ブックタイトル平成25年度公開講座記録集

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平成25年度公開講座記録集

FoodscapeSince joining the Chiki Renkei center committee inApril, 2013, I have participated in several memorableevents which have focused on the center’s theme for2013-14, ‘Niigata’s foodscape.’ As a British teacher livingin Niigata, this theme has brought back memoriesof living and travelling in Europe when I was younger.I lived in Germany and travelled frequently toFrance, Italy, and Spain. For Europeans, it is said we‘live to eat’ which means that food is part of our lifestyle.How it is produced, prepared for our tables,and eaten brings out a passion for ingredients andshows our cultural and personal styles. I was remindedof this way of life this year when helping to preparefor the ‘foodscape’ events.The first event was a talk by the owner of Marillabakery in Murakami. In preparation for this talk, mycolleague at UNP, Mr. Odani, and I interviewed thebaker, Mr. Uchiyama. Mr. Uchiyama’s passion andsense for bread-making was deeply impressive as heexplained how he uses natural ingredients speciallyselected from the best sources. He and his wife makehis German bread in a self-made oven next to hishouse, showing bread-making needs to be done properlywith an attention to every detail. This processhas been carefully developed over many years withhis wife to the point where they now win nationalawards. His talk at UNP on October 12th gave him achance to convey this passion for his business andmotivation, both of which left lasting impressions onthe audience.In September, the center’s head, Professor Yamanaka,and I appeared on Rekustar in Niigata citycenter to promote UNP ‘foodscape’ events and I talkedabout Mr. Uchiyama. Putting his passion into myown words was difficult but the host, Abe san, helpedthe discussion by asking my impressions of Niigatafoodscape as a foreigner. Our conversation touchedupon regional differences in food culture throughoutJapan and made me realize that Japan traditionallyhas great diversity in types of food and has alwaysbeen open to foreign influences, perfecting them andshaping them to local tastes. This openness appearsto maintain not only Japanese food traditions, but, interestingly,some foreign food traditions that I alwaysbelieved could only be shaped by Europeans.A further example of this adoption of Europeanfood production was seen in a recent event on December8th at UNP by the head of the Fermier wineryin Cave d’occi (also in Niigata Prefecture), Mr.Honda. Mr. Honda brought selected wines for tastingand explained his technique for nurturing grapes. Histalk, as with Mr Uchiyama’s, illustrated the attentionto detail at each stage of the production process.Sharing this bread and wine with my wife whohad also travelled in Europe, we remarked how deliciousand authentic the bread and wine tasted. Suchtaste clearly cannot be made within a few years ofproduction, but takes years of trial and error to reachsuch a level of perfection, as Mr. Uchiyama and Mr.Honda explained. As in Europe, when we eat ordrink something delicious, we do so slowly and discussthe flavours and combinations enthusiastically.It is a sign of our appreciation for the dedication ofthe producers. To have the opportunity to enjoy Germanbread from Marilla and wine from Fermier tookour minds back to the food cultures of Europe. Perhapsit is appropriate to end these reflections onthese UNP ‘foodscape’ events by thinking of the diversityof food cultures that now exist within Japan,and how they are developed with such care.FoodscapeJohn Adamson1 University of NIIGATA PREFECTURE