Eating in Season

Lou:  You know what I love about living in Japan?

Flo:  What?

Lou:  I love the fact that people always know what’s in season and that’s pretty much what they eat.

Flo:  That’s so true. The grade six kids I teach were telling me about all the harvest foods they wanted to eat. They couldn’t wait to eat matsutake mushrooms, oysters, sweet potatoes. They knew not only what food was in season, but how to cook it too! Grade six!

Lou:  Can you imagine our sixth graders back home? They would be talking about what’s in the fall Happy Meal.

Flo:  Exactly. Can they even identify foods in their natural state?

Lou:  We’re lucky if they can identify what’s in the can.

Flo:  If we’re used to seeing foods in cans, Styrofoam and Happy Meals, is it any wonder we’re so out of touch with what’s in season? 

Lou: Of course not. And let’s not forget the fact that we import food from all over the planet all year round. When it’s winter in New York I just gotta’ have my Chilean raspberries for my Festivus party.

Flo:  But in Japan, if it’s cold, you’re going to eat root vegetables ‘cause that’s what’s around.

Lou:  Sure, if you wanted strawberries you could get those too, but they’ll cost you an arm and a leg.

Flo:  Japanese are just used to eating more locally and in season because it’s fresher and cheaper. I mean food here in general is already expensive as it is.

Lou:  And while you’re saving your scheckles, you’re eating a lot healthier too. When food is fresh it has a lot more nutrients. And as a rule of thumb, whatever Mother Nature is providing for you at the time is what your body needs.

Flo:  You know, I was reading that you need a lot more fibre in winter because your body isn’t moving around as much.

Lou:  Hence, the root vegetables. And since your goofy ass is on the couch most of those chilly nights, you need foods that are denser to keep you warm.

Flo:  I guess light and leafy greens don’t exactly warm the cockles on a frosty evening.

Lou:  No, they do not. And do you ever wonder why we have citrus up the yin and the yang when it’s winter?

Flo:  Vitamin C, girl.

Lou:  So listen up bleaders. On our blog, if it’s winter, we’ll be cooking up winter food.

Flo:  Which brings us to our second dish on the blog: Butajiru.

Lou:  Oh, that’s that hearty soup made with miso. That dish is what we call back home, “da bomb.”

Flo:  The first time a had it was a few months ago when So’s aunt made us a pot full of the stuff. Normally when you think of miso, you imagine the little side of soup you get with your sushi. But, in Butajiru, miso adds body to a soup that’s chock full of root vegetables.

Lou:  Mmm, daikon, potatoes, carrots, taro, gobo—and lest we forget the pork.* No question here my friends. This soup is a meal.

Flo:  And so easy to make, too. You’ll love this one.

To be continued...

*For a Dominican, New Yoriquen, the pig is definitely the star of this show. We love our pork.