I’m starting in a bit early on next weeks episodes. First off is Episode 48 母なるリンゴ
This is another food nostalgia/food memory episode. This time about an engaged couple, the woman is an acquaintance of Kurita. Yamaoka has been dragged along to a double date of sorts at a cafe. The husband to be orders apple pie and apple tea, leading to the rest of them following suit. Though the fiance is soon throwing a tantrum about how bad the tea and pie is! >:
Turns out he does this all the time. Like, maniacally. (what’s up with all these weirdo men, getting married in this series, forcing their wives to put up with varying degrees of food related madness ^^;)
Well, there’s a history behind this fixation on apples: the fiance was abandoned by his mother as a kid, with her leaving him with his father during a divorce (?)), while she left with the little brother. He’s very bitter about this. Which, frankly, coming from a well-to-do, grown-up man comes off as pretty extreme. Furthermore, due to his inability to forgive, he breaks off the engagement as he doesn’t want a family
Well, the mother, having moved to the US has not been in a position to contact him. Until now that is. She’s back in japan and willing to talk things out with her lost son. But, he’s not at all interested about what she’s wanting to talk to him about rejects meeting her.
Yamaoka does his scheming thing, by facilitating an encounter between mother and son, without him knowing about it. He invites the fiance to a cafe, but behind the scenes it’s the mother doing the cooking. Turns out she makes delicious apple pie and apple tea. As the true chef is revealed, there’s finally reconciliation (though, not before the man throws another immature tantrum and generally being a jacka$$ about it ^^;.
Feels like I lost the plot partially here. Something something about how the mother contacts Kurita and Yamoka, so they meet up - before the main scheme takes place. Memory is foggy…
I have nothing against runny yolk but not a fan of runny egg white, so what I usually do is I start with sunny side up, but I baste the top of the egg with hot oil so it sets. Sometimes I also flip the egg for a couple of seconds, but the basting method makes it look prettier.
I don’t think I mentioned it, but during the episode Yamaoka obviously has got to come up with a “unique” way to cook fried eggs. And he’s basically doing what you suggest, cook both from bottom and the top. But, not from basting in oil, but by simply putting a lid over the frying pan, creating a steaming effect.
Ah yes, now that I have seen the episode, you are correct. Yamaoka could also just tell the IFEC people about the method instead of demonstrating it. However, I’m longing for the future without pandemic when people could travel internationally for a maskless discussions about fried eggs
Episode 49: 牛肉の力
I’m a bit disappointed that the topic of pro-athlete food was dropped halfway through. I thought Yamaoka would offer concrete suggestions about how to design a menu for both 18-year old baseball players as well as 25-year old players. Maybe Yamaoka should also design the menu for Tom Brady, who’s still a top quarterback in his 40s.
On the topic of beef, I’m not sure Kaibara Yuuzan is correct. Is there really such a big difference of taste between cows and bulls?
Seems like a load of bull to me? But, yeah, my thoughts were also very much of doubt. How would you ever know?
And yeah, they dropped the main theme too quickly. I was also hoping for better input from Yamaoka about the benefits or not of beef? I guess, the mangaka didn’t have enough knowledge to go ahead to venture a guess/actual advice? Could also be unwise - as readers might take them as actually expert knowledge about these things? (you should seek a dietist for that after all)
Pretty interesting episode. It’s about proper chop stick dinner etiquette. Old meets new as there’s a huge conflict between grandfather, pro chopsticks and granddaugther, pro western cutlery. Yamaoka and Kurita is roped in to mediate and inform the grand daughter on the proper way to eat with chop sticks.
We get a tour of a chop stick “factory” where people use semi-automatic machines to produce the chop sticks - with some steps entirely done by hand. Lots and lots of work for sure. I wonder how this stands up to modern methods?
I also learnt that my way of using chop sticks is likely very uncough and lacking in elegance from this episode. (I can defo not just use the outer-most tip of the chop sticks when eating, but use at least a couple of centimeters) ^^;
This reminds me of the time when I went to a sushi all-you-can-eat in Berlin with a friend. The waitress was very friendly to us in the beginning, but by the time we ordered the 5th and 6th rounds, she became increasingly annoyed Maybe we should have brought a camera and claimed that we were going to promote her restaurant on YouTube!
They really need to accept that some customers will eat a lot - if they have an all-you-can-eat. meanwhile, I’ve only visited a couple of such places in Amsterdam and I couldn’t really eat that much, lol. I should have gone in there starving!
レモンと健康 is a bit of a break from the food topics of this show. The focus is on Tabata and a photographer visiting Tozai news, who specialized in taking pictures of ordinary people, especially working people, who takes a liking to Tabata’s serious attitude at work.
Well, the photographer invites the Tozai people to a hike. This sets off some awareness about lack of exercise, especially among the female employees. Tomii, tries repeatedly to invite them to lunch, but gets turned down again and again. Turns out the girls are using their lunch to go jogging around Tokyo. Yamaoka, of course finds fault in this, pointing out the issues of exercising outdoors in the polluted air of Tokyo + the use of lemons for refreshment afterward, which tend to have pesticides on them.
Btw: this whole thing of having lemons in water as a refresher, where does that come from? This isn’t the first time I’ve encountered it Japanese media either. Or rather, in newer shows it’s also used, so I take it’s a cultural thing?
Some people don’t retire because they need the money. However, some people don’t retire because they don’t want to. There is some concern here in Singapore that the hawker centre food vendors are going extinct soon because their children went to university and became lawyers/engineers/CEOs and don’t want to take over their parents’ business. In a way, it’s good because they are moving up in society. In other ways, it’s bad because nobody’s continuing the tradition.
This is true for a lot of areas. Few people here in Sweden are carrying on their “family businesses”. That’s very rare. Some farms comes to mind, and maybe some restaurants, bakeries etc.
But, I’m not sure “continuing a tradition” is a good enough reason to do something that will take up your entire life, like a career. Especially when it comes to working in the food business which is harsh (long hours, questionable pay, hard on the body etc).
I do think there will always be people going into the restaurant business, so perhaps it’s better to let new people take over rather than continuing work that you don’t want to do.
I forgot to say this, but this girl is increadibly cute while stuffing her face full. Somehow, when I do it, it’s mostly off-putting for the viewer…>_>
I’m not a big fan of brain as food. Have had it in the past (lamb), and I don’t like the fattiness and the texture. Also, I’m somewhat worried about the potential of prion infection from eating brain, although prions are still poorly understood even today.
Episode 56: 飲茶
Haha, Yamaoka is just so cocky that he can’t even stand up for the Vice President of China who has just cooked him an excellent meal. He outwits Kaibara Yuuzan in this episode, though.
I’m curious though, is there really a red bean tonkatsu dish? That does sound revolting
Also, completely unrelated, but I went to a Japanese restaurant and had their “bento” menu of sashimi, sushi, tempura, miso soup, rice, salad, entrecote and leek.
But, yeah, my thoughts were also very much of doubt. How would you ever know?
(you should seek a dietist for that after all)
(I can defo not just use the outer-most tip of the chop sticks when eating, but use at least a couple of centimeters) ^^;
That spread though! 
Like, where does all that go?? Piles of sushi and meat. o_o
Maybe we should have brought a camera and claimed that we were going to promote her restaurant on YouTube!
Though, I hope she’s happy doing what she does.
I should try to make more Japanese food for my lunchboxes.