On Sunday November 19, Sydney’s is hosting an Izakaya pop-up dinner with Japan’s First Lady of fermenting, Nancy Singleton Hachisu. Hachisu will be previewing her upcoming book, Japan: The Cookbook (Phaidon, April 2018) which features vegetable-centric recipes and methods from 1970s and 1980s Japan that have never been translated in English before.
A California native, Hachisu arrived in Japan in 1988 as a Stanford graduate and has lived with her Japanese farmer husband and sons for almost three decades in a traditional farmhouse in rural Japan.
“Nancy is one of my personal food heroes. She put into words and pictures in her books Japanese Farm Food and , everything I adore and missed most about Japan,” says Palisa Anderson, director of Jarernchai/Boon Café and Chat Thai.
Get Hachisu's recipe for and .
Source: Andrews McMeel Publishing
Anderson, who once lived in Japan, spent a large chunk of her time in the remote seaside village of Shimoda where she developed an appreciation for the agricultural and food traditions of rural Japan.
“So when she came to Australia last year, I was so bummed I couldn't make her cooking demo at Cornersmith or the dinner she collaborated on with Mat Lindsay over at Ester as I had just come back from an R'n'D trip in the States.”
Lucky for Anderson, then, that Hachisu happened to walk into Boon Café one day.
Bestselling author Nancy Singleton Hachisu has lived with her Japanese farmer husband and sons for almost three decades in a traditional farmhouse in rural Japa Source: Supplied
“It's quite surreal seeing and meeting someone who you've admired from a far who comes into your little shop looking for you. Needless to say, we hit it off straight off the bat and were talking a million miles a minute about our common love of food and all the amazing producers of my Japan.”
For Anderson, Hachisu’s work is a gateway for those who aren’t Japanese or versed in rural Japanese food and culture.
“It resonated with me deeply because this was the food I ate most when I lived there. It also worries me very much who will keep this alive, who will continue the age old methods, who will grow the rice, the produce?”
Anderson believes Japan, with its rich culture of farming and deep agricultural tradition - a culture she believes is dying as younger generations flock to the city and are drawn to a culture of convenience rather than tradition - makes it unique in Asia.
Through her work, Hachisu is drawing attention to Japan's rich agricultural traditions, which she believes are dying. Source: Supplied
“This is a universal story that should be important to everyone and I applaud Nancy as she is drawing interest to this problem by showcasing what is most beautiful about the Japanese culture,” Anderson says. “It's not fancy, it's not 3 Michelin star dining but it is the root of all of that. It's the heart and soul, the age-old reason of how it all came to be and why eating like this touches us so deeply and puts us into connection with nature, with human ingenuity of preservation. You don't need to be Japanese to appreciate that at all.”
While planning the retro-themed Izakaya dinner, Anderson and Hachisu stumbled upon some unexpected common culinary history.
“We found that a few of them [dishes] resembled closely to some traditional country Thai dishes that my mum cooks too! It may be traced back to Chinese influence.”
The collaboration, sponsored by Fino foods (who carry Hachisu’s selection of Japanese sauces and oils) will feature produce from Anderson’s Boon Luck Farm, complimentary sake from Black Market, and a haul of dry ingredients that Hachisu is bringing from Japan to make her fresh tofu, among other things.
Anderson's popular Boon cafe is hosting the Izakaya pop-up dinner this Sunday 19 November. Source: Boon cafe
Throughout the night’s 13-course menu, expect carrot, fresh tofu and walnuts; angled gourd (Chinese okra) stir-fry with egg and red pepper; eggplant and flowering mustard miso soup; and a seven spice chicken and finger lime dish.
"This dinner is an exciting collaboration not just between Nancy and Boon Café, but Boon Luck Farm Organics, Fino Foods, Black Market Sake and Randall Rice are additional sponsors. It is a true dissecting point for us Japanophiles!”
The is happening Sunday 19 November, 6pm and 8:30pm.
$88 pp - bookings available here. 425 Pitt St Haymarket, Sydney
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