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Kaiseki Ryori (Authentic Japanese Banqueting)
A ‘sense of season’ is the quintessential element of traditional Japanese cuisine.
This time-consuming attention to detail was culturally fostered around the dietary life of the nobility and upper class and even today, the very best in traditional Japanese cuisine is reserved for special occasions and particular venues. Since the mid-19th century, upper-class Japanese ‘Ryotei’ restaurants have specialized in ‘Kaiseki Ryori’, where small or large parties banquet together on traditional Japanese cuisine whilst enjoying an abundance of flowing sake.
Are you aware that there seems to be a link between excess fructose and depression, tension, anger and anxiety? It seems that dietitians around the world are looking at how fructose, which remains unabsorbed by the intestines, bonds with tryptophan, an essential amino acid, causing the mal-absorption of tryptophan as well. This tryptophan is necessary to the production of serotonin, which carries impulses in the parts of the brain that controls your mood and emotions, and a lack of serotonin is now considered a cause of depression, tension, anger and anxiety. Our bodies also use tryptophan to make melatonin, a hormone that helps us fall asleep and a lack of it could be the cause of insomnia in some people. With so many people suffering from these negative emotions and poor sleep of late it would be wonderful if all it took for millions of people to feel better was to remove excess fructose from their diet! Its worth a try. Its not hard. We do it everyday, in every dish at S. Komatsu. Spread the word!
It may surprise you to know that Japanese parents warn their children that soy sauce (including tamari) is poison! Yes, as we also told you, Japanese food is intrinsically laced with soy sauce, but always in very small, careful quantities. As yummy as those soy-based broths used in noodles dishes are, every Japanese person knows that you don't drink the broth, you just eat the noodles out of the broth. This is because if taken too liberally the high salt levels in soy sauce literally become poisonous to the body. Dietitians of late have actually come out with figures that suggest that per 1kg of body weight, as little as 2.8ml ~25ml is deadly! For a 60kg person, this would mean that ingesting anywhere between 168ml to 1.5 litres would be fatal. Now happily soy sauce is not the type of liquid that you reach out for when you are thirsty so its not likely that a person will consume too much. But we have seen Aussie school children, with their 30kg bodies, drink the soy sauce that has accumulated in the bottom of their dim sim lunch bags, and we shudder....
So next time you or your children are tempted to drown your food in soy sauce or tamari, think again!
How on earth did tamari get to be a bigger product in Australia than in Japan? The first I ever heard of ‘Tamari’ was when I came back to live in Australia after living in Tokyo on and off for 2 decades! Contrary to popular belief, it is not a commonly used product in Japan. Many gluten/wheat intolerant people are of the notion that ‘Tamari’ is a gluten/wheat free version of soy sauce but this is not always the case. A company called Ichibiki does indeed sell gluten-free tamari here in Australia and has so widely promoted its gluten-free status that the word ‘tamari’ has become synonymous as a brand called‘Tamari’ which is presumed to be gluten-free. This is a dangerous presumption! Tamari is simply soy sauce that has been fermented for longer (approximately 3 years longer!). And as most soy sauces in Japan are mass produced with wheat it follows that most tamari are also made from wheat. If gluten-intolerant people go to Japan or Japanese restaurants and think they are safe by requesting that tamari be used instead of soy sauce in the preparation of their meal then they are very mistaken and of course could make themselves quite ill. (And don’t forget, most restaurants in Japan wouldn’t even have tamari in their kitchen and would be very surprised, even confused, by your request for them to use this thicker, darker, stronger flavoured soy sauce.)
Are you familiar with Japanese green pepper? No, its not like a green capsicum pepper (although the green capsicum features a lot in Japanese cuisine too!) It's a green, leafy plant that doesn’t seem to be available in Australia. The Japanese make a condiment out of almost every part of the plant, from buds in the Spring to the seed husks and bark of young branches. Given the strict restrictions against importing raw plant material into Australia we sadly can’t give you a taste of the real thing, but we can luckily import a powdered version. The pepper powder is ground from the green husks of the peppercorn-like seeds which ripen and split open in autumn. Used as a condiment in many dishes across Japan for many centuries, the pepper powder is sweetly aromatic, yet has a stunningly different peppery taste.
Another hearty food that is recommended for colder climates is dark and long-fermented miso. It creates an alkaline condition in the body, promoting resistance against disease. According to Japanese tradition, miso promotes good health and long life. It contains 13% – 20% protein and an amino acid pattern similar to meat along with a trace of vitamin B12. Because it is a live food containing lactobacillus it aids in digestion and assimilation. It has been used to treat certain types of heart disease and cancer and is said to treat and prevent radiation sickness as well as neutralize some of the effects of smoking and air pollution. It may be used like bouillon and soy sauce as a robust ingredient in stews, soups, casseroles, sauces, gravies and dressings. Some individuals with fungal conditions should use it sparingly but otherwise for most people, when used moderately, miso provides excellent nutrition.
Have you noticed how daikon (white radish) pops up a lot on our menus? That’s because it is excellent for digestion and over the centuries the Japanese have worked out when best to add a bit of daikon to meals to promote good digestion. It usually accompanies meat or fish dishes and especially oily foods. Daikon is also touted to be useful in fighting colds and flu, protecting the lungs and detoxifying the liver. (Also, and we hope you will excuse the indelicacy of the subject, but as many of our customers have bouts of diarrhea (but NOT after dining at S. Komatsu of course!!) you may be interested to know that adding daikon to your bath water is recommended in Japan to ease this condition.) How versatile is that!
Does the estimate of 1 in 100 people having Coeliacs disease startle you? Well, what about the estimated 1 in 3 for fructose malabsorption!! Yes, 1 in 3!
Are you the one in three?
Do you experience abdominal discomfort? Unsociable flatulence? Bloating? Loose bowel motions? Fatigue?
Of late we’ve noticed an increase in the number of customers who tell us that fructose is a big problem for them and that they are committed fans of S. Komatsu because we are the only fructose-friendly restaurant in town (perhaps even the world! Yeay!). It seems that more and more people are being diagnosed every day. Even so, it was still a startling revelation to come across estimates by the Boston University that there could be as many as 1 in 3 persons having difficulty absorbing the fructose in their diet, whether they realized it or not! We found this estimate whilst researching the difference between Fructose Mal-absorption and Hereditary Fructose Intolerance (HFI) on the Boston University HFI Laboratory website. Fortunately the estimated occurrence of the more life-threatening HFI is not as high at 1 in 10,000. The symptoms of both are the same: gastro-intestinal distress, flatulence, bloating, diarrhea, fatigue, low iron or other nutrient deficiency. Sadly HFI can have a more toxic effect on the body and can lead to serious illness and even death! On the other hand, there is clinical evidence associating fructose-malabsorption with mood disturbances, pre-menstrual syndrome (ah, those sugar-cravings!) and depression (not surprising really, as the number of people succumbing to depression lately is soaring beyond belief.) The question begs, just how many people simply need to avoid fructose to regain health?
So, what exactly is fructose malabsorption and HFI? Well, to put it simply:
Fructose (a sugar commonly found in fruit and vegetables) should normally be absorbed in the small intestine before moving onto the liver and other parts of the body. If it is not (because the epithelial cells on the surface of the intestine are not available to assist the digestive process) then the unabsorbed fructose moves on to the large intestine where bacteria has a field day partying on it, leaving a very irritable abdomen in its wake! This is fructose mal-absorption.
If the fructose that was absorbed by the small intestine moves on to the liver and then fails to be further absorbed by the liver (because the enzyme for breaking down the fructose is not produced) then things start to get pretty serious. The body will, in attempting to use the sugar, produce toxic substances which lead to serious illness, even death. This is Hereditary Fructose Intolerance (HFI).
If you’ve managed to get to adulthood without pinpointing that fructose is doing you in then the chances are you don’t have HFI, because if you did you would have been ill from the time you were weaned. On the other hand, fructose mal-absorption seems to be self imposed by our modern diets! Our bodies have simply not evolved enough to be able to handle the high levels of sugar in our current food culture.
Ingredients data for Fructose Malabsorption & HFI
Fructose can be present as a single sugar and as a chain of fructose sugar units.
Foods containing more fructose than glucose (= excess fructose):
apples 7.6%
coconut milk
figs dried 26.0%
fruit juice (especially from apples and pears)
guavas 1.7%
high fructose corn syrup (very widely used to sweeten beverages, i.e soft drinks, and used to make sushi rice stick together) 37.4%
honey 42.4%
lychees
mangos 2.9%
melons
nashi pears
pawpaws
pears 6.4%
persimmons
prunes (dried) 14.8%
quince
raisins 33.8%
Foods containing fructans (= a chain of fructose sugar units):
artichokes
asparagus
green beans
leeks
onions (including spring onion)
wheat (including most beers, breads, cakes, biscuits, breakfast cereals, pies, pastas, pizzas, and some noodles)
chicory, witlof, endive, radicchio (bitter lettuces)
coffee substitutes, like Ecco, Caro, Natures Cuppa
Dandelion Tea
Inulin
Fructo-oligo saccharides (FOS = found in nutritional supplements)
Foods that should be limited to the equivalent of one piece of fruit at a time:
1 x banana or orange or peach
1 x handful of berries or grapes
2 x kiwifruit or plums
1 x slice of melon or pineapple
2 x roma tomatoes
Intake of the following foods should be limited:
Fruit salads / lots of fruit at one time
Fruit juice – equivalent to one piece of fresh fruit
Dried fruit – equivalent to one serve of fresh fruit
Tinned fruit in “natural juice”- the “natural juice” may be pear juice so drain it off
Dried fruit bars
Other concentrated sources, eg tomato paste, fruit-based sauces, pastes, chutneys
Wine- especially sweet and “sticky” wines. 1 ~2 glasses of dry wine with food is often acceptable.
Apple cider
Sorbital (present in some diet drinks and foods and occurring naturally in some stone fruits)
Table sugar (sucrose) eaten in large amounts at one time may also be a problem.
*This data was sourced from reports by Shepherd Works, foodreactions.org and RxWiki
You could very well be 1 in 3 but just haven’t realized it yet. Fortunately, we at S. Komatsu have, and are pioneering the way to a more body-friendly new food culture. Come and be a *NexGenEater with us!
A 'NexGenEater' is our term for people who experience food intolerances and have adjusted their diets accordingly, and also for those people who don't have a food intolerance (yet!?) but sensibly avoid overloading their bodies with foodstuffs that commonly cause food intolerances. We believe these people have (perhaps unwittingly) already adopted the NEXt GENeration's EATing habits, because it really is just a matter of time before the rest of the population realizes we have to make some major changes to our current food culture if we truly want to aspire to optimum health.
We started S. Komatsu not because we like so-called 'health food' (because, in fact, we don't) but because we love to dine out and couldn't imagine how awful it must be to be deprived of one of society's most fundamental pleasures; namely going out to dine on great food (without worrying about if it was going to make you ill or not!) So we created a food haven for such people so that they too can dine, with their family and friends, on scrumptious food with peace of mind knowing that it is 100% gluten free, lactose free and fructose-friendly.
At first we actually cringed when people referred to our cuisine as 'health food' (because let's face it, the term doesn't get the salivary juices going!) but we have finally begun to see that in fact we serve very healthy food!
Because we vow to be 100% gluten/lactose free and fructose －friendly we have no choice in most cases but to make our own sauces and flavourings from scratch. We make everything fresh and add no preservatives or additives!! How many restaurants these days go as far as that!? In fact, it would be hard to find any households that make their own additive-free meals these days!
We think its possibly the ideal diet and, just between you and me, could even contribute to weight-loss! Our fulltime staff have steadily been experiencing weight loss over the past year, despite daily indulgences in chocolate and beer!
Fresh, gluten / lactose / additive free, fructose-friendly and delicious cuisine! Where else in the whole world can you get all that! Its only available at S. Komatsu. Well for now, at least. Soon the whole world will start to cotton on and follow suit. You too could blaze the trail for this necessary new food culture by being a NexGenEater, today!
Did you know that the properties of ginger have long been heralded as having the effect of warming the body, improving blood circulation, burning fat, assisting detoxification and even opening up your 'ki' energy! It has been proven to aid perspiration, reduce fever and is anti-inflammatory. It is especially recommended for people who are sensitive to the cold, those that wish to protect themselves against cold viruses and those that have already succumbed to them! Its an absolute wonder food!
Did you know that having a variety of foods at each meal actually assists weight loss? Yes, your brain plays a big part in controlling your eating habits and by enjoying a range of foods and taste sensations you can send a quicker message to the brain that makes it think "Hey, I've covered my bases, (i.e. I've consumed enough of the necessary vitamins and minerals to maintain health) so I can stop eating now!" And the urge to overeat is thwarted. That's why when some people eat copious amounts of the same food they still don't feel satisfied and of course the resultant overeating can have multiple negative effects on our bodies. So wherever possible try to eat a wide variety of nutritious foods at the same meal and satisfy your brain's bidding!
KOMBU! We could write pages about the healing properties of this marvelous kelp that is key to making delicious stock for Japanese stews, soups and sauces. Amazingly it said to aid weight loss, high blood pressure, diabetes, anemia, arthritis, rheumatism, lymphatic swellings and much more. It is considered the most mineralized food and as such greatly increases the nutritional value of all food prepared with it! Without doubt we all need a bit of kombu in our lives!
Go ahead, throw a shrimp on the barbie! Because aside from its sweet, succulent flavour a shrimp has great properties such as increasing ki energy, increasing lactation, discharging mucus and eliminating worms! For the unfortunate few, (like my poor mum!) its best avoided if you are susceptible to red or inflamed skin conditions.