My mother arrived in Argentina at the age of twenty and married my father. I recall that we always had Japanese guests come to our house: my bachelor uncle or a Japanese man married to an Argentine woman, etc., all who enjoyed my mother’s cooking. She understood that for her parents it was a way to remember the past and maintain ties to their native land. She discovered Okinawa’s cuisine, which differs from her mother’s style of cooking from the Honshu region in eastern Japan, but which also has a touch of central Japanese culinary traditions in it. She learned to eat fish, to consume mishoshiru, and-more recently-to eat natto. The person writing this essay has recently become an adult, and has accepted the tastes and flavors of her parents’ homeland. There is always Japanese food at family gatherings It makes sense that the same thing would happen here with Japanese families. Every region of Japan-in fact, every prefecture, every town-has its own way of flavoring food and cooking. Every Nikkei family prepares food in their own way, according to a particular family palate and the particular tastes of the mother and grandmother.
Chirashi zushi pronunciation how to#
The majority like to eat Japanese food! Of course, those who learn how to cook Japanese-style meals earn applause from friends and family. She also did a good job making amanatto, karinto, kanten, etc.īut, today, at family reunions or when getting together with friends where the Issei are a minority, dinner companions enjoy eating Japanese dishes.
We got tired of eating it every single day.
My mother, if I remember correctly-and depending on the time-when she learned a new recipe, she would keep making it until she got it right. Today, Nikkei youth enjoy Japanese food.ĭuring family reunions of years past, it was common that there were some makizushi, chirashizushi, onitsuke, osekihan, karinto, and kanten prepared, and every Japanese woman in the Japanese Association had her own specialty. And in these last few years, coming from the likes of Niseis and Sanseis, new restaurants have opened that, besides nigiri and maki, also offer other culinary specialities such as yakitori, udon, and ramen. The word sushi has become so westernized that any Argentine can order it in a sophisticated restaurant or buy it in the supermarket. Years ago-and even today in Buenos Aires-there were dozens of Japanese restaurants that ranged from the most traditional style of preparing Japanese food to restaurants that any Japanese would reject as so-called authentic food. To eat chahan every single day was tiresome, and we rejoiced with my sister everytime milanesa, baked meat, or some kind of steak was served to us. When we returned from school and had lunch, there was always chahan-sauteed rice-with vegetables and chunks of meat mixed with the leftovers from the night before. My mother cooked fish all different ways she also made katsudon, oyakodonburi, and there always was some tsukemono and, when we had visitors, the dishes were a little bit more sophisticated: chirashi zushi, sashimi, sukiyaki, etc. It was unthinkable that a meat-loving Argentine would eat raw fish! It was my parents who raised me not to leave anything on the plate and to be thankful for our food.Īt that time, eating Japanese food was confined to only Japanese families. Perhaps because we were sick and tired of consuming it, or it may have been our way of protesting. I remember when I was a kid I preferred milanesas (breaded meat cutlets) with mashed potatoes to the Japanese meals that my mother prepared everyday-along with omisoshiru that my father consumed religiously and that we kids rejected.
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