Expert Guided Soy Sauce Tasting and Hands-on Snacks Cooking in Kyoto

This experience takes place in central Kyoto, an easily accessible location that offers a calm, immersive setting. Soy sauce is a key ingredient in Japanese cuisine, but most people never discover its rich flavors and regional variations. This experience will let you taste soy sauce more than just a seasoning: a living ingredient shaped by time, place, and craft. Guided by a certified nutritionist and fermentation researcher who has taught traditional washoku (Japanese cuisine) and fermentation across Japan since 2019, guests will gain insight drawn from field visits to over 100 naturally fermented breweries. The host has developed structured courses on fermentation and preventive nutrition and brings this knowledge into an approachable, sensory-focused session. The session will begin with an introduction to soy sauce fermentation, where the host will discuss the ingredients, koji, brewing, and aging. This part of the session will let you taste 10 carefully chosen soy sauces and learn to notice their aromas, balances, bodies, and finishes. Warm dishes show how soy sauce changes in cooking, connecting tasting to real kitchen use. Next, a short, hands-on activity that will let you season a grilled rice snack and see how heat changes its flavor and aroma. Dietary accommodations are available with advance notice, including vegan, vegetarian, and halal-friendly options. By the end, guests leave with a practical framework for tasting, selecting, and using soy sauce, as well as a deeper appreciation of this fermented ingredient’s role in Japanese cuisine.