkotsu broth with the background flavor of seafood – a kotteri gyokai tonkotsu, if you want to be precise. Finding the ingredients was not difficult. There are many places that sell pork bones online, but I could find a butcher in a local shop with everything I needed. My family was surprised to see me come home with five kilograms of pork bones and feet, but I was quite excited. I made chashu that evening, a rolled-up pork belly cooked very slowly in soy sauce, mirin, sake, water, and a little sugar. I put my soft boiled eggs in some of the extra sauce to give them flavour. I cleared up and put everything in the fridge. The next morning, I began the main task! Making a simple tonkotsu soup is not so difficult, but it takes a very long time and your whole neighbourhood will smell like a ramen shop. After preparing the bones, my soup boiled for about 11 hours in a large pot, although I was free for most of that time. For the first few hours, I regularly added water. Later, I let it reduce to concentrate the flavor. From five kg of bones and ten litres of water, I ended up with three litres of very thick white soup. To serve it, I started with a gyokai tare of dashi, sardines, soy, mirin and bonito flakes. Then I added the soup, hot noodles and finally my toppings of chashu, egg, bamboo shoots, nori, and green onion. It was a long job, but it tasted like a real ramen from a popular shop. My family and I were delighted.

Making proper ramen at home is fun for those who like to cook, but it takes some time and effort. If you want to try, I would recommend you first read some online information boards and watch videos about the technique. Personally, I think making effort makes the achievement more enjoyable, so it is something I would definitely recommend. As for me, my wife recently bought me a book of ramen recipes as a present. My life as an amateur ramen cook may be just beginning.

Blog Quiz

1. Why did the author decide to cook ramen at home?

2. Why was the author's family surprised?

3. What does the author believe about making effort?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

A1. Because the government recommended people avoid crowded places

A2. Because he came home with a lot of pork bones and feet.

A3. It makes the achievement more enjoyable

Due to the stay-at-home period, I experienced a radical change in my lifestyle. I worked at home, ate at home, engaged in some physical exercise at home, and only ventured out to buy some essential things at the nearest supermarket. It was stressful, but it did encourage me to think about my lifestyle, particularly my diet. Thankfully, the supermarkets and grocery stores did not close, and supplied food as usual. Although some items were out of stock, they were not crucial for survival.

I gained weight because I stopped walking to the university. I did not change the portion sizes of my meals, so weight gain was a reasonable consequence. I did do a little exercise, but the amount was obviously insufficient to allow me to consume extra calories! I sought ways to make my lifestyle healthier, and dieting was an appropriate choice at the time.

I learned to eat ‘brown foods.’ In Japan, brown foods refer to fried or baked foods, which are not usually considered to be healthy. However, the brown foods I am referring to are foods that are brown in colour, such as nuts and whole-wheat bread, and those containing fibre and minerals. 

First, I tried to eat okara, which is a by-product of tofu production. It is cheap, and does not affect the flavour of foods; I put raw okara into soups and cooked it with rice. The texture of the dish was a little gluey, but it is easy to add okara when cooking at home. You can add it to the meat used to make hamburgers, curries or white stew. 

Although brown rice is chewy and does not taste as good as white rice, it does contain a lot of fibre and vitamins. White rice is produced by removing the outer husk of brown rice; white rice is tasty and has a pleasant texture, but it is less nutritious than brown rice. I had trials and errors when attempting to cook brown rice and found that the best way to cook it was with some white rice. Now I am a fan of brown rice. You should soak the brown rice at least 6 hours before you cook it with an auto-rice cooker. 

I cannot neglect to mention a particularly nutritious Japanese food, which is natto. As is well known, natto is dark brown in colour and has a strong, fermented flavour, which sometimes causes people to avoid it. It was not previously popular in the Kansai region but, as people have come to understand its nutritional value, can now be purchased at local supermarkets and convenience stores. It contains fibre and vitamins and a significant amount of protein. 

There are other types of healthy diets across the world, including the renowned Mediterranean diet, which is eaten in countries around the Mediterranean Sea, and Chinese medical cooking. Eating is an enjoyable experience that is linked directly to health. Thus, I hope you will consider eating a healthy diet!

Photo Credit: Polina Tankilevitch @pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. What is a problem of the author during the stay-at-home period?

Q2. What are brown foods introduced in the article?

Q3. What is a common ingredient of okara and natto?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. Gaining weight

Q2. Okara, brown rice and natto

Q3. Soy beans

As we all know, moving our lives online can be burdensome on our mental and physical health. Many of us have gained weight or heard our friends complain about gaining weight. With the ease of food at home and the lack of gyms to attend, our bodies are taking the full force of this new lifestyle.

While there are different ways to keep the weight off, most share two common themes, move! Whether you move your body through exercise or move your body in the kitchen, two key ways to succeed in living a healthy physical life at home are through movement.

Try to exercise! Exercising at home can be seen as troublesome. There is not a lot of space and no equipment. There are plenty of workout videos online that can help you exercise at home using different types of exercises. Many of these videos do not require any equipment, and they make you feel like you worked hard at the end. Taking advantage of the weather with a long walk or a good distance bicycle ride is also a good option. Furthermore, stand up from your computer and do some stretching. This will help loosen up your body and get your blood flowing.

Have you ever heard the saying “Abs are made in the kitchen”? To get a healthy body, the foods you eat are essential. Eating a balanced diet is vital to keeping the weight off. Get into the kitchen in the morning, get a light breakfast, plan for lunch, and eat a hearty dinner. 

At the beginning of all of this, I was worried about food and my health. However, through online classes, keeping a healthy schedule, eating well, and exercising, I have been able to get into the best shape I have been in a long time by working on these two areas of my physical lifestyle. You will not only look better, but you will also feel better too! These effects may even carry over into your academic life. 

Have the energy to get through the day at your computer in a healthy way!

Photo Credit: Roman Pohorecki@pexels.com

Blog Quiz

Q1. What are some problems with exercising at home?

Q2. When the weather is nice, what are two types of exercise mentioned?

Q3. What kind of diet should you eat?

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

Q1. There is not a lot of space and no equipment.

Q2. Walking and riding a bicycle are mentioned.

Q3. You should eat a balanced diet.

“What is a typical dish from your country?”

Food is a great topic when meeting people of other nationalities. The question above is good for breaking the ice and can lead to interesting discussions. Japanese people have many answers to choose from when hearing this question; sushi, tonkatsu, okonomiyaki, tempura, udon… These are undeniably good examples of Japanese cuisine.

What is interesting is the deceiving nature of the question. This is because the person asking might think it means the same as asking “What food is typically eaten in your country?” Indeed, for Japanese people, the dishes mentioned above could answer either question, so the distinction between the two questions could seem unimportant; however, the point of answering is a little problematic for me.

I am often asked the first question “What is a typical dish from your country?” when Japanese people are getting to know me, and they likely expect an interesting answer that can teach them something new. However, it is tricky because my quick and simple answer cannot carry over as a reply to the second question (like it does for Japanese). Why is that?

The reason is because I am from Canada. What is typical food in Canada? Well, a quick and simple answer is pasta, pizza, hamburgers, steak, dumplings, curry… and sushi! However, surely those are unexpected responses for a Japanese person to hear—especially those who have not been abroad. I am not Italian, German, American, Chinese, Indian, or Japanese. I am Canadian.

The point of difference between “from your country” and “in your country” is what I wish to address, and this can also nudge into the spotlight the feature of the so-called Canadian mosaic.

There is a story I like to tell whenever I get asked about Canadian food. When I was young, after school I often went to a friend’s place. Depending on the day or friend, I might stay for dinner, and over a span of years this amounted to a wonderful introduction to international cuisine because everyone I knew was either an immigrant or a child of immigrants. One day I might eat homemade Indian food. On other days it might be homemade Italian, Chinese, British, and—especially in my hometown of Edmonton—Ukrainian food. Then when it was my friend’s turn to visit my house, my mother would cook Cuban food.

I am not joking when I say that the food I ate as a young Canadian varied among such delicious dishes as homemade spaghetti, Chinese-style dumplings, Ukrainian-style dumplings, curry with naan, roast beef with Yorkshire pudding (from Britain), and fried plantain (a Caribbean dish).

True Canadian food? Look that up on {Wikipedia [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canadian_cuisine]} and I cannot say that I experienced—as far as typical food is concerned—what is listed as examples: poutine, salmon jerky, Montreal-style bagels, ginger beef, and butter tarts. I look forward to trying all those when I return, though. I hear they are more available now than when I was young.

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Blog Quiz

1. What does the author’s first question usually mean?

A.    What is the most popular food in your country?

B.    What food is commonly eaten in your country?

C.    What food represents your country’s cuisine?

2. Why did the author eat many different cuisines when he was young?

A.    Because there were many restaurants with foreign cuisine in Edmonton.

B.    Because he didn’t like typical Canadian food.

C.    Because his friend’s families were immigrants.

3. Which of these dishes would the author like to try on his next visit home?

A.    fried plantain

B.    salmon jerky

C.    Yorkshire pudding

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

1. C

2. C

3. B

What is your little treat in your daily life when you finish your important exams or achieve your goals? I am sure that everyone has their own little treat. In my case, one of my little treats can be having my favorite chocolate, which can make me feel happy and relaxed. According to the Chocolate and Cocoa Association of Japan [http://www.chocolate-cocoa.com/statistics/index.html], people in Germany ate 11.1 kg of chocolate per person in 2017 while people in Japan had 2.19 kg of chocolate per person in 2018. It is said that chocolate is unique because it can be used for both luxury and nutritious food. Chocolate can be good not only for recovering from exhaustion but also for preventing high blood pressure. However, it is recommended that people should not have a lot of chocolate at one time but have about 5-10g of chocolate per day (= about 1-2 pieces of bitter chocolate or a cup of hot chocolate). In fact, eating chocolate between meals can be an energy supplement and drinking a cup of hot chocolate in the morning or before exercise can improve blood flow.

The Chocolate and Cocoa Association of Japan [http://www.chocolate-cocoa.com/dictionary/history/world/w01_a.html] explains that chocolate was born in Mesoamerica, which is southern Mexico and central America, between around 1500 BC and 400 BC. Chocolate was not easy to get since the production area of cacao was limited, so only upper-class people such as people from the royal family or nobles could have it. People today enjoy chocolate both as food and drink. However, previously chocolate was tasted as a special drink and was drunk in a reception or after dinner. Not only was chocolate used for a drink but also as an offering in a ceremony, medicine, a tribute or even for money! For example, one male turkey was worth 200 cacao beans and one big tomato was worth one piece of cacao bean. The time when chocolate as a drink spread to ordinary citizens was in the 16th century after the Aztec Empire was conquered by Spain. It is said that there are four major inventions using chocolate. The first invention was hot chocolate by Dutch Coenraad Van Houten in 1828, who improved hot chocolate into a more convenient drink by making melty cacao powder. Then in 1847, British Joseph Fry produced the first solid chocolate by mixing cacao powder, sugar and cacao butter. After that, milk chocolate was invented by Swiss Daniel Peter in 1875 with Henri Nestle, who is the founder of Nestle. Finally, Swiss Rodolphe Lindt invented Conche (one of the machines to make chocolate) - it is said that he made smooth chocolate by accident, when he forgot to turn off the machine for 72 hours!

By the way, do you have your favorite chocolate brand? Global Brands Magazine Brand Awards 2019/2020 [https://www.globalbrandsmagazine.com/top-chocolate-brands-in-the-world/] announced the Top and Best Chocolate Brands as follows;

Ferrero Rocher

Guylian

Patchi

Domingo Ghirardelli

Toblerone

Cadbury

Lindt and Sprungli

Mars bars

Snickers

Kit Kat

Galaxy

Is there a chocolate brand you like in the list? Why don’t you try some of these chocolates when you buy chocolate next time for yourself or as a small gift?

Photo Credit: Polina Tankilevitch@pexels.com

Blog Quiz

1. How much chocolate do Japanese people eat?

A.    5 to 10 grams per day

B.    Approximately one-fifth the annual amount that German people do

C.    11.1 kg per year

2. According to the author, what are some benefits of consuming chocolate?

A.    it gives energy

B.    it helps your blood circulation

C.    both A and B

3. Where is chocolate from?

A.    Spain

B.    Switzerland

C.    Central America

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

1. B

2. B

3. C

When I was growing up I didn’t spend much time in the kitchen except if I wanted to see what my mother was cooking. Food for me was whatever was put in front of me, and I didn’t really have to worry about how it got there. This loosely continued on into college and early adulthood, as well. My college had a cafeteria, and I had a meal plan to get three meals a day there. After graduating, my jobs overseas provided a similar dining setup. For too many years, I was ignorant about cooking.

That changed after I returned to the United States and got a full-time job. I had to move for the job, and, while a cafeteria setup was available, I chose not to go with it. That choice marked my process of being more comfortable with cooking. After my time living in developing countries where people got by with less, my standards were low and I just appreciated having food available (as I still do). I depended heavily on recipes and followed them as closely as possible. At that time, I didn’t trust my cooking ability enough to experiment. Gradually, I became more confident, my dishes tasted less like plastic, and I was willing to try more difficult recipes.

Much of this was made easier because I was given cooking appliances from family members that no longer needed them, but this would change when I decided to move to Japan. Bringing those familiar appliances were not an option since they’d likely get broken when shipped, or the cost of shipping would be much too high. Space was also a problem since my home in Japan had less space than where I lived in America. There were many unknowns that made my experience cooking in Japan feel like my progress was for nothing.

After I moved, I took time to adjust to the flow of life and learned what I could expect on a normal day. Cooking needed time, too, because some ingredients weren’t available and I needed to adapt to kitchen limitations. Eventually I would adjust, my recipes would taste a little more familiar, and I added a few more useful appliances after getting married (especially a generous marriage gift of a Kitchen Aid Mixer from friends in America).

What I cook now is closer to what I’ve done in the past, but with some differences. The taste and texture may be a little different because ingredients aren’t exactly the same. The time it takes to prepare varies because of available space. The oven I use is not as strong as the one in America, so the heat and cooking time need to be played around with. I am still learning to cook, but I am no longer starting over.

Photo Credit: Pixabay@pexels.com

Blog Quiz

1. When did the author start cooking regularly?

A.   When he first moved overseas.

B.    When he first got a full-time job in the U.S.

C.    In college.

2. Why did the author have difficulties cooking in Japan at first?

A.  Because his cooking appliances broke.

B.  Because the cost of food was too high.

C.  Because there were many unknowns.

3. Why do the author’s recipes taste different in Japan?

A.    Because ingredients are different.

B.    Because he forgot the recipe.

C.    Because he got a cooking appliance gift from friends.

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

1. B

2. C

3. A

In Japan, curry rice is regularly found by surveys to be the most popular dish. Even more popular than ramen and miso soup! To foreign visitors it may be surprising because Japan is not traditionally world-famous for its spices. Actually, Japanese food is famous for avoiding strong flavours. So how did Japan fall in love with curry?

The story begins soon after the Meiji Restoration (明治維新) around 150 years ago when Japan began to rapidly modernise and change. Before that, Japan was a very isolated country. In a very short period of time Japan became a very modern country and made alliances with lots of other countries. In 1902 Japan and the United Kingdom became allies. A big part of this partnership included the British Royal Navy and the Japanese Navy (海上自衛隊) sharing weapons and military advice with each other.

Japan had a big problem with their Navy during this period. The young Japanese men in the Navy often had Beri-beri disease (脚気) and nobody knew why. However, Mr. Takaki Kanehiro, who was a naval doctor and went to university in England, discovered that the reason so many Japanese sailors got sick was because the young men only ate white rice and nothing else. These young men were not getting enough Vitamin B1 and were often dying very young.

The Japanese government needed to find a cheap way to give their men Vitamin B1, so they asked the British Royal Navy for advice. One of the foods served on British ships was curry, so they introduced curry to the Japanese Navy to see if this would help stop Beri-beri. The British Navy had been controlling India as a colony for over 100 years and had adopted the Indian national dish. The British Navy never suffered from Beri-beri, so they recommended curry to the Japanese Navy and it worked very successfully. Mr Kanehiro was given the Order of the Rising Sun (旭日章) for saving many Japanese lives.

After the British Navy shared the curry recipe with the Japanese Navy, the Japanese young men took the recipe back to Japan to eat at home. The Indian spices were imported from the UK in exchange for Japanese silk. But in 1931, there was a big scandal. Some Japanese shop owners were arrested by police for selling cheap Japanese curry powder but pretending it was expensive UK curry powder! Actually, it was good news for Japan because people couldn’t taste the difference between the UK version and the Japanese version. Then Japanese spice companies like S&B became very popular with their domestic curry and British spices stopped being imported.

The Japanese then added their own white rice to the curry and also adapted the recipe to suit the Japanese. For example, yuzu was sometimes used in Japanese curry instead of lemon to make Japanese curry a little sweeter. In more recent years, Japan has created its own unique styles of curry, including curry-pan, curry-udon, curry-nanban and the very popular instant curry blocks. The Japanese Navy still eat curry rice to this day – every Friday. Each Naval ship has its own unique recipe!

Photo Credit: Buenosia Carol@pexels.com

Blog Quiz

1. What is an alliance?

A.   An enemy

B.    A partnership

2. Which fruit is sometimes added to Japanese curry instead of lemon?

A.   Yuzu

B.    Mikan

3. Which country did the British adopt the curry dish from?

A.   India

B.    Nepal

Scroll down ↓ for the answers to the quiz.

Quiz Answers

1. B

2. A

3. A

Some of you may have heard people say that English food isn’t very delicious. You may have heard that it has no taste and is rather bland. Well, one of the reasons for this is that British food is often eaten with sauces and other condiments to give it taste. Those of you unfamiliar with England may be unaware of the wide range of traditional sauces and condiments that can be found in a typical British household. It is not unusual for condiments to be put out at most mealtimes. There are so many that it is difficult to tell you about them here. So today I am going to introduce what I think are the top 5 essential British condiments.

Branston Pickle

Branston pickle is a pickled chutney first made in the village of Branston in Staffordshire in 1922. It is made from a variety of diced vegetables, including swede, carrots, onions and cauliflower, pickled in a sauce made from vinegar, tomato, apple and spices. It is sweet and spicy containing large chunks of vegetables in a thick brown sticky sauce. It is often served as part of a ploughman’s lunch, a popular food served in British pubs. It is also often eaten with cheddar cheese in sandwiches. The Branston brand was sold to the Japanese company Mizkan in 2012.

Mint Sauce

Mint Sauce is a condiment made from finely chopped peppermint leaves. The chopped leaves are mixed with vinegar and sugar. In British cooking it is usually only served with roast lamb.

Golden Syrup

This is a thick amber coloured syrup made from sugar. Its appearance and consistency is similar to honey. It tastes very sweet and is used in a lot of British baking; for example, cakes and flapjacks. The first can of Golden Syrup was sold in 1885. Interestingly, it is recognised by the Guinness Book of Records as having the world’s oldest brand and packing. The label is very unusual and shows the rotting carcass of a lion surrounded by flies. This comes from an old biblical story. The motto is ‘out of the strong comes sweetness.’

Worcester Sauce

The history of Worcester Sauce is an interesting story. Apparently the idea originated from Sir Charles, the Chief Justice of India, who sent the secret recipe he had found in India to Lady Sandys in Worcester. It consisted of an unusual mixture of anchovies, brine, molasses, vinegar and spices. Lady Sandys asked a local chemical company, Lea and Perrin, to make it. Unfortunately the resulting sauce was found to be inedible, so it was never used. Some years later one of the workers in the factory found an old barrel of the original mixture in the basement. The chemists decided to try it and found that the taste had mellowed with age. In 1837 the company started producing bottles of Worcester Sauce and it is still popular today.

Bovril

This is a dark paste made from beef extract. It was originally a war food designed to provide nutrition to the British soldiers fighting in the Franco Prussian War (1870). It was first sold to the public in 1888. Nowadays it is eaten spread on toast or mixed with water as a hot drink. It is a little similar in looks and consistency to Marmite and Vegemite which are made from yeast extract.

So there you have it. Five delicious British sauces to add a little spice to your meals!

Photo Credit (Dominika Gregušová@Pexels.com)