Upcoming Event

October 30, 2012

Upcoming Event: First Friday with Grease Box

by Kayoko Akabori

Our great friend (and twice-Umami Mart writer) Lizzy Boelter is popping up at Umami Mart with her mobile kitchen Grease Box this Friday. Lizzy makes super rad soul food of her native Louisiana, all gluten-free! And lucky for us, Lizzy does not skimp on the lovin’ or the flavorin’. For this special pop-up, she’ll be […]

September 28, 2012

Upcoming Event: UmamiLab #1: Ramen Shop Noodle Test #6

by Kayoko Akabori

As you may have heard, there’s a highly anticipated ramen shop coming to Oakland. Our good friends Sam, Rayneil and JJ are the masterminds behind Ramen Shop (that’s right!), opening in Rockridge. The opening is still a few months away, and they are hard at work on their space (formerly the Japanese restaurant Tachibana), and […]

September 4, 2012

Upcoming Event: Yaki-Onigiri for First Friday (OAK)

by Kayoko Akabori

That’s right, we be grillin’ balls this Friday! Our good friends Koichi, Ryoji and Steven of YATAIYA will be making yaki-onigiri (grilled rice balls), and serving them alongside some house-made tsukemono (pickles). They are irresistible, smoky flavor-bombs! If we’re lucky, they’ll have other fun munchies on the grill as well. Come welcome Autumn with us! The grillin’ starts […]

March 23, 2012

Upcoming Event: OPENharvest at the Headlands (Sausalito)

by Kayoko Akabori

Remember when Yoko and I went to Japan last year with the OPEN crew? God, it seems like forever ago. We had so many rad, eye-opening opportunities, like rice harvesting in Niigata, visiting farms in Nagano and organizing a line of pop-ups on a busy street in Shibuya. Wow! Yoko and I will be reuniting […]

January 17, 2012

Umamimart @ Pecha Kucha 1/24 (SF)

by Kayoko Akabori

Yoko and I have been invited to give a presentation at the world-renowned Pecha Kucha forum next Tuesday 1/24 in San Francisco. The theme is “chaos”, and we will be speaking about our experiences in Japan last year in regards to food and radiation. In the typical Pecha Kucha style, it will be a rapid-fire […]