Umami Mart

Mayonnaise. It’s such a divisive condiment. People loooove it or haaaate it passionately. Working at Umami Mart, I overhear a lot of conversations between people when they see we carry Japanese Kewpie Mayonnaise in our conbini (Japanese for convenience store) food section. I’ve heard customers proclaim, “THIS is the BEST mayo in the world!” and others groan or say, “Ugh! Gross!” about […]

Mayonnaise in America = Hellman’s = Gross. This is what many people say or think, but mayo in Japan is very different. As many of you know, Kewpie mayo is the good stuff.  If you haven’t had them, go to Umami Mart in Oakland and buy one. Or you can make it yourself. A lot of […]

When I was five, my family moved from the heart of the Silicon Valley (Cupertino) to the heart of Tokyo (Aoyama). Although it probably would have been a dream for trendy tots and tweens like Suri or Tavi, I was a tomboy who liked my suburban swing set in Cupertino and despised the high-rise buildings […]

Hi everyone, Kayoko here, filling in for Yoko’s column today. Yoko has set the bar quite high for tips, techniques and recipes on Japanese cooking, so I really thought hard about what I would be writing about. I browsed through all my Japanese cookbooks and magazines for ideas, and even consulted with some folks about […]