What’s your soul food ? Miso soup is my soul food. This is our family’s favorite miso which is made for Eiheiji Temple in Fukui. This miso is made from soybeans, salt and rice koji as a fermentation agent.

 One of my children caught a cold and he didn’t feel like eating anything but he had this miso soup this morning. It has minced green onion, mitsuba herb and fried Fu. Fu is made from wheat protein. Baked fu is very common . Raw fu is also available but it is more expensive than baked or fried. You may find many kinds of raw fu in Kyoto. Miso soup is also good when you are suffering from a hangover. In that case I don’t put anything in it and have only soup. The content of the miso soup stock plays an important role in making it delicious. I use dried fish but some vegetarians may use kelp or mushroom.

When I was younger and traveling in Europe I was really missing Japanese food. I didn’t bring things like umeboshi, miso, shoyu when because I was determined to enjoy local food. That time I happened to find a Portuguese restaurant. To my surprise, the food they served was very familiar to me, even though I was trying it for the first time. They had soy bean soup (I was not sure if it were fermented or not ) and grilled fish. If I had a bowl of rice, it would have made Japanese meal. This is one of the reasons why I love Portuguese dishes.