The local cuisine of Nagoya is unique. In Japan, Nagoya’s local food is called “Nagoya Meshi” (名古屋めし). And because almost all dishes use meat, fish, or egg they are not vegan friendly.
During this cooking class, you can experience authentic Nagoya Meshi with a vegan twist. Learn to cook using the local red Miso paste and make dishes such as Miso Soup, and vegan Miso Katsu (deep-fried tofu cutlet with Miso sauce). Make other Nagoya-style dishes such as Tebasaki (chicken wings) using tofu and burdock, and Tenmusu (mini rice balls with Tempura) from scratch at a Japanese home.
12,000 yen + taxes/person
Private Experience
JR Kasugai Station, north exit: (Google Maps)
Start time: 11:00~ and 17:00~ (2.5 hours)
English, Japanese
Akiko’s love and excitement for cooking began as a child growing up in a suburb of Nagoya. By the time she was in high school, she could prepare her own bento box and she still has fond memories of Takoyaki, the crispy Octopus dumplings that were cooked in her home almost every day! She has been cooking for almost 40 years now and it is the one thing that truly keeps her happy.
Akiko is thrilled about the opportunity to share specialties from Nagoya as a lot of people don’t know how to cook Nagoya-style food. Because of this, many Nagoyans themselves eat their local specialties at restaurants.
I had an absolutely wonderful time participating in the Vegan Nagoya Local Food Cooking Experience. I will start by saying that I do not consider myself very skilled at cooking, and I also don’t know much about Vegan cuisine in general.
My guide was Ms. Akiko Okabe, and she was absolutely lovely. I had a tiny bit of trouble finding the Akiko san, but that was because it was dark that evening, and my taxi dropped me off by the bakery of JR Kusagai Station instead of by the parking area. Despite that, Ms. Akiko came out to find me and escorted me to her car, where she drove me to her home, where she apparently runs a small local restaurant.
We made Nagoya-flavored fried tofu, Nagoya miso sauce in tofu cutlet sandwich, and mushroom tempura in rice balls. We made homemade dashi, which was very cool. Ms. Okabe was very kind and understanding when I explained to her that I have a condition in my knees that has been caused by severe arthritis, which makes standing for long periods of time without taking breaks very painful. She allowed me to sit for a majority of the class and moved the prep area (which was originally in the kitchen) to the table area, so I didn’t have to move around too much since I had done a lot of sightseeing earlier in the day.
Ms. Okabe explained the difference between red and white Miso and how special Nagoya Miso in particular is, and how it can take up to a year to make. She also explained a lot about catcus and the many different ways it can be used and offered me a drink with catcus powder in it. Before the class, I had no idea that catcus could be used in so many different ways, it was really surprising! Ms. Okabe also showed me a newspaper article where she helped plan school lunches with catcus that was apparently really popular.
The recipes that we made weren’t too difficult, and she made the process very easy to participate and the instructions easy to understand. After the food was ready, we enjoyed eating together, and she packed the leftovers in a takeaway container for me to enjoy the following day. She also gave me a printout of the recipes and ingredients so I can try to replicate the meals at home. At the end of the class, she drove me back to the train station and she said our goodbyes for the evening.
Thank you for having me as a guest yesterday! It was so much fun, and my sister was surprised to see the food I helped make. 🙂 I also really appreciate you allowing me to sit down since it made the experience more fun and less painful from being out sightseeing all day. The food turned out really well!
We had a wonderful time during our cooking experience. Akiko was great with us and especially our kids. Our kids enjoyed it just as much as us! Highly recommend!
Akiko was a great host and showed me some super yummy recipes. She’s so lovely and we had a great time cooking together.
It’s so good to find a vegan cooking class that does Japanese food.
Thank you Akiko!
The cooking experience with Akiko was great! I was impressed by Akiko’s hospitality, kindness and cooking art!
