Japanese Food Culture

April 18, 2012May 27, 2015 ~ gfcelebration ~ 1 Comment

Japan’s traditional food culture is diverse, daunting and fascinating to say the least. In order to do it justice, we will have to break our own rules and actually post very frequently over the next few weeks, especially since we missed the first part of April due to our photography classes. 😉

In exploring Japanese food culture we uncovered a rich cultural history especially as it relates to its cuisine, which is largely based on the ancient principles of fives, which take into account color, taste, the way food is prepared, the diner’s senses as well as the energetic exchange brought about between the cook and the diner. The cooks thoughts and feelings might transfer over to the food and ultimately influence the diner, as well as the diner’s need for gratitude and appreciation for a harmoniously prepared meal. In my humble opinion, a lot of people could or should take this to heart a lot more often. Continue reading →

Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage

March 30, 2012May 27, 2015 ~ gfcelebration ~ 2 Comments

Since green cabbage recipes are already well represented in Irish cuisine, and we already shared one in a previous post, I wanted to highlight one that is less well known – Sweet and Sour Red Cabbage. This brought back memories of eating a very similar dish back in my childhood, called “Rotkohl.” Both my mother and grandmother would prepare this particular dish during the colder months of the year, usually served with potatoes and/or a small serving of meat. Admittedly, as a child, this was not one of my favorite recipes, but as an adult, I rediscovered the benefits of cabbage in the form of coleslaw and even the sweet and sour variety of today’s recipe. Continue reading →

Corned Beef and Cabbage

March 14, 2012May 27, 2015 ~ gfcelebration ~ 1 Comment

In all fairness, in writing this post, I have to point out that no one in our family is a big meat eater. Maybe it comes from having been vegetarian and vegan for so many years in the past. Along with a true concern for the startling conditions in which most commercial farm animals are raised. To be clear, we do eat meat, humanely raised, organic and hormone free, but certainly not very often. However, in the pursuit of wanting to learn more about all facets of Irish food culture, we decided that giving corned beef and cabbage a try at least once, was a necessity. That, and the fact that one of our favorite stores, Trader Joe’s, was sampling a version of corned beef on our last shopping trip, which is fully cooked, gluten and nitrite free, and actually really delicious and simple to make. So, we took a chance and tried it. Continue reading →