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Characteristics of Cookery in Kanazawa


I have been to Kanazawa many times for work. Kanazawa is a cozier town than Osaka. However, there are many restaurants of quite a high standard, as well as many places where one can observe the traditional handicrafts, so it is a very interesting city.


In the city of Kanazawa there is a market called Omicho Market. (Omicho Market is introduced in detail in a separate section. Please take a look at this, too.) By going to this market you can understand very well just how much the Kanazawa people care about their food. One indication of this is the amazing abundance of the ingredients arrayed in the market. I was quite impressed. And the freshness of not only the seafood, but also the vegetables, is also very significant. For example, you can tell that the lotus roots have just been dug up from the ground, as they are presented in the stalls with the soil still on them. They are not like the clean lotus roots that you see in the supermarkets. But if you were to ask me which was tastier, I would have to say the lotus root with the soil on it. This is proof that, when it comes to food, consumers here place more importance on freshness and quality than appearance and ease of preparation.


I think it is possible to judge how much the people of Kanazawa care about their food from these indicators. And if the lotus root is any indication of freshness, one can imagine how fresh the seafood is.


So, why has cookery developed as it has in Kanazawa? I have concluded that this is probably due to a combination of a number of factors. Let me explain more clearly.


Firstly, this region is rich in ingredients. The large number of restaurants and the abundance of ingredients available at the markets is entirely due to the high quality of the seafood and vegetables that can be obtained in the region. The life of Japanese food exists in its ingredients. In fact, I think that the success of a Japanese dish is ninety percent due to its ingredients and ten percent due to the skill of the chef. Kanazawa cuisine is created from the "goodness of the sea and fields". The fields of Kaga are bathed in clear water from Shirayama, one of Japan's three famous mountains, and yield good harvests. The "goodness of the sea" is brought from the ports of the Noto Peninsula, which juts out into the Japan Sea.


The second factor is Kanazawa's proximity to Kyoto. You may wonder how much influence this could have, but it is actually quite significant. Today, all cities of any size are concentrated on the Pacific coast of Japan, and the Japan Sea coast has become deserted. However, in the old days, it was quite different. I remember learning from a textbook once, that the Pacific coast is "the front of Japan", and that the Japan Sea coast is "the back of Japan". But in old times the Japan Sea coast was "the front of Japan". Chinese and Korean culture entered Japan from the geographically close Japan Sea coast and then spread throughout the country. Records of archaeological excavations on the Noto Peninsula clearly indicate that foreign cultures entered Japan in the Jomon period (about 10,000 to 300 BC).


With the Japan Sea coast as the gateway to Japan, the Japan Sea culture blossomed and was passed on to Kyoto. Kyoto, as the capital, was the centre of Japan, so everything ended up in Kyoto. Not only delicacies from all over Japan, but also foreign cultures found their way to Kyoto. Foreign cultures influenced even Japanese food, particularly through the introduction of Buddhism. The exchange between Kanazawa and Kyoto, therefore, had a great influence on Kanazawa cuisine.


Finally, there are the "traditional ingredients" of Kanazawa, such as Kaga-fu (wheat gluten cake), fish pickled in rice bran, fish sauce, Japanese confectionery and so on. We call them simply "traditional ingredients", but they are actually the embodiment of the knowledge of our ancestors. Just the fact that these things have been handed down over several hundred years is amazing. I suppose this is a manifestation of the great value they placed on food.


There are probably other factors involved in the development of cookery in Kanazawa, but I have mentioned just these three.


Even now, some people are inclined to see Kanazawa as a somewhat deserted, cozy town in the Hokuriku region. But Kanazawa has a long and deep history, and when talking about or studying Japanese cuisine it is a town that should not be forgotten. Studying Kanazawa is perhaps equivalent to studying the origins of Japanese cuisine.





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