Monthly Memo From Doi's Culinary Philosophy
Original text by Doi Yoshiharu
Translated by Yoshiko Fukuda
March - Yayoi
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*Yayoi means "the month of renewed growth". March, which proceeds the coldest month, is characterized by the gradual temperature change to a warmer spring climate.
(Information on Yayoi - "Calendar, dates, and time." JAPAN: An Illustrated Encyclopedia 1 A-L. 1993 ed. )
The rays of the sun are becoming more and more like Spring. These days, I am taken in by the beauty of the morning sunshine and the sight of blooming plum flowers. Although I have not heard the Uguisu, or the bush warbler cry this year yet, I already am in the mood for Spring.
●This month's essay will be on "Agriculture and Health of Today".
This year, because of unpredicted low temperature, most vegetables did not grow as much as expected. Consequently, the price of vegetables went up dramatically. Now, vegetables are always the subject that is taken up by the news, criticized for being too expensive. Although meat and fish are never targeted for being too expensive, vegetables which usually are sold at low prices get criticized considerably when there is a slight fluctuation in their price. From this criticism the vegetable markets suffer more damage because people will become reluctant to buy the expensive vegetables. One whole lettuce is now sold at 300 yen each, most of which are given some kind of chemical help in order to grow at a faster rate. Like the Chinese cabbage, most of the green vegetables are still in the green house, not quite ready to be harvested. (There is a kind of Chinese cabbage called the 'frost' Chinese cabbage that is sold now which is an exception since it is sold at the 'right' time).
Vegetables that should be eaten during this period are the kinds that are originally strong to the cold such as white radish, carrots, lotus root, cabbage, spinach, Japanese mustard spinach, and mizuna (a vegetable with bunching thin long stalks with small leaves). Eating winter vegetables that were stored after harvesting would not increase the prices of vegetables in the market nor cause any big price change. It is eating Summer vegetables during winter that brings the price up notably. The reason for the popularity of Summer vegetables is, of course the fact that winter greens require more preparation and cooking, which wives try to avoid at busy times. That is why at the vegetable section of supermarkets, vegetables like tomato, celery, and lettuce are popular because they can be easily prepared at home by simply pouring dressing over it. Therefore, those take up most of the sales from that section. One can notice this phenomenon because colorful summer vegetables are displayed in the most noticeable and large area throughout the year, obviously during winter also.●Information on Health
Because of the recent health and physical fitness craze, television shows that take up the subject of human health gain unexpected high ratings. There are even claims from doctors that their patients believe what the popular talk show host 'Mino Monta' says more than what they recommend. It is commonly known that tuna fish especially the fatty part, contains a great amount of DHA which is said to make us smarter. Without doubt, after a spread of this kind of information people will immediately go out and buy fatty tuna. Yet what people blind themselves from is that at the same time, easily dissolving dioxin and environmental hormones in the fat can built up in the body because they sometimes cannot be broken down to be absorbed. In another words, no matter how one food contribute to our health or make us better in one way, eating only one kind of food is never good for the body. One should realize that if there exists a good side to a story, then there always would be a bad side too. One can never be extreme, but must keep the balance.
But what indeed is surprising with all this information and knowledge on health is why people still demand vegetables that are out of season, choosing specifically the ones that does not contain much nutrients?
Although most people actually worry about their health, they cannot bring themselves to make the better out of the situation. Even though there are only a limited amount of accurate information circulating about, people's lives are swayed easily and influenced greatly by the false surface knowledge because they do not really understand what being healthy is in the first place. This obviously is cleverly used as a marketing strategy since anything with the words, 'healthy' and 'safe' will sell for sure.
What is more puzzling is that these people who are swept by this health craze are the elderly who can maintain their health only by eating what they like. However, it is actually the younger generations that should be concerned with keeping in good health. As a strategy to be in good health even later in their life, they should be eating the ingredients which agrees with the seasons. Eating 'good' healthy food daily is what sustains health, beauty, passion, and strength in our bodies and minds.
●Imported Vegetables
The amount of vegetables that is imported from China, Korea, Thailand and other Asian countries has increased extremely over recent years. During the last year, compared to the whole amount of vegetables sold in Japan, the amount of imports grown from about 12% to 20%. Asian countries' great efforts to maintain their low costs cannot be equaled by Japanese farming communities. Most of the popular cherry tomatoes, bell peppers and low priced strawberries are grown in exceptionally large plants for the sole purpose of importation to Japan. This is aided by the Japanese who actually teach how to grow vegetables inorganically and send trucks needed for transportation. Of course they are the ones who buy them in mass amounts and sell them at incredibly low prices at markets.
Vegetables are living things that are bound to whither after being harvested or plucked by human hands. Sometimes one can observe organic oranges, which never get waxed, get smaller because the juice in the fruit gets dried up. (Putting grease on oranges, needless to say, is harmless because the skins are always peeled off before eaten.) Thus, if fruits and vegetables never shriveled up or lose their freshness, then there is clearly something wrong with that food. White vegetables like lotus roots get black because the water in the plant will eventually get inhabited by bacteria. Vegetables like Spinach that require abundant water in its leaves and stalks are also "expected" to go bad. Inorganic food from out of the country that necessitate long transportation hours is often directly sprayed antibiotic chemicals before getting shipped out. This post harvest treatment is something consumers must be aware of since it is very dangerous to our health. But that is nothing compared to what is to come. The Asian farming policy that involves the government and its people has only begun and its influence surrounding Japan will start gathering its force. Either way, Japanese farming communities cannot function as a business since they cannot beat the low prices and they are starting to collapse. (Companies that have made farming an enterprise has started distributing organic food, specifically focusing on the 'healthy' and 'delicious' aspect, to fight against the threatening rise of imported vegetables.)●Raising our self-sufficiency rates in food supplies
Currently Japan's self-sufficiency rate in food supplies is only about 40%. The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishing of Japan (MAFF) is aiming to advance the number to 45% in ten years. Their way of achieving this is to include locally grown vegetables in school lunches in attempt to revive regional cooking and to encourage meals centering on rice. Hence it is a plan involving the citizens in both sides of producing and consuming to make them apprehend the current situation. However, how much effect would advertising to elementary school children to eat traditional meals centering on rice, have on the whole citizen's style of food? Surely, these days, children have very perceptive minds, some even shaper than the adult's. Yet, would it result in raising the rate of self-sufficiency in food supplies by just changing the people's awareness?
What we should be doing is to set forth a plan that will have certain results in a government and also business-like way and must revolutionize our culture of food. Most importantly we must protect the Japanese agricultural industry. Japan must be prepared to support itself, for the time when the global population is expected to expand to about 85 billion, ten years later.●Symposium on Diet and Agriculture
Just the other day, there was a symposium on diet and agriculture called the 'Gathering to improve our diet and farming' in Nagano. Governor Yasuo Tanaka of Nagao held an award ceremony for the person who contributed the most to the region's agricultural advancement. In his speech he made references to "Mr. Shinya Tazaki and his wine book……Mr. Toyoo Tamamura, the writer of the book on Italian cuisine….." which was rather inappropriate as a talk in front of the people of Nagano since they live very customarily. After the ceremony, I made a speech in the opening session and realized that the people of Nagano eats healthy food on a daily basis, something that seemed to have been accepted as an obvious fact. In turn I felt that there was a need to introduce this lifestyle of the Nagano people as an example to others who live in the city, and also to figure out a way to not lose that kind of tradition. The health conscious people of Nagano even separates the delicious vegetables apart from the ones that are getting shipped out to be saved as their food. Of course we also want to eat those that are saved apart.
In Japan, the male longevity is concentrated the most in Nagano and respectively the female longevity is in Okinawa. The reason that the female residents of Okinawa have the greatest longevity is that their diet centers on mostly vegetables, fruits and seaweed. Yet the males who eat raw goat meat to obtain energy and vigor dies earlier.(?) Thus in Nagano the elderly who achieved the greatest longevity must have eaten a diet that concentrates even more, compared to now, on vegetables when they were young. This proves the fact, stronger than anything else that vegetables are, indeed, great for our body. Recently, the anti-acid substance that plants produces in order to protect themselves, is talked of as the factor that slows down the human aging process.
It cannot be stressed enough, but we must eat vegetables, and of course the right kinds. The tasty flavor in vegetable is in its skin, in between the skin and the vegetable itself, in its seeds or the parts around the seed. In considering simple delicious taste, the fact that from a long time ago, it was accepted to not peel the skins of taro or burdock root, or to only scrub the outer part of ginger and to cook it in its original form, seems plausible.
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