Untangling My Chopsticks (36 page)

shogun—the head of the samurai government

shoji—translucent paper- and wood-paneled sliding screens, used as windows or doors

shojin ryori—vegetarian temple food

soba—thin noodles made from pure buckwheat flour or a mixture of buckwheat and white flour; they can also be flavored with powdered green tea

sushi (zushi in Japan)—the term for any one of the many preparations made from rice seasoned with vinegar (and often sugar and salt as well)

tabi—the formal white socks worn with kimonos that separate at the big toe to accommodate the thong of a sandal

tatami—woven rice-straw floor mats

tea kaiseki—a kaiseki meal based on rice that precedes a formal tea ceremony; in the ceremony, a moist sweet is served before a bowl of thick tea and a dry sweet is served before a bowl of thin tea

tenshin—a small simple meal served after the thin tea and occasionally the thick tea in temples, but before the whipped green tea at a tea ceremony; it originated in China and came to Japan via the Zen monasteries

tenzo—the cook in a Japanese monastery

udon—thick white wheat noodles

wabi—a complicated aesthetic concept that values a person, way of life, or thing that can be poor, sad, lonely, simple, elegant, or tranquil

wakame—a deep green seaweed with a soft ribbon-like appearance and mild flavor; mainly used in miso soup

wanmori—the climactic course in tea kaiseki consisting of exquisite cooked ingredients surrounded by a clear dashi stock that is lightly seasoned and delicately garnished

yakimono—literally, “grilled thing”; also the grilled course in a tea kaiseki meal

yakuseki—literally, “medicine stone”; the hot stones that monks placed in the breast-pocket fold of their kimonos to alleviate hunger pangs; later the term came to mean a small vegetarian temple meal; currently it refers to the small evening meal served in temples

yen—Japanese currency

yuto—the name of a tea kaiseki dish of warm salted water mixed with savory shards of the scorched rice loosened from the bottom of the rice pot; also the name of the black lacquer hot water pitcher in which the dish arrives

yuzu—a Japanese citron used for cooking (both the zest and the juice), predominantly when it is yellow and ripe, although sometimes when it is green and unripe

zushi (
see
sushi)

From Essential Buddhism: A Complete Guide to Beliefs and Practices by Jack Maguire. Copyright © 2001 by Jack Maguire and Roundtable Press, Inc. Reprinted by permission of Pocket Books, an imprint of Simon & Schuster Adult Publishing Group.

From Narrow Road to the Interior and Other Writings by Matsuo Basho, translated by Sam Hamill. Reprinted by arrangement with Shambhala Publications, Inc., Boston (
www.shambhala.com
).

From “The History of the Kaiseki Meal” by Tsutsui Hiroichi, translated by Gretchen Mittwer, Chanoyu Quarterly, No. 78, Kyoto, Japan.

A graduate of Harvard University, Victoria Abbott Riccardi is a freelance food, nutrition, and travel writer. She is a contributing editor for Natural Health and a contributor to Eating Well. She also writes for such publications as the Boston Globe, the New York Times, and Bon Appétit. She lives with her husband in Newton, Massachusetts. Her website is
www.untanglingmychopsticks.com
.

UNTANGLING MY CHOPSTICKS. Copyright © 2003 by Victoria
Abbott Riccardi. All rights reserved. No part of this book may
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Permission credits are on page 283

Riccardi, Victoria Abbott.

Untangling my chopsticks : a culinary sojourn in Kyoto /
Victoria Abbott Riccardi.

p. cm.

Includes index.

1. Cookery, Japanese. I. Title.

TX724.5.J3 R49 2003

641.5852—dc21   2002034251

eISBN: 978-0-307-49240-1

v3.0