Umami Mart

Mash-ups has been en vogue for over seven years now. Every time Britney or Gaga release a new smash hit it’s instantly mashed up with an old Kylie Minogue or Human League hit. Sometimes, it’s because mixing and mashing creates an entirely new song. Sometimes it’s for promotional purposes. And other times, it’s done in […]

Kayoko here, filling in for Yoko. From here on out, just call me (Ka)Yoko. By now, I’m sure you know what ponzu is. I don’t even have to explain it to you. In fact, it’s such a part of our colloquialism that I don’t even need to italicize it! Oh you know, it’s that tangy, […]

I am home in Berkeley after taking a week-long road trip through the American southwest with fellow Umamimart writer Anders, bookended by a five-day trip in NYC. I am so excited to be back in my own kitchen that I’ve stocked up on everything from soft shell crab to chicken thighs for curry. But those […]

Hey hey, Kayoko here, filling in for Yoko this week. Seems that summer has arrived in the Bay Area (a balmy 77ËšF in Oakland, holla!), which means I will only cook meals that take me a few minutes to prepare. Hooray for HOT + LAZY! A favorite summertime dish on a day like today is […]

When you see ramps at the Greenmarket, it is a sign that spring is here. These delicacies are only available for short period of time. I discovered this awesome plant last year, and its flavor of onion, garlic, scallion, mixed all into one is very nice. When you go to upscale restaurants around this time […]

I used to be amused by the number of Kewpie mayonnaise tubes my 85 year-old grandma had stashed in her packed fridge in Tokyo. I would visit her house every few months to clean out her fridge. She would forget that she already had certain condiments and kept buying them because they would get buried […]

I’m so over normality. I’m over generic cafes, mediocre restaurants and bleh bars with all their effortless interiors, lazy service, boring menu offerings and pointless existence besides making money (in these days: little). The next time I walk into a cream coloured cafe serving cafe lattes in a standard glass with a napkin around it, […]

Mottainai is said in Japan when something perfectly usable is abandoned or sent to the trashcan. In the past ten years, Japan has seen a trend in awareness regarding waste and reusing whenever possible. It’s ironic that this has become a trend because the idea of reuse goes way back and is intrinsic to Japanese […]

Living in Tokyo meant that I had very little access to cereals, orange juice with lots of pulp, fig bars and other high fiber food stuffs that are so ubiquitous in the U.S. I always considered myself to have a very “normal” digestive system and never felt I needed extra help to move things along. […]

Sylvan Mishima Brackett is the mastermind behind Peko Peko, a Japanese catering service in the Bay Area. After working as Alice Waters’ assistant for SIX YEARS (dude must have the patience of a Zen master. Just kidding, love you Alice!), he apprenticed in a soba shop in Saitama, Japan, then came back to the Bay […]