Afro-Japanese Moambe Recipe Blog — Nanami

As the globalization proceeds, there are many opportunities to be exposed to other country’s culture, and the society values cross-cultural understanding. “Culture” includes languages, clothes, history, and one of the biggest cultures is food. Food represents changes in people’s lives, history, and it is taken over from generation to generation. According to the questionnaire that I took in other class and asked them what they imagined when they hear Italy. Many students raised some examples related to food, such as spaghetti, pizza, and wine. I thought that food is one big symbol of the country, and better understanding of food will lead better understanding of its culture. In addition to this, in 2013, Japanese “Washoku（和食）” was selected as “Intangible Cultural Heritage” in 2013, which aims to protect beautiful cultures such as arts, customs, and traditional technology. Therefore, I chose to make recipe which combines Japanese and Afro culture for the final project.

However, at first, I was not familiar with African food culture, so I visited the restaurant called “Yinega” which is located in Shibuya with some classmates. This is very important research to know more about what African dish is. We tried “Moambe” which is similar to curry. “Moambe” is a cuisine from Gabon, and it was selected as one of the most delicious dishes in the world by CNN (Cable News Network). “Moambe” was very tasty with a simmered chicken, some sweetness by coconut milk and peanut butter, cinnamon, and bay leaves. The reason why I chose Moambe is that it is easy to make and its taste was friendly taste because Moambe does not use a lot of spices. In addition to this, it is also eaten with rice in Gabon, so it will be the big connection between this dish and Japanese dish which uses rice for most of meals. From this research, I decided to cook Moambe with Japanese ingredients for the future Afro-Japanese interaction.

For Japanese ingredient, I chose to use Miso, and it replaced the peanut butter for the recipe of the Afro-Japanese Moambe. Japan has the law of “Sa-shi-su-se-so” as the basis of seasonings which is consisted of sugar(砂糖), salt(塩）, vinegar(お酢), soy sauce(醤油), and miso, and miso is used for many Japanese dishes such as miso soup. The raw material for miso is soybeans, and this is a traditional food that has been used in Japanese cuisine. Soybeans are used for other Japanese dishes including miso, soy sauce, and tofu. Especially miso and soy sauce have a long history, which they were used from Heian period, and I thought these two ingredients will be used in the future. Using this typical Japanese ingredient means a lot for the mix of African culture and Japanese culture.

Why is it important to mix Japanese ingredients with the African food, Moambe? To explain, it is necessary to reflect history of Japan. Western food has been distributed in Japan since the end of the Edo period. In 1853, Perry’s Black Ships arrived, and the following year Japan and the United States signed the Convention of Kanagawa, and Japan opened some harbors such as Nagasaki and Hakodate. This was the end of the long isolation era(鎖国時代). After Japan had opened its country, especially on Meiji era, many west and American food were introduced into Japan. However, since Japanese people did not have a chance to know about Western food, so at first Western food did not fit the Japanese people. To make Western dishes more familiar to the Japanese people, they added traditional Japanese ingredients such as soy sauce and miso. According to the professor, Oh Sonfa who teaches in Takushoku University argues the strength of Japanese culture in her journal. She said, “The strength of Japanese culture is to accept other cultures based on its own culture, so it will not be overwhelmed by others. Because of this strength, I think that Japanese culture has accumulated history which forming harmony with various foreign cultures without its prototype.” (2012) This is one of the motives that I tried to make Afro-Japanese dishes using traditional Japanese ingredients. If more and more African dishes will be introduced into Japan, we can arrange it with our taste.

In conclusion, it is obvious that the strength of Japanese culture is that it protects the characteristics of its own country regardless of the power of other culture, and it will help to build better relationship with other culture. In addition, for the future Afro-Japanese, I hope that the interaction between black culture and Japanese culture will increase not only about food, but also music, clothes, and other culture. However, as I mentioned before, food is one biggest symbol which represents the country. It can be said that the advantages of Japanese food culture can lead the deeper relationship between black and Japanese culture, because even though African food will be spread in Japan, Japanese people can accept them while incorporating the goodness of their own culture, so African dishes with Japanese ingredients will get more popularity as American, Italian, or French dishes in Japan. I also hope my final project contributes my Afro-Japanese future.

References

Oh, S. (2012). 日本独自の外来文化の受け入れ方. リレー・コラム：日本再発見の旅 https://fis.takushoku-u.ac.jp/research/wn_backnumber/backnumber/15/sonfa.html

多国籍レストラン Yinega. (2015). Yinega. https://yinega.wixsite.com/yinega

Kumasancook. (2020, December 22). サバンナテラス風ムアンバライス. Hatena Blog. https://kumasancook.hatenablog.com/entry/2020/12/06/000517

Black Foodie. (2021, January 8). About • The Best Of African, Caribbean And Southern Cuisine. https://www.blackfoodie.co/about

marukome. (n.d.). 味噌のこと｜マルコメ. マルコメ株式会社. Retrieved January 28, 2021, from https://www.marukome.co.jp/miso/