they named umami after all...

MOCHI WITH AZUKI BEAN PASTE AND TOASTED SESAME SEEDS

I believe that a great food culture is defined not by the number of Michelin stars it has received (though Tokyo did top the list in 2007*), but by the quality of an average meal that any individual - rich or poor, young or old - might expect to have on any given day.

Italy confirmed its place on my personal list of "great food cultures" when I was over my friend Cristina's house at age 15, working on math homework. Cristina's parents, who are from Turin and Sicily, were out for the night, and at any other friend's place, we would have ordered Domino's pizza for dinner. This didn't even occur as an option to Cristina; she made us spaghetti alla carbonara with salad.

I was in Japan in December, and I left believing that Japan could be the greatest food culture I have yet experienced. Great food is to be found, whether you are waiting at the train station, grabbing lunch on the 4th floor of your office building, shopping at a ritzy department store, popping into 7-Eleven...

BENTO BOX ON TRAIN TO TOKYO


PICKLE SHOP IN NISHIKI MARKET, KYOTO


TUNA FOR SALE AT HANSHIN DEPARTMENT STORE, OSAKA


My theory is that, it doesn't matter where you are, because Japanese people, in general, know their food. At least based on what I observed in Tokyo and Osaka, people have an elevated level of awareness and appreciation for high quality ingredients, subtle flavors, and careful preparation/presentation. And they use their yen to keep the good eating establishments places in business, allowing the less-than-stellar ones to die out (which probably doesn't take long, considering the price of property over there).

Inspired by the trip, we made mochi when we got home. We filled ours with azuki bean paste and rolled them in toasted sesame seeds.

MOCHI-MAKING


By the way, I've started to write a monthly food+drink column for the fashion/lifestyle magazine Chic Today. My first article, which ran in the December 2007 issue, was about sparkling wines:

"Let Your Holiday Season Sparkle"
Chic Today, December 2007
pages 19-20

*NOTE: 2007 was the first year that Tokyo's restaurants were rated by the Michelin Guide. Tokyo was awarded 191 Michelin stars in total. This was compared to Paris's 98, and New York City's 54.