YONNER FOOD

I had only visited Okinawa once in my five years in Japan. I did not anticipate it to be a one hundred twenty minute ride from Centrair (Nagoya). I originally went to run a marathon with a few friends. But I always make it a point to do something foodie-like when in a new turf. So I booked a cooking class on the day after my six-hour footrace. 

I met up with Yonner Food's coordinator in front of a local shopping mall and she took me on a little  educational Okinawa Market tour. She explained the history of several items that were all very foreign to me. At one of the shops, I witnessed how smoked fish (bonito) transformed to fish flakes or katsuoboshi. It all went by so fast that I could not take a proper video to document the whole process. An important thing I learnt about Ryukyu cuisine was that royal dashi was made from a combination of both katsuo and pork broths, in a certain ratio. 

Pig face or chiraga is a popular ingredient to use in a few Okinawan dishes. I was instantly reminded of sisig, a beer match dish often seen at pubs in the Philippines, when I realized what it was. 

The market tour ended and she took me to her cooking studio. As I was the only student, I had a lot of hands-on-experience prepping the food. I was given a cookbook of everything we were to make that afternoon and it was all so presented in a very aesthetic way. 

We first prepared the dashi that we would use to cook the rice in, followed by slicing all the rest of the ingredients that would be used. While waiting for the pork to complete stewing, we assembled the goya juice, and with local, natural additives it was a delightful concoction.

Clockwise from black bowl: a) Rafute, ginger and soy-simmered pork; b) Goya Juice; c) Kufa Juicy, Okinawan fried rice; d) Asa Jiru, soup eaten when commemorating the death of a loved one; e) Goya Chanpuru, healthified stir-fried bitter gourd. 

To book and learn more information about the class I took, click here --> http://yonnerfood.jp/