A Firtst Experience of Making Real Tofu
(Ishida-Shokuhin)
Hi! I am Kazue, and I live in my hometown in the San’in region, the least populated area in Japan.
That means it’s “Off-the-Beaten-Track”, I reckon. I like to go out wearing Kimono on my days off.
Let’s experience something in the countryside together! My motto is “Stay local! Do local! Feel local!”
It’s quite normal to eat tofu in our daily meals, but it was the very first time to experience how to make tofu!
Even though I am Japanese, I haven’t had such an opportunity in my life.
Today’s guests were a family from Indonesia who gave me a chance to join the event!
We learned a lot about tofu, not only how to make it, but also the differences between mass production tofu and the Ishida-produced ones.
Ishida-shokuhin is particular about using only soybeans grown in Japan.
The process of creating firmness by using bittern (nigari in Japanese) was quite interesting.
We took each tofu made in Okuizumo home. It must be a memorable souvenir!
Thank you Aisa for organizing this entertaining event!
After making Tofu, we were supposed to go to a Soba restaurant near there, but the restaurant was full of people and the waiting list was already too long to be acceptable. We had to change plans….. We finally bought some soba at a supermarket and went to Aisa’s house, where it was really Japanese style. Actually, it was a nice choice to pass the time. The late lunch time in a Japanese tatami room with a kotatsu (a heated table) was really something! I told them a little bit about old-fashioned Japanese behavior, for example, how to open the sliding door and enter a Japanese room properly, and so on.
We dropped by Yunokami Onsen, a local hot spring, on the way back to the bus terminal. We didn’t get fully soak, but we enjoyed a foot spa there. In return, they told us about their culture, fashion, and their language, for example, hijab, Terimakasih, samasama, and so on.
It was exactly “Stay local, Do local, Feel local”! What’s more, changing a plan unexpectedly was a bit thrilling for me, in a good way though. Especially, Okuizumo itself made our day brim with tranquility and a laid-back atmosphere. Thank you OKUIZUMO!!
