About KANSHAcooking...
I created this site as a companion to my new cookbook KANSHA: Celebrating Japan's Vegan & Vegetarian Traditions (Ten Speed
Press, 2010). As
with my previous book, Washoku: Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen (Ten Speed, 2005), KANSHA introduces readers to a culinary
concept and the food associated with it. The organizing theme of KANSHA is appreciation -- of nature's gifts and the earnest endeavor of those who prepare nourishing meals from that bounty. The specific instructions, and recipes I offer in KANSHA come from the Japanese kitchen. But whether you have previous experience in preparing Japanese food
(or not), or are skilled in the culinary arts (or not), my goal is to encourage
and enable you to become a practitioner of kansha in your own kitchen.The photo-illustrated material (in pdf format) you will find on the
KANSHAworkshop page, and the information I have placed on the Kansha Kitchen pages of this site, provide additional recipes not found in my cookbook and details (on ingredients, techniques,
tools, menu planning and presentation) that were beyond the scope of the book.
I invite all visitors to this site to try making the
recipes featured in the current lesson in their own kitchen. Those wanting access to material from previous lessons will need to register; your confirmation notice will include a link to KANSHAcooking's archive. Each time a new lesson is posted to the KANSHAworkshop page, the previous lesson will be removed and added to the archive.
Although
I am not able to correspond directly with each of you, I welcome your
feedback -- especially captioned photos with a brief description of your
kitchen sessions. Guidelines for submitting your work can be downloaded here. To further
teaching goals at this site, I may post some of the feedback I receive,
adding my commentary.
SPECIAL THANKS to those who enabled me to launch this site:
Amy Hamilton Lane (web mistress and site designer)
Kristen McQuillin (special design elements) http://www.mediatinker.com/
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About the KANSHA book project...
I first began to collect ideas and develop recipes for KANSHA about 10 years ago -- simultaneous to researching and writing WASHOKU. Although both projects blend practical culinary instruction with Japanese culture and philosophy, I
felt the more concrete set of guidelines for selecting and handling
ingredients that washoku extols -- using 5 colors, 5 flavors, 5 ways -- would provide a good foundation to the more considered
approach that kansha exemplifies.Applying kansha to daily meal preparation requires mindfulness -- planning menus that
avoid unnecessary time and energy or superfluous foodstuffs (you will soon discover that nothing goes to waste in the kansha kitchen). Kansha also requires a willingness to think (and take action) ahead -- getting in the habit of placing sun-dried vegetables and/or kelp in water before you leave for work to have stock that evening. Would this appeal to busy, city-dwelling cooks living outside Japan and its food culture? I assembled a group of volunteers
to provide me with feedback. My “advisory council” (a geographically scattered,
demographically diverse group are named in my acknowledgments on page
vi and vii (two names, Caryl Berenato and Sandy Sterner, were accidentally left out of the list; to be corrected in future editions). My advisers helped me test recipes, gave me information regarding availability of ingredients (in their community and on-line
shops they googled) and difficulty of procedure (in their kitchen, with their skill level, not
mine or that of a Japanese colleague). I also learned a lot about their food preferences: not everyone was enamored with sticky, fermented natto (but my Natto Spring Rolls, page 184, and Natto Pancakes, page 186, found enough fans to convince me they should stay in the book).
I would like to know about YOUR experiences using KANSHA. Please take a few moments to fill out my survey: CLICK HERE. |
A bit about me...
I
was born, raised and educated (High School of Music & Art in New
York, University of Michigan) in America, though I have made Japan my
home for decades. As the pictures below attest, I am not of Japanese heritage (though I do prefer wearing a kappogi to an ordinary apron -- it keeps sleeves from getting messy).
I began A Taste of Culture culinary arts programs in the 1970's shortly
after completing a course of formal culinary training at the Yanagihara
School of Traditional Japanese Cuisine, in Tokyo. Although format and
schedules at A Taste of Culture continue to change, the core curriculum
and basic premise remains essentially the same: tasting
sessions (to familiarize participants with traditional foodstuffs),
market
tours (to help those with limited or no language skills "read"
labels), hands-on cooking classes and culinary workshops offer an
opportunity for foreign residents
to explore and enjoy Japan's culture through its food. Visitors to Japan
are welcome to join regularly scheduled ("public") programs or arrange
for customized ("private") ones coordinated to their travel itinerary.
Programs are conducted in English.
I publish an
electronic newsletter, sent from A TASTE OF CULTURE about 6 times a
year. Each issue includes a short essay/story
focused on some aspect of Japan's food culture. Each edition of the newsletter
includes links to this and my other companion websites where photo-illustrated
recipes related to the chosen theme are stored. Recipes can be downloaded and
printed out, making it easy to take into your kitchen when you cook. A Taste of
Culture's newsletters are free-of-charge, though permission-based. To subscribe, fill out the form on the Register page
As
an author and journalist, I have written
numerous cookbooks, magazine and newspaper articles. I was Gourmet
magazine's Japan correspondent for decades, contributed dozens of pieces
to the New York Times Travel Section,
and have written series for several
of Japan’s leading English language publications. WASHOKU:
Recipes from the Japanese Home Kitchen (Ten Speed
Press, 2005) won
an IACP Jane Grigson award for distinguished scholarship, and was nominated for
a James Beard Foundation award as well. KANSHA: Celebrating Japan’s Vegan &
Vegetarian Traditions was published October 19, 2010. KIBŌ
(Brimming with Hope): Recipes & Stories from Japan’s Tohoku is my culinary tribute to the region of Japan devastated by earthquake, tsunami and nuclear accident in March of 2011. Published as an e-original book by Ten Speed Press on February 28, 2012, I launched a companion website focused on Tohoku food and culture, KIBOcooking.com. |
