The past few nights, I have been watching Chef's Table - a documentary mini series on Netflix following some of the best chefs out there right now. One of the episodes follows Niki Nakayama of N/Naka in Los Angeles.
N/Naka servies kaiseki Japanese cuisine - a progression of dishes that feels more like a concert than a meal. Nakayama learned about kaiseki when she moved to Japan and worked at a family member's inn in the countryside. What she had to say about the philosophy of kaiseki struck a chord with me.
"The philosophy of kaiseki is that we're supposed to represent the area in which we're living in. When I was working in the countryside, we took from what was close to us, making the best use of what the season has to offer. I was so in love with the idea that I put a farm like garden in the back of my house.
One of the first things I learned about kaiseki is the integrity of the ingredients should never get lost. In Japanese it's called 'saiseiya' which means to protect the ingredients.
After having this garden from seed and watching it grow little by little to watch the process, to see it struggle, to see it survive, there's this level of appreciation that everything takes time.
Everything takes the right amount of nurturing. Everything deserves effort because it's making an effort. This little tomato took 3 months to grow. And to just toss it or waste it or treat it so lightly, we're not doing our best to appreciate what nature is truly offering, what lessons of life all around us are trying to teach us."
- Niki Nakayama
Kaiseki philosophy can apply everywhere. Cooking, gardening, starting a new healthy lifestyle - if it's making an effort, it deserves the effort. All of us have that "little tomato" within us, ready to grow.
Kate Fossman, RDN, LD
October 23, 2015
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