For no particular reason, I've decided to try and write my Japanese blog in English as well. And I'm beginning with this post, about cockroach soup (in fact, maybe cockroach soup is the reason).
Why would anyone in the entire world want to consume cockroach soup????
WHO would even think of it?
Well, according to a book (written in Japanese and published in 2005) entitled 'That cockroach thing' (very rough translation), ENGLISH people used to eat cockroaches…!! Who? Well, Londoners and sailors, in short. The London method involved removing the heads and guts of the cockroach, and then frying it in oil with a little salt and pepper. The sailor method, as far as I understand, was to simply throw a bunch of cockroaches into a saucepan of boiling water, add any mixture of flavoured soup ingredients, and…well. There you have it - cockroach soup, sailor-style.
It doesn't sound particularly delicious, but then again, for all I know, cockroaches may be more delectable than they appear. I think silkworm are an ideal snack, but I know many people who say that just the appearance of these insects makes them feel ill and they can't consider them as food.
Where do our food taboos come from? Why is it that I am more than happy to taste Japanese insects cooked according to traditional recipes, yet am repulsed by the idea of my own country's apparent historical entomophagous cuisine?
And could it be for the same reason that so many people of my generation in Japan, even those who have travelled to many different countries and tried many different foods, tell me they don't even want to try Japanese edible insects? But what is that reason?
Hm. Either way, I suppose I really ought to try cockroach soup.
In other news, here are some recent photos from the countryside:
Why would anyone in the entire world want to consume cockroach soup????
WHO would even think of it?
Well, according to a book (written in Japanese and published in 2005) entitled 'That cockroach thing' (very rough translation), ENGLISH people used to eat cockroaches…!! Who? Well, Londoners and sailors, in short. The London method involved removing the heads and guts of the cockroach, and then frying it in oil with a little salt and pepper. The sailor method, as far as I understand, was to simply throw a bunch of cockroaches into a saucepan of boiling water, add any mixture of flavoured soup ingredients, and…well. There you have it - cockroach soup, sailor-style.
It doesn't sound particularly delicious, but then again, for all I know, cockroaches may be more delectable than they appear. I think silkworm are an ideal snack, but I know many people who say that just the appearance of these insects makes them feel ill and they can't consider them as food.
Where do our food taboos come from? Why is it that I am more than happy to taste Japanese insects cooked according to traditional recipes, yet am repulsed by the idea of my own country's apparent historical entomophagous cuisine?
And could it be for the same reason that so many people of my generation in Japan, even those who have travelled to many different countries and tried many different foods, tell me they don't even want to try Japanese edible insects? But what is that reason?
Hm. Either way, I suppose I really ought to try cockroach soup.
In other news, here are some recent photos from the countryside:
   |  From above, anti-clockwise: The view from my window; my second floor rooms; two photos from a local festival (Gion matsuri); beetroots (now harvested! beetroot juice, beetroot pickles, raw beetroot salad..)  |
And some photos taken on recent trips to Tokyo and Niigata (for Fuji Rock!)..
 Selling sausages and beer (mostly beer) at Fuji Rock  The Kobokan community centre weekly dinner for elderly residents  In this painting (at the Edo museum in Tokyo), the artist has chosen to draw all the workers as women, when in reality, they would all have been men. |  Bjork at Fuji Rock  With the head chef at Piacere after a Tuscan feast (with Chiant!)  Making tea |
And some photos from a trip to Kyoto (for the International Geographical Union Annual Conference) and Nagoya (for a really interesting lecture at Nagoya University by Professor Meyer-Rochow)
  Our exhibition booth at the conference  The home of Omote-senke |   Two silkworm chrysalises, Nagoya University - the one on the left is from a strain of silkworm that has been modified to produce yellow fluorescent silk.  The river running through Kyoto |
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