The perfect meal final draft

Creativity, Cooperation, and Sharing

              Heat, smoke, and sweat. Fire has burning brightly for two hours just in front of me. Heat and smokes hit my face. Some students are trying to keep fire burning with almost black face. Their globes are also partly burned. Another students grab the stick in order to bake a roll cake. The roll cake cannot be baked unless we get into smoke and heat so that fire can reach the cake. But we all know that we have finished just the half of the cooking. We no longer said anything. Just bearing leaping sparks and hurting smokes, we were focusing on each own job. It seemed that this would last forever.

              “How did we ever get to a point where we need investigative journalists to tell us where our food comes from and nutritionists to determine the dinner menu? (1)” This is an introduction of Omnivore’s Dilemma. Now, we humans do not spend much time and energy on eating. Eating should be important work for human, but we now put it aside in a modern life, just going to a cafeteria and just take it. Then, at this time, I try to spend my energy as much as possible to make my perfect meal. I prepared these definitions.

1.      It should be cooked by a group.

2.      I should know ingredients’ background.

3.      It should be nutritionally balanced.

4.      It should be according to cultural cuisine.

5.      No leftovers.

              As for the first point, I strongly believe cannot make food by alone. This is based on my certain experience. Last summer, I brought my student (I was working as a teacher for a part-time job) to a countryside in Japan in order to experience cooking in outside. Of course, we were able to use only primitive instruments; someone in the group had to make fire and maintain it for 4 hours, someone had to gather firewood, and someone had to wash and cut vegetables, and someone had to decide flavors. Each person needed to find the best job for their talent, and contribute to a group from each standpoint. Of course, there was no easy job so every student had to struggle. However, that enthusiasm made our meal very precious one. While we were eating, students talked about how they contributed to this meal and praised each other’s effort. Our clothes were completely sweaty and black because of smoke and heat, and our foods were very primitive compared to ones in supermarket, but that meal was definitely unforgettable. In my opinion, people feel more happiness when they share it. Cooking needs some kinds of processes and it can be accomplished much more efficiently with everyone’s cooperation, and that feeling of collaboration allows people to find fulfillment in the meal.

The second definition is related to the fact that now we are not sure of what we are eating. We cannot live without eating, so it is very important to know what to eat and how to cook. We have to research how and when that food is made so that we can be responsible for everyday consuming. Backgrounds can tell us about what types of people are related to that food, which lets us realize we can live because of society. Now it is too easy to get food, so that is the reason why we have to check again where they are from.

The third point has something to do with our “health”. It wil1 be repetition but we eat to live, not to die. Therefore, we have to think about what we should eat according to our physical situations. Fortunately, there is a lot of information about nutrition given by government, health organization, etc.

              The fourth point is related to all of above. Cultural cuisine is based on an accumulation of many knowledges about people’s deed, available food in that area, and nutrition. For example, Japanese Sushi is eaten with Wasabi, which is a kind of spice. That is because raw fish can be rotten very soon, so we have to invent the way to prevent fish from going bad. Like many other spices, Wasabi has special chemical to protect foods from certain germs. Thus, each cuisine has developed along with not only their preference, but also scientific point of views. People has been making efforts to make a nutritional meal in the limited domestic ingredients. Unfortunately, these days those traditional food cultures are being disappeared but it is worth to check again focusing on their nutritional aspects.

              Then, the last point is “no leftovers”. Making food needs much energy and resources. We cannot waste it. All foods, vegetables, animals, fish are grown to be eaten. They lived to be eaten. If they be wasted, their purpose of life will be meaningless. Originally, they live in nature with their way of life. However, we distorted them so that we can eat more efficiently. We have to be responsible at least through eating them all.

              Based on these points, I made up my mind to cook Japanese cuisine with my friends. I thought it was based on cultural experiences so it had fine nutrition. Then, I went to the Asian Market. According to Japanese government guideline, we have to eat five kinds of dishes: principle foods, side dishes, main dishes, dairy products, and fruits. According to this, I decided to make Yaki-Udon (in English Fried Noodle). This dish has noodles, and vegetables. In addition, I bought some milk and Mikan (Japanese Orange).

              For Yaki-Udon, I bought seven ingredients: udons, shitakes, chingensai, and welsh onions. Udon is Japanese noodles. I bought one which has a Japanese label written “organic”. According to the website of Hakubaku, which products this organic udon, this udon is made from organic wheat grown by Australian farmers. The price was three times more expensive than normal udon in Japan. Shitake is Japanese mushroom. I could not know where my shitake was from by the label but according to the shop owner it was imported from Japan. The price was twice as expensive as in Japan. Chingensai is also called Bok Choy. The shop owner said it came from a farm in Michigan. She gave me the same explanation for welsh onion. I researched on the Internet, but I could not find more information. These vegetables are the same price as in Japan. 

              Then, I cooked it. Because of my definitions, I asked my friends to help make our food together. In fact, I could not buy my ingredients without my friends, and of course I could not cook it without them neither. Next, I found a friend who lent me cooking instruments. First, I asked my friend to boil udons and I focused on washing vegetables. Another friend kindly helped me with cutting washed vegetables as soon as possible. After finishing a preparation of vegies, I made Japanese sauces. I borrowed soy sauces, mirin(Japanese Sake), and dashi(Japanese soup stock). Actually, Sake has been used in many Japanese cuisine. This alcohol helps to diminish distinct smells of fish and makes tastes soak into ingredients. I mixed these three sauces into one sauce. After that, at the perfect timing my friend finished boiling all udon, so I was really grateful and I went to the next step smoothly. I turned on fire (we don’t need to correct firewood and give air into fire here!) and at first, I put mushrooms on a heat pan. After I confirmed they were baked enough, I added the other vegetables and udon. I just stirred them a little of bit so that enough oils could reach every part of ingredient, then finally I added the sauce. I like this moment very much. The moment I put them in, they quickly make a sound of frying and such happy smells of Japanese seafood soup stock. Until then we had been in the dim basement of the dormitory, but after that these happy smells of Japanese Cuisine began to surround the entire the basement lounge. Of course, this made us deadly hungry but at the same time we got much more motivated to accomplish this cooking. I put the sauce as it would surround the verge of a pan, so that the sauce would burn a little and have a slight bitter taste. I knew this would be a nice accent in the meal. I kept frying until the water was extracted, and turn off fire. Finished, Yaki-Udon.

              When I finished, my friend had already prepared dishes, chopsticks, and drinks. If I had been alone, it would have taken time and Yaki-Udon might have got cold. Again, I appreciated my friend and started to eat. Actually, we Japanese say “Itadakimasu( Thank you God)” before we eat, but this time I totally forgot about it just because we were too hungry. The taste was….very good! Maybe because of Mirin, vegetables and mashroom had the sauce taste enough. The sauce taste was not too thick at all, and slight neither. If I added only soy sauce, it would be just salty taste. But thanks to Mirin and Dashi, Yaki-Udon could get more complicated tastes of seafood and teriyaki sauce, it could prevent us from being bored. In addition, the most important was communication with my friends. We talked about original matters but it seemed like we all know we cooked this meal together and this feeling gave us much happiness.       

              Actually, after making it I realized that I could have chosen a better way to make the “perfect meal”. When I was buying, I noticed the ingredients were very expensive compared to in Japan. That was natural because most of those were imported from Japan. And this fact is against my definition no.2 and 4. Because I could not make it clear their backgrounds and also I felt that making Japanese cuisine in America was not natural from cultural points of view. I might have done better to make dishes using local Kalamazoo food, which is much easier to trace their backgrounds and have cultural accumulation of knowledges here. However, this project reminded me that we cannot cook by ourselves alone. Cooking as an international student required me to ask for help from many people. I really appreciate all of them, and of course, my foods.