From Japan with curiosity
Stored bottles in José Maria da Fonseca with the colours of Japan. Photo by Filipe Gill
We met Alisa Yamamoto (*) in Azeitão during a visit to the José Maria da Fonseca winery. What immediately struck me was her genuine interest in knowing more about the wine, the grapes, the process, and the history of wine. Then I realized that this interest extended to Portuguese food! This is when I decided to invite Alisa to share her point of view about the Food and Culture of Portugal.
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Tell us about yourself. Where are you from, what do you do and any other info you might want to share?
I am a Japanese working mother. I work for a multinational pharma company and had an excellent opportunity to relocate from the Japan office to the Lisboa office.
I have lived in many countries before such as Japan, the USA, Australia, and Brazil, but it is my first time living in Europe.
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What is your earliest memory of Portugal?
All Japanese primary students learn that our country have a special connection with Portugal from 16th century in the subject of world history. My earliest memories is that I learned a lot of sweets were imported from Portugal and transformed to traditional sweets in Japan by integrating with Asian ingredients. There are a lot of wonderful sweets in Japan, which root is from Portugal – the transformation of Torta de Azeitao, Pao de Ló etc.
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What do you really look forward to eat (or drink) when you’re on the plane to Portugal?
Arroz de Tamboril. In my culture, we eat a lot of fresh seafood and rice. This dish is a beauty of amazing combination. Of course, we were looking forward to having this dish with Portuguese wine – which is still not common in Asia. It is indeed wonderful!
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Something you don’t like about Portuguese food.
Fusion Sushi. I would say it is an example of great innovation in Portugal, but actually, it is very strange for me to have Sushi with Strawberry, Mango or Banana. We prefer to cook sushi with fresh seafood and vegetable in Portugal as you can see in the picture below!
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A memorable meal (were, what, who, whatever…);
We love to cook Bacalhau in Christmas as many of my colleagues have shared their own family recipe. We always cook from the original dry Bacalhau and take two and a half days to put it in the water – we enjoy the process too!
In Japan we have a tradition to cook special dishes for the New Year, and we love to cook sushi with fresh ingredients in Portugal (as attached picture). We always cook this special sushi a la Portuguese mode for our friends when they come over to our place in Lisboa, and our friends love them.
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Your favorite dish in Portugal.
Sopa Aletejana de bacalhau. It is really full of the beautiful taste of Portugal; full of the love from Portugal. It always warm our hearts and reminds how Bacalhau is appreciated with different recipes in Portugal.
Home-made sushi. Photo by Alisa Yamamoto
Suggested visit: Casa Museu José Maria da Fonseca
Located in the family house – restored by Swiss architect Ernesto Korrodi in 1923 – this museum is full of interesting and historically relevant facts and objects. The “Vinho da Torna” is a particularly interesting story.
Suggested music: Forbidden Colours, Ryuichi Sakamoto
Ryuichi Sakamoto is one of my musical heroes. His music provokes melancholy and serenity, that ultimately leads to inner peace. He died recently but his music will be with us forever. Tadanoningendearu watashitachi to anata no sainō o kyōyū shite kurete arigatō. (Thank you Ryuichi for sharing your talent with us, mere mortals.)
(*) Alisa Yamamoto is a pseudonym used at our interviewee’s request for privacy reasons.
