Cast
Washoku: Japanese food, Japanese food culture
Me: Alex, small town boy from Byron Bay now living in the big smoke
The First Date
My first experience, or exposure to Washoku (I’m gonna call it our first date) was sushi. “Ahh, typical!” I hear you say, in a somewhat cynical huff. Well in my defence I hail from the largely popular, but undeniably still small town of Byron Bay. At the time, a new sushi train restaurant had opened, bringing the total number of sushi trains in Byron to, well, one. I was still at high school and admittedly very unaware of the world, but was studying Japanese so did know of sushi.
Sushi. The famed dish of Japan – the only one, right? At least that’s what I thought back then. It’s likely I wasn’t alone on this front, at least as someone growing up in a rural town. Metropolitan Sydney was exposed to Washoku decades ago (Testuya started up here in the 1980’s, Azuma restaurant opened in 1996, and ramen is said to have been here since the mid 90’s) and is now simply spoilt for choice. However Byron, even today, has only a handful of options for authentic and good-quality Japanese food. Back when I was in high school the range was dismal.
Getting to Know Each Other
Understandably, with these limited options my palate was also very limited. Raw fish was a completely foreign idea (thanks Captain Obvious?), I think even for many people now despite the proliferation of Washoku across Australia. I have plenty of friends who get squeamish at the thought of swallowing some fresh salmon sashimi, or treating themselves to a tasty tuna tartare. When I worked at a popular Japanese restaurant in Surry Hills, a lot of people could only sum up the courage to try salmon or tuna, and for many it was their first time.
So allow me to take you back to my foray into Japanese food at the sushi train in Byron. I had started eating there regularly, and inevitably there came a day when I bit the bullet – and bit into some salmon sushi. It was… edible! Phew. I enthusiastically thanked my friend for pushing me to try it, and slowly got accustomed to raw salmon sushi, very occasionally pushing the boundaries and trying some tuna. To my delight this wasn’t too bad either.
Goin’ Steady
Fast forward to the 1st of April 2005. April Fool’s! But this was no joke: I was boarding a flight to Narita, Tokyo, to start a one year exchange program at Aoyama Gakuin University. It was my second year of a Bachelor’s in multimedia and design and I had been accepted to do the program with a couple of scholarships up my sleeve. I was off to Japan, and Washoku and I were about to get a lot closer.
Little did I know, a couple of days before my departure an email had come from my host father-to-be (I was incredibly lucky to find a homestay family), asking about dietary requirements, if any. I didn’t get the email in time. So, being typically Japanese; hospitable and considerate, my host mother-to-be racked her brain for something suitable and had a plate of very ‘Western’ food waiting for me. Just that they had thought to email me to ask, and that they had a plate of food waiting for my famished evening arrival is true testament to their kindness.
The moment I told them I ate almost anything was when things started to get interesting. New and (to me) strange dishes, one after the other, night after night. My host mum was a mean cook and I have this memory of never having the same dish more than a few times. I lived with them for 8 months, and had dinner with them probably at least 5 nights a week. You do the math. Nah, I know that is unlikely. But I still maintain that the range of dishes she served up was phenomenal. A master in her own right. Gochisō-sama deshita.
…to be continued (the juicy bits)
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