Hokkaido Bounty

For the record, there is also really good food in Japan. I know I go on and on about the food I miss from the Pacific Northwest. . . but we have nice produce here, too.

Hokkaido is the major agricultural producer for Japan, a country especially focused on domestic production. Some visitors from Tokyo recently told us that eating here is like eating "gourmet" every day because it is so fresh. I don't know if I'd call it gourmet, but most restaurants serve local produce.


Please notice the farmers toiling in the fields, without machines. This woman is pulling daikon (a giant, mild-tasting white radish).


Our particular region of Hokkaido is known for grapes, onions, carrots, melons, and dairy. My neighbors also grow rice, wheat, beans, daikon, kabocha pumpkins, eggs, and plenty of other stuff I haven't yet tasted. We eat seasonally so thus far I've only tasted the end-of-summer and autumn-foods.

The grapes were available when we first arrived, and shocked us with their flavorful variety. Grapes in the US are tasteless and watery in comparison. (It was great fun to learn about viticulture with my students!) The potatoes are sweeter here. Carrots are earthy, just as they should taste (my brother Chris would approve). And the kabocha pumpkin is amazing: sweet, creamy, and easy to cook down. Now I am stocking up on kabocha to make a pureed pumpkin-carrot-ginger soup, which I'll freeze and keep for winter.

Here my student is showing off a frog he caught near the grapevines.

This farmer is picking onions by hand.