Tastes that LAST FOREVER

The recipe for the traditional Buddhist dish known as “Hoonko ryori” has been passed down for centuries in the Hokuriku region, home to many followers of True Pure Land Buddhism.

Rieko Taniguchi, a certified dietician, is explaining “Hoonko” dishes to sixth-graders at Kita-Nakayama Primary School in Sabae, Fukui Prefecture. It’s part of a lecture on table manners.

“This simmered “daikon” [Japanese radish] cut into rectangular blocks symbolises the wooden clogs worn by the sect’s founder Shinran,” Taniguchi says. “The long “gobo” [burdock root] represents his stick, and the pieces of carrot are his weathered fingers.”

These lecture have been held for the past 15 years at the Kita-Nakayama Community Centre and provide the perfect opportunity to pass on knowledge about the local cuisine to children.

“Eating with good manners is an important part of “washoku” [Japanese cuisine],” explains the centre’s manager, Shigeru Morimoto. “It’s meaningful for kids to eat local cuisine cooked by their mothers with a sense of gratitude.”

Unesco will soon officially add “washoku” to its list of Intangible Cultural Heritage, recognising the dietary culture nurtured in the traditional Japanese lifestyle. It typically features a variety of cooking methods developed within local communities, use of the rich taste of “umami”, and a deep relationship with annual traditional events, such as those seen in “osechi” New Year dishes.

In the reality of modern Japan, however, the streets are cluttered with fast-food shops and an increasing number of people tend to prefer eating alone, while “washoku” culture has been pushed to the edge of extinction.

“Miso soup is fundamental to “washoku”, as in the concept of “ichiju sansai” [one soup, three dishes],” notes Akihiro Miyamoto, 33, who owns a miso shop in Uozu, Toyama Prefecture. “It’s a shame that fewer and fewer people eat with all the family members together at the same table these days.”

The owner of Miyamoto Miso-ten, established 56 years ago, held an event in Tokyo in November on how to make miso. He wanted to transmit “washoku” culture through the miso-making techniques that his grandparents handed down to him.

Ikumi Kinoshita, a senior at Keio University, is working on her own project to collect recipes representing local cuisine from all over the country by visiting rural districts suffering from severe depopulation.

In Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, the 23-year-old was given instructions on how to cook dishes with “Yamakoshi kagura nanban”, a rare variety of hot pepper that has been grown in the Yamakoshi district of the city since the Warring Period.

Surprised by the hot taste of the traditional vegetable, Kinoshita was impressed by local people’s wisdom in continuing to eat the vegetable throughout the year by salting it for preservation. “Local cuisine is full of ideas that were born from necessity,” she said.

“Washoku”’s listing on the Unesco heritage list has heightened attention to Japan’s traditional-food culture. Handing down proper table manners and time-tested home recipes to future generations is also a key to preserving Japanese |spirits, including its omotenashi hospitality spirit and strong family bonds.