The Japanese have many dishes that originated somewhere in the world, but recreated it in such a way that fits to their taste. Curry, from India, is a good example. Japanese curry isn’t the same curry as the kind from India. It’s a lot sweeter, and thicker. Hamburger aka humbagu is
Read More →

My city has experienced the wettest summer in the recorded weather history of Denmark.

Just this morning I woke up to a two hour thunderstorm with the most insane cracks, blitzes and a mustard yellow hazy sky. It felt like some aliens were landing on the planet in giant yellow spaceships. Unfortunately they didn’t, and another
Read More →

The Bay Area is a big sprawling wasteland of awesome food, that rivals Los Angeles in its expansiveness. Sadly however, up in the hyped-up food scene of San Francisco (“the city”), no one really talks about the South Bay. San Jose is a bad bad word. It’s a shame, cause just a 45
Read More →

The other morning I woke up with the worst hangover I’ve had in two years. I remember drinking shochu the night before like I was drinking water. I clearly ended up mixing up the two halfway through the night because they both looked the same, yet the shochu tasted better. The upside is
Read More →

Despite being in the U.S. for nearly 30+ years, Japanese cuisine instantaneously conjures up the word “raw.” Sushi has proved itself the winner despite criticism ranging from “this is unsanitary,” to, “I am ingesting unsafe levels of mercury,” to, “This is just plain gross, slimy and/or stinky.” Japanese food and sushi have virtually become synonymous
Read More →

I am home in Berkeley after taking a week-long road trip through the American southwest with fellow Umamimart writer Anders, bookended by a five-day trip in NYC. I am so excited to be back in my own kitchen that I’ve stocked up on everything from soft shell crab to chicken thighs for
Read More →

I used to be amused by the number of Kewpie mayonnaise tubes my 85 year-old grandma had stashed in her packed fridge in Tokyo. I would visit her house every few months to clean out her fridge. She would forget that she already had certain condiments and kept buying them because they would get
Read More →

My colleague Kristen who produces videos for Japan Society’s Youtube channel, asked me if I knew of any onigiri (rice balls) shops since they wanted to showcase them in an upcoming video. I thought, “How about I teach how to make onigiri in the video?” That’s how
Read More →

Mottainai is said in Japan when something perfectly usable is abandoned or sent to the trashcan. In the past ten years, Japan has seen a trend in awareness regarding waste and reusing whenever possible. It’s ironic that this has become a trend because the idea of reuse goes way back and
Read More →

Halloween’s only a few days away and many of you still haven’t bought or made your costume, or worst yet, haven’t even figured out what you’ll be dressing up as.  Unfortunately I can’t help you in that department. However where I can be of
Read More →