What I have always longed for at the beginning of every spring when I was growing up in Tokyo were the delicious varieties of wild mountain vegetables, called sansai. Spring sansai have pleasant astringency and bitterness which was the reason for my craving. Every spring when my mother served us sansei dishes she repeated the story of benefit of eating bitter tasting spring sansai: It is good for our body because it cleanses toxins that have accumulated in our body...
Read MoreThe arrival of spring – ramps!
When I was raised in Japan, early spring was announced by the arrival in the markets of takenoko (bamboo shoot), fukinoto (a bud-like plant with a very “green” and bitter taste; see the right hand photo below), and taranome (a young bud of angelica tree). My mother always prepared… many varieties of dishes using these wonderful vegetables to say the spring has also arrived in the Shimbo household. After moving to New York City, I was deeply disappointed...
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