The Nature of Food

Where does this food come from? This is the question that circulates through my mind constantly each day I am in Japan. On our first day when we were asked to think about the statement by Ian Miller, “We are all becoming alienated from our food,” I became curious. The...

The Stories Behind Our Food

We woke up with the sun this Saturday morning to do some community work on the farm. My group’s responsibility was to climb into a pit filled with fermented corn, pass up buckets of the funky-smelling substance, and load it into barrels for relocation. Our shoveling...

The Journey to The Clean Plate Club

During our morning foodlife activities today, the topic of cakes came up. Wedding cakes are a whole different animal from birthday cakes, we decided, not only because of how many people they must feed but also because of each person’s relationship to the guest...

Adventures of a Wannabe Foodie in Tokyo

When we arrived in Tokyo mid-afternoon the 3rd of January local time, my sleep deprived and weary body didn’t know quite what to expect. I’ll admit, I snuck in some quick z’s on the train from the airport to Ikebukuro Station. But as soon as I exited...

Sketches of Tokyo: First day

The first night in Tokyo’s Hotel Sakura Ikebukuro was fairly quiet; after a curry dinner in the hotel’s cafe, the inhabitants of Room 101, comprised of Dan, Marianne, and I, came back and prepared for bed. This is a quick sketch of the room, drawn the...