Japan Day 39: Mochi and A Tofu House

Today, I attended a lecture on Japanese cuisine and etiquette, and was able to try 100% warabi mochi for the first time! Warabi is a root, and, to make warabi mochi, warabi has to be ground up and then stirred vigorously until gelatinous. We were told that, although diluted warabi mochi can be found in convenience stores, most Japanese people have never had 100% warabi mochi. I felt really lucky! Some of the students of the nutrition class helped to prepare the mochi and green tea (sencha) for us. The lecturer also instructed us on some basic Japanese table manners and chopstick taboos.

For lunch, we were able to go out and sample some traditional Japanese cuisine at a tofu house. The meal included many courses, including steamed mashed corn, unagi (eel) and eggplant, sashimi with soy sauce powder, yakitori (grilled items on sticks), cold tofu, crab and egg, and wheat ice cream. The cold tofu was especially interesting; the spherical tofu pieces were served in a golden container with a giant ice cube.  It was my favorite part of the meal because of its delicate favor. It actually tasted a lot like solid soy milk, which I quite like!