it's official

Hello there friends. I had quite an exciting week in kyushoku land--on Monday one of my schools was chosen as the site of an English workshop for an entire ward of Tokyo. So that meant one of my music-filled English classes was on display for about 100 Japanese and foreign teachers and a panel from the Japanese Board of Education. Imagine my heartburn. The class itself went pretty well, I didn't scream at or throttle any of the children. Victory! The "workshop" afterward was more harrowing, basically all the teachers and experts then dissected my class and teaching style. All the while I had to sit at the front table next to all the Bigwig Public School Directors and I even had a little name card and had to make an impromptu speech ENTIRELY IN JAPANESE. It's kind of funny how that happened, because I a) have no experience teaching in Japan and b) cannot give formal speeches in Japanese. Somehow we all got through it, and as a reward I got a very nice kyuushoku (see Monday). Boiled gyoza with a nice daikon radish salad!

Since I'm very tired now, I'll spare the details and just post photos. That's what we all want to see anyway, right?

Monday:


Tuesday:


Wednesday:


Thursday:

fried wonders!

Below you see the kids made me a fancy sign yesterday to go with my delicious lunch. "Youkoso" (ようこそ) means "welcome." Aww shucks. Actually the table I sat at was a group of sophisticated girls who needed to know every breathless detail about my love life. In contrast, today a different class spent the entire lunch period showing me all the weird/gross shit they could do, mostly bending their fingers all crazy-like and flipping back their eyelids. I have to say both groups were equally charming.

As for the food, it was a delicious week: Fried fish! Fried noodles and fried egg! Fried croquettes! Fried anything is so undeniably good. And in Japan it's done nice and light, not oily or anything.


[clockwise from rice]

- rice (gohan ごはん)
- potato stew (jagaimo no nimono じゃがいもの煮物)
- fried fish (tatsutaage たつたあげ)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- miso soup (miso shiru 味噌汁)
__

[clockwise from noodles]

- fried noodles (yakisoba 焼きそば)
- apple (ringo りんご)
- fried egg (tamagoyaki たまご焼き)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- seaweed soup (wakame sūpu わかめ スープ)
__

[clockwise from rice]

- rice (gohan ごはん)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- sauteed cabbage (kyabetsu sotē キャベツソテー )
- croquette (bīnzu korokke ビーンズコロッケ )
- egg drop soup (tamago sūpu 卵スープ)

school assembly magic

For some reason I was made to perform for the school assembly today. The principal just kind of told me when I showed up in the morning. I think they must have run out of assembly ideas. So to spite them I played some real crazy free improv, like hitting the keys with my elbows and screaming into the strings of the piano, etc. Nice! I wish I could have gotten a video of that. Needless to say I got absolutely zero reaction from the teachers and children afterward. Let's see if I get fired. Well, at least the food was good...


[clockwise from the toast]

- almond toast (āmondo tōsuto アーモンドトースト)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- corn salad (kōn iri sarada コーン入りサラダ)
- pork 'n beans (pōku bīnzu ポークビーンズ)
__

[clockwise from rice]

- rice (gohan ごはん)
- orange (mikan みかん)
- tofu hamburg (tofu hanbāgu 豆腐ハンバーグ)
- boiled butter potatoes (jagaimo no batāniじゃがいものバター煮)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- miso soup (miso shiru 味噌汁)

Q-shoku reading

For any kyuushoku fans wondering what kyuushoku is exactly (not just the food but the cultural issues surrounding it) -- here is a great article I found in the Japan Times by Roger Pulvers. It gives probably the best description of kyuushoku I've found to date, as well as a passionate and enthusiastic defense.

In fact, the Japan Times carried a few other great articles as well, a basic Q&A, as well as a fascinating one by Alice Gordenker. Here's just a small sample of what she had to say regarding the pedagogical aspects of kyuushoku:

This meal is the basis for lunchtime instruction, which is why Japanese educators sometimes speak of school lunch as "a living textbook." The teacher stays with the class and eats the same lunch, talking to the children about nutrition, good eating habits and the foods in that day's meal. The lunchtime lesson is called kyushoku shido and is part of the school curriculum.

Although that's the ideal, I've found the wholesome lessons of school lunch vary by teacher and by grade (younger ones tend to get more instruction in this regard). But all and all, something worth considering!

sexy body

It just doesn't get better than that. A fat, bespectacled little 9 year old boy standing on his desk next to mine, pulling off his shirt (that lands in my soup), rubbing his belly asking me "sexy body?!!" Only, it sounds like "se-ku-shee boo-dee?" The perfect lunch time entertainment.

How do you answer that question anyway? If you say yes, you're obviously a creepy pervert, but no just lowers this poor fat boy's self-esteem further.

Such kōans you'll find only here on kyuushoku.blogspot.com. According to Wikipedia, "English-speaking non-Zen practitioners sometimes use kōan to refer to an unanswerable question or a meaningless statement. However, in Zen practice, a kōan is not meaningless, and teachers often do expect students to present an appropriate response when asked about a kōan."

Suggestions?

In the meantime, please vicariously enjoy this food I had today. It was PTA day so they made it extra nutritious and Japanese to impress the parents, I think. It was tasty.

[clockwise from rice]

- rice (gohan ご飯)
- miso soup (sumashi jiru すまし汁)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- grilled mackerel & japanese vegetables (saba no misodarekake さばのみそだれかけ)


And yesterday's:

[clockwise from stew]

- "autumn" stew (aki no shichū 秋のシチュー)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- seaweed salad (kaisou iri sarada 海草 入りサラダ)
- wheat germ toast (haiga tōsuto 胚芽トースト)

slacker

Hey there, fancy kyuushoku fans! Sorry, I've been real busy and haven't been able to upload new photos. So here are SEVEN new lunches. Unfortunately this month the schools have slacked off and not given me a copy of the menus, therefore the photos are unlabeled. If you are dying to know what something is, just ask ;-)

I'll spare you the witty commentary for now, things have been business as usual. I am still being asked very hilarious and strange and beautiful questions from children, such as "Have you seen a rocket," "Do you masturbate," "What's your favorite shape," "Do you like the Tokyo Tower," "What sort of thing makes you feel good," "How much can you eat," "What do you look for in women," and it's opposite, "Are you divorced" . . . I'm also compiling a list of awkward English words on t-shirts, it seems the younger the child, the more nonsensical the English. Then again, living here is certainly deteriorating my Engrish ;-(

As for the delicious school lunch, here goes:

west meets east

These three lunches are good examples of how Japanese cooking has assimilated other cultures' food throughout history:

We start with Japanese style "curry rice," which has its curious origins in the British navy, who of course got it from India. Apparently the Japanese navy adopted it from the British navy in the late 1800s. Huh. It's much thicker and sweeter than the Indian version, and also is served with sticky Japanese rice--not basmati--often with pickles and a cutlet on top. Different, but very, very delicious. In fact, curry rice is consistently picked as the favorite kyuushoku when I poll kids about it. (Normally the curry and the rice are separated half/half on the plate, but they just piled it on top here.) It's a lot healthier with all the vegetables too...


[clockwise from curry-rice]

- curry rice (karē raisu カレーライス)
- orange jelly (orenji zeri オレンジゼリ)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- "cheese" salad (chiizu iri sarada チーズ入りサラダ)

__

In that fried fish below, we have an example of tempura, which was adopted in the mid 1500s (!) from Portuguese Catholic missionaries. By now of course it's become Japanese, but still people often refer to it as "yoshoku," or foreign cuisine.


[clockwise from rice]

- rice (gohan ご飯)
- boiled vegetables (yude yasai ゆで野菜)
- ?? tempura (?? てんぷら)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- meat and potato stew (niku jaga 肉じゃが)

__

And finally the beloved thick (Texas) style toast. I don't know where this is supposed to be from. America? I've seen it covered with sesame butter, cheese, tuna-mayonnaise , and now pizza-esque toppings! It was so home-style and delicious! (Although it looks pretty horrible ;-)). Served with a simple (mostly cabbage) vegetable soup, and fresh pear. Oishii!


[clockwise from pizza-toast]

- pizza toast (piza tōsuto ピザトースト)
- pear (nashi 梨)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- vegetable soup (yasai no sūpu 野菜のスープ)

lucky me

Here are two good lunches and one bland one (again, it was because of my shrimp allergy so I couldn't eat the main part of the meal). I just read an article in the New York Times about the struggling school lunch program in NYC. I realized how good kids have it here: if schools don't cook for themselves, they get food that's been centrally prepared (giant kyuushoku kitchens!) and delivered fresh. In either case they get non-processed, healthy, delicious food made from scratch. So here I am, enjoying delicious meals such as this mābō-dōfu:

[clockwise from rice]

- rice (gohan ご飯)
- Szechuan style tofu and pork stew (mābō-dōfu マーボードーフ)
- orange (orenji オレンジ)
- boiled vegetables (yude yasai ゆで野菜)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
__

This was the bland one, it's lacking some croquettes that happened to contain ground shrimp...it was a nice kiriboshi daikon though:

[clockwise from rice]

- rice (gohan ご飯)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- dried daikon strips braised in sesame vinegar dressing (kiriboshi daikon no itameni gomasuae 切干大根の炒め煮ごま酢あえ)
- boiled vegetables (yude yasai ゆで野菜)
__

The Korean-style meal below was fucking incredible. I can't quite explain how well the "pari-pari" salad tasted--but it was the sauce that did it. I think it was just simple yuzu dressing (Japanese citrus), but it brought the vegetables into joyous Mozart-like harmonies. On a side note, "pari-pari" is fun Japanese onomatopoeia for "crispy" or "crunchy." I found out later that the fried crispy bits (tofu skins?) I put on top of my rice were actually meant for the salad, to make it more crispy...

[clockwise from rice]

- kimchi fried rice (kimuchi chahan キムチチャハン)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- "crispy" salad (paripari sarada パリパリサラダ)
- egg drop soup (tamago sūpu たまごスープ)

bah!

As I strive to faithfully document EVERY school lunch I have (since the start of this blog at least) I present a sadly watered down version of last week's kyuushoku. To elaborate: I have a severe shellfish allergy, so whenever shrimp or its cohorts appear on the menu, the school does its best to work around that fact. Or in this case, they just don't give me whatever has shrimp in it. Thus I had a big old steamin' bowl of plain rice, sans delicious looking stew--that unfortunately had some little shrimp in it.

So...it wasn't that interesting, but luckily this only happens maybe once or twice a month. And sometimes the various schools are extremely nice and make me a separate little non-shellfish plate of whatever food it is, lovingly wrapped in plastic with an elaborate handwritten name card on it! Today's lunch was not as carefully planned, c'est la vie. Although the school dietitian (yes, every school has their own full-time dietitian) gave me a copy of the month's menu with today's meal circled in red, and an X through the stew accompanied by a "NO!!". Which I thought was cute.


[clockwise from rice]

- rice (gohan ご飯)
- namul = Korean style sesame vegetables (namuru ナムル)
- seaweed soup (wakame sūpu わかめ スープ)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)

tradition-smacked

After I took the photo today, one of the old lady teachers got word that I had tried and liked her umeboshi, and forcefully piled about three large chunks of it on my rice. It was really, really sour. For those of you not "in-the-know," umeboshi is pickled Japanese plums. They are devastatingly sour, but have a nice dark pink color and also anti-bacterial properties. The only cultural comparison I can think of is something like your grandmother making delicious apple pie and passing down her secret recipe through the generations, only your grandmother is now Japanese and instead of pie we have pickled plums. Or something to that effect.

Speaking of wonderful traditional Japanese food, for the first time this year I had kiriboshi daikon for school lunch. I've been buying this stuff from an old bento box woman near my train station, so it was interesting to compare to the kyuushoku kind. It's daikon (huge white Japanese radish) that's been cut into thin strips and dried, then brought back to life again by stewing it with other traditional ingredients like soy sauce, sake, and fried tofu. It's kind of sweet and nutty, protein packed and very nutritious.

[clockwise from rice]

- rice (gohan ご飯)
- boiled vegetables with broth (yude yasai dashi ゆで野菜 だし)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- braised, dried daikon strips (kiriboshi daikon no itameni 切り干し大根の炒め煮)
- fried tofu and capelin roe cakes (tofu no masagoage 豆腐のまさごあげ)

__

Yesterday's highlight was a young boy being sung happy birthday to by his classmates, then everyone kanpai-ing him with their milks. It was solemn and wonderful. This lunch was really, really tasty. The chicken dumplings hidden in the soup nearly made me cry. I'm sure you could count the ingredients on one hand, so it was more about subtle harmonies between the ingredients, such as the chicken and ginger. And how in the hell did they stay so juicy? I just made chicken dumplings last week and they turned out dry...yet another reason to speak with the school cooks.


[clockwise from bread]

- "tuna mayo toast" (tsuna mayonēzu tōsuto ツナマヨネーズトースト)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- meat dumplings and vegetable soup (nikudango to yasai no sūpu 肉だんごと野菜のスープ)
- mixed canned fruit & yogurt (furūtsu no yōguruto フルーツのヨーグルト)

kyuushoku sexytime

Lunch today was with a raucous 5th grade class, and involved more than one boy showing me his butt. For some reason seeing naked children always makes me feel extremely awkward, like I'm going to get fired just for being there. Obviously the boys in question weren't so concerned. It so happens that one these immodest boys also pointed out to me (in quite vulgar terms) that I should hook up with the homeroom teacher. (I don't remember exactly what he said, but it involved him sliding his finger rhymthically into a hole in his fist.) The teacher slapped the boy softly, but seemed pleased that he had broached the subject of our both being young and single. She told me she was "lookingu fo' boyfurendo." We'll see about that. In contrast to the day's entertainment, the food was fairly regular, although the "nasu" sauce was a nice homage to the fresh eggplant we're having here as summer comes to a close...


[clockwise from spaghetti]

- spaghetti with eggplant meat sauce (nasu iri mīto sōsu supagettei ビーンズいりミート ソーススパゲッテイ)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- salad (sarada サラダ)
- roasted potatoes (rōsu poteto ロースポテト)

And yesterday's lunch was one of my favorites this year! It truly was a feast, the cooks going an extra mile with the tender, hollow tofu balls in the soup, fried fish (fried anything is good) with sweet potatoes, two kinds of beans and carrots, and of course the fresh mandarin orange!


[clockwise from rice]

- rice (gohan ご飯)
- "five color" swordfish and vegetable medley (kajiki to yasai no gojikini かじきと野菜の五色煮)
- mandarin orange (mikan みかん)
- traditional Japanese clear soup (sumashi jiru すまし汁)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)

the plight of the kyuushoku cook

I'm quite curious about the cooks behind the magic of kyuushoku, and would like to interview them when my Japanese is better. In the meantime I did come across this study, published by the Japan Society for Occupational Health. It points out that kyuushoku cooks' jobs are, uh, not the greatest--their work is literally "backbreaking":

"The median of the values for Japanese school cooks' workload, derived by the Visual Analogue Scale method ranging from 0(easy) to 10(severe), was 8.5. Concerning the possibility of occurrence of musculoskeletal problems, 83% of the respondents pointed out that the occurrence of musculoskeletal disorders was certain, and 17% of them estimated that it was probable...The participants also pointed out that Japanese school lunch cooks were exposed to various problems, i.e., excessive workloads for women, and too few replacements of manual work by machinery. On the other hand, the cleanliness of the school kitchen, quality of meals, and conscientious cooking work were evaluated as very high."

Ouchie! What comes next? Shall I lead a kyuushoku workers uprising? For starters, next time I see a cook, I'm going to squeeze their hand gently and gaze into their eyes with sympathy and appreciation.

MORBID

Oh my god! Let's all freak out because of a well-named flu! I came to work today to find half the school had been quarantined at home because of THE SWINE FLU. Part of me was thinking, Jesus, half these kids are probably having a great time at home right now. And part of me felt bad because they might die. Just kidding.

Speaking of death, today one of the teachers casually mentioned the following:

" You know science teacher? [pointing to her vacant desk]. Bad news. She die yesterday. Heart was bad." I was then handed a cheaply photocopied memo with a few sentences announcing her death. Granted, the woman was quite bitchy and not so popular, but it seemed a somewhat tragic homage to her life. I had only spoken to her once or twice (music and science teachers don't share classes) but I was kind of shocked.

But onto lighter matters, such as the food. It was really good, one of my favorites today: "nikujaga." Mention this word to pretty much any Japanese person and their face lights up with memories of standing next to their grandmother in the kitchen on a crisp autumn night, the rustle of maple leaves outside the window, and so on. It's simply a meat and potato stew. But one of those beautiful pillars of Japanese home cooking, a harmony of sweet and salty (mirin and soy sauce), tender potatoes in a rich pork gravy, carrots and peas providing a colorful backdrop...

And here we are:

[clockwise from rice]

- "seashore"(!) rice (iso gohan 磯ご飯)
- meat and potato stew (niku jaga 肉じゃが)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- boiled vegetables (yude yasai ゆで野菜)
- Japanese pear (nashi なし)

short and sweet

Not much to say today! It was a welcome meal after lots of running around. The teacher was kind enough to give me seconds. I ran into one of the cooks after lunch, they are dressed head to toe in sterile white gowns, masks, and gloves. Like they're about to perform some risky surgery, only they're making salads for children. I bowed deeply.


[clockwise from stew]

- "cream" stew (kurīmu shichū クリームシチュー)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- chickpea salad (hiyokomameiri sarada ひよこ豆入りサラダ)
- "sesame toast" (sesame tōsuto セサミトースト)

za ne = c'est la vie

In the land of teaching, there are ups and downs. Today was a down day. I won't dwell on it, only to say it included mostly bored, sassy little shit six graders. And a second grade class completely overrun by two incredibly austistic children. Way to go Japan, just stick 'em in normal schools, maybe they'll pick up a word or two. Needless to say the school lunch was a nice way to end the day. The mackerel was succulent!

[clockwise from rice]

- rice (gohan ご飯)
- "miso" grilled Spanish mackerel (sawara no misoyaki さわらのみそ焼き)
- braised potatoes (jagaimo no kinpira itame じゃがいものきんぴら炒め)
- vegetables dressed w/soy broth (dashi shouyu ae だし醤油あえ)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)

annnnnnnnd...we're back.

Welcome back creepy stalkers! I mean, friends and family!

It's the start of September, and that means the long summer vacation is over. Typhoon season is upon us, and my apartment smells like musty old socks now. But no matter, I'm once again nourished by sweet sweet kyuushoku.

I had lunch with a first grade class today. They were enthralled, as was I. I would say the amount of enthrallment was equal. Someone asked me something about bugs, and I answered "cockroach" which caused the entire class to erupt in pandemonium. It was possibly the wrong answer. A girl told me she likes fish skin the best, and saves it for last. Imagine hearing that from and American kid. Ha!

Speaking of which, we had a nice salmon teriyaki, although the picture doesn't do it much justice:

[clockwise from rice]

- rice (gohan ご飯)
- salmon teriyaki (shake no teriyaki 鮭の照り焼き)
- braised potatoes (jagaimo no kinpira itame じゃがいものきんぴら炒め)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- miso soup (sumashi jiru すまし汁)
__

Yesterday was the first school lunch I've had to eat alone. Normally after I finish teaching 4th period, I go wait in the teacher's lounge until a gaggle of students fetch me. But the teacher simply forgot. So I ended up eating in the lounge, with the teacher apologizing to me at least, say, 40 times. This morning she continued by apologizing to the entire faculty. I thought she was going to commit ritual seppuku. Robbed of the pleasure of company, perhaps the meal was not so memorable. The P.E. teacher went to charming lengths to secure me some dipping sauce however.

[clockwise from bread]

- "shortening" bread (shōtoningu pan ショートニングパン)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- boiled cabbage (yude kyabetsu ゆでキャベツ)
- bean croquette (bīnzukorokke ビーンスコロッケ)
- seaweed and egg soup (wakame to tomago sūpu わかめと卵のスープ )

summer vacation sweet sorrow

As Tokyo makes its lumbering transition from sticky rainy season to hotter, drier high summer, I am blessed with an incredible seven weeks of vacation! On the negative side, this blog will suffer a bit until September. However, I'd like to spend some time researching kyuushoku more, and post whatever I find. Perhaps I'll visit the famous (and only) kyuushoku restaurant in the world. Or cook my own! Maybe get into some compelling history. Either way, today's lunch was a nice send off, a classic grilled fish/vegetable/rice/miso soup combo. It's steeped in tradition, folks, hundreds of years of simple cooking reflected here. I'll miss thee, sweet kyuushoku, until September!

[clockwise from rice]

- rice (gohan ご飯)
- potato stew (jagaimo no nimono じゃがいもの煮物)
- Spanish mackerel teriyaki (sawara no teriyaki サワラの照り焼き)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- miso soup (miso shiru みそ汁)

bi bim bap?

"Sugoi" (awesome!) was the first word out of the P.E. teacher's mouth upon seeing today's lunch. Sugoi, indeed. I thought it was Japanese "taco rice" because I saw a bottle of something that looked like hot sauce, and cheese-like decorations on the rice. But lo, it was the famous multicolored Korean rice vegetable bowl, bi bim bap, or as the Japanese call it, bi bin ba. The "hot sauce" turned out to be Korean kochujang (maybe) and what sits atop the rice is not cheese, but shredded, fried tofu. It was okay, scoring low on authenticity after having eaten the real thing in Seoul. While the crunchy and sweet cucumber paired well with the spicy beef strips, an unassuming bunch of perfectly ripe grapes stole the show.

[clockwise from bi bim bap]

- bi bim bap (bi bin ba ビビンバ)
- cucumber sticks (kyuuri きゅうり)
- grapes (budou ぶどう)
- seaweed soup (wakame suupu わかめスープ)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)

something new, something old

Thursday and Friday were a hit and a repeat: Thursday featured a succulent teriyaki-glazed swordfish.

[clockwise from rice]

- rice (gohan ご飯)
- braised potatoes (jagaimo no kinpira じゃがいものきんぴら)
- swordfish teriyaki (kajiki no teriyaki 照り焼き)
- vegetables dressed w/soy broth (dashi shouyu ae だし醤油あえ)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)

But Friday's meal closely resembled Monday's, that is to say, spaghetti bolognese. This one apparently had beans in it. Somewhere. I can't complain though, the potatoes were good, and the cute teacher gave me a big helping...

[clockwise from spaghetti]

- spaghetti bolognese (bīnzu iri mīto sōsu supagettei ビーンズいりミート ソーススパゲッテイ)
- salad (sarada サラダ)
- fried potatoes (jagaimo kara age じゃがいもからあげ)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)

three new kyuushoku photos!

I've been busy, real busy. But I have photos from the first three lunches this week, they were all quite delicious.

Monday was spaghetti -- I'd say once a week there is some kind of Western food. According to what I can make of kyuushoku history, because of near famine conditions in Japan after WWII, school lunches originally had to make use of cheaper ingredients like skim milk powder and flour. It wasn't until 1976 that rice was introduced, thanks to a surplus of government-distributed rice. Needless to say, the spaghetti was not bad. With potatoes? Uhhh...why not?

[clockwise from spaghetti]

- spaghetti bolognese (supagettei mīto sōsu スパゲッテイミート ソース)
- roasted potatoes (rōsu poteto ロースポテト)
- asparagus salad (asuparagasuiri yude yasai アスパラガス入りゆで 野菜)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)

Tuesday was chirashi zushi -- often translated as "scattered sushi," it's basically a bowl of rice with sushi ingredients on top, instead of everything rolled up. It's colorful and easy to make, although I don't think the school was using properly vinager-ed sushi rice, it was just normal rice. There was also no raw fish, although I still wonder what the purple stuff was. The soumen (thin ramen noodles) was simple and tasty. My favorite was the frozen satsuma orange. Not sure why it was frozen, other than for it to be novel and delicious, and also the peel came off much more easily.

[clockwise from sushi rice]

- scattered sushi (chirashi zushi ちらしずし)
- frozen satsuma orange (reitoumikan 冷凍みかん)
- vegetables with sesame (yasai no goma aie 野菜のごま相え)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- soumen noodle soup (soumen shiru そうめん汁)

Wednesday was a standard, a kind of potato-pork stew called jagaimo no soboro ni. It's hearty and delicious, a little sweet (maybe they're using mirin (sweet sake)?). The fresh watermelon was great.


[clockwise from rice]

- rice w/ bonito flake topping (gohan furikake katsuo ご飯ふりかけかつお)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- watermelon (suika すいか)
- boiled vegetables w/ mustard sauce (yude yasai karashi ゆで野菜からし)
- potato-pork stew (jagaimo no soboro niじゃがいものそぼろ煮)

summer udon

Here's a quick look at what I had today: hearty udon with fried tofu, squid and sweet potato tempura (!) and a boiled veggies with a sesame dressing. The (!) after tempura is my surprise over the fact that someone went to the trouble of delicately breading and deep frying thousands of pieces of sweet potatoes and squid for public school children.

Cold udon! Come summer in Tokyo and restaurants start asking you "tsumetai?" when you order noodles. That means you can get them cold in a cold broth. Amazing how different temperatures can bring out different flavors. Duh. But still. And I really like the fact that summer heat brings cold noodles. Just a simple nod to the seasons, but nevertheless...mmm. A tiny girl instructed me to properly eat this dish by dipping the tempura in the broth. My heart leapt.


I didn't get the official menu from this particular school, so this is my rough translation based off what 8 year old children told me:

[clockwise from udon]

- cold udon with fried tofu (hiyashi kitsune udon 冷やしきつね うどん)
- squid and Japanese sweet potato tempura (ika satsumaimo tenpura 烏賊甘薯てんぷら)
- boiled vegetables w/ sesame dressing (goma yude yasai ごま ゆで 野菜)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)

never stop learning. never.

And good day to you! Just today I finally figured out why my attempts at re-creating kyuushoku-style pickled vegetables have failed: they're not picked, they're boiled! Hmm. And to think, I've spent the last 2 months pickling vegetables almost every day with little success.

One of the only English-speaking teachers (actually THE only English-speaking teacher out of my four schools!) was translating some of the menu for me today. The ever present side of vegetables (usually consisting of beansprouts, cabbage, carrots, cucumbers, etc) haunts my day and night. I really have been trying for a while to figure out how to replicate it. Most the time a bit of zing is added, like some sesame oil (or seeds), ginger, or a new one today: tiny fry. I'm not actually a big fan of the fry. They have quite a strong fish taste, are crunchy (bonettes and all) and you can see their ever tiny little eyes pleading with you. But I guess they must be healthy and flavorful. One day, maybe. The stew was hearty and good (chicken in there?) and the "peanut toast" was, uh, interesting. Best of all, I think I had my first complete half hour long conversation in Japanese, at least the children didn't look at me strangely or seem exasperated. I felt (nearly) like a social dandy, deftly leading conversations along such erudite topics as "how old is your mom" and "in America, elementary school lunch tastes like dead bugs."


[clockwise from stew]

- "corn" stew (kōn shichū コーンシチュー)
- "peanut toast" (pīnattsu tōsuto ピーナッツトースト)
- milk (gyuunuu 牛乳)
- boiled vegetables with small fish (jakoiri yude yasai じゃこ入りゆで 野菜)

People still don't know what to make of my fascination with school lunch. As if I'm fascinated in tube socks or something similarly bland. I still am trying to think of some excuse as to why I'm taking pictures of everything. You just don't get it people! If only you knew the shit I ate as a kid...

video overview

Wonder of wonders, the school lunch today was exactly the same as yesterday. This is possible, given that I work at four schools. But equally delicious, although I could have eaten about 3 times the amount they gave me. Is it wrong to be tempted to steal food from children? What about fat children?

So instead of posting a kyuushoku photo, here is a hilarious video of kyuushoku from Sendai, Japan. The dramatic music is PER-FECT, and there are quite a lot of interesting dishes. I'm still learning Japanese, so have no idea what the text says (yet!), sorry. Judging from the poor picture quality and ubiquitous bread, forks and knives (e.g. no chopsticks) I am guessing these examples are more historical. As I understand, current kyuushoku is actually more traditionally Japanese than that of the last 60 years!

First kyuushoku photos!

I finally took a camera to school today after a few days of deliberation: what would the teachers say? Will the PTA and/or police get involved? Will the children go nuts when they see a camera? I guess I'll find out. Today the 4th graders were quite sangfroid when I broke out the camera. The teacher noticed, and all I said was "I have...an idea..." and winked at him. This seemed to suffice.


The Japanese school lunch ritual will get its own posting, but for now it's safe to say many parts are inconsistent. Sometimes designated children quite properly (and oh so charmingly) announce the names of what we're about to eat. Sometimes tiny little voices emerge from the loudspeaker and do the same. Sometimes we simply chow down.

Today there was no announcement, but I asked the kids the names of the dishes anyway: [clockwise from rice]

-rice (gohan ご飯)
-grilled salmon (yakishake 焼鮭)
-braised burdock root (kinpira gobou 金平牛蒡)
-orange (orenji オレンジ)
-pickled vegetables (tsukemono 漬け物) [corrected 7/1: boiled vegetables (yude yasai ゆで 野菜)]
-milk -not pictured- (gyuunuu 牛乳)

The rice, pickled vegetables and grilled salmon were pretty standard, i.e. muy excelente. I was very happy my first posting also includes kinpira gobou. Not only did I find out the name today (after having eaten it maybe 3 or 4 times) but it's one of my favorites. As I'm learning myself, it's braised burdock root, kind of earthy and a bit oily. In most of my schools they mix it together with french fries, and something about adding the salty (day old?) fries makes for an incredible pairing!

Notice the hilarious "piano" desk I was eating upon. The kids are so thoughtful...

It begins.

Hello there! This is a new blog to share my love of Japanese school lunches, called kyuushoku. I have found precious little (English language) information on the art of kyuushoku, and would like to provide some insight into these simple but delicious meals.

Among other odd jobs, I work part time at four elementary schools in Tokyo. As I understand it, school lunches in Japan, like many countries, can be less than acceptable. Maybe it's because I am in a good part of Tokyo, or maybe because I never eat breakfast and proceed to work the children with the zeal of an aerobics coach, but I am blessed with consistently delicious kyuushoku. And for that I am so, so very grateful.

Obviously the biggest problem for the reader is: how to relate? I mean, who the hell really gets a chance to eat lunch at elementary schools in Japan, anyway? But wait! It's a fascinating culinary world that I am lucky enough to travel in without getting, uh, arrested. Hence the blog. If you can't try the food, at least you might relate to the feeling of eating simple food cooked with love and care. In that sense, I'd like to share my own photos and thoughts about kyuushoku, as well as recipes, links, and anything else!