Sustainable Shojin Ryori Buddhist Cuisine Cooking Class
Explore northern Miyagi’s rural landscape, view a field of lotus flowers, and join a sustainable Shojin Ryori (vegetarian Buddhist cuisine) cooking class.
Highlights
A Shojin-Ryori traditional vegetarian cooking class made using local ingredients
Enjoy a healthy, handmade vegetarian lunch
Learn about local cuisine and culture from a local guide
Marvel at the view of beautiful lotus flowers and the rural surrounding area
Stop at the nearby market to check out local produce
10 meals
+Experience Details
If you’re interested in conscious travel and sustainability, you’re a vegetarian, or you simply love plant-based foods and natural beauty, this is the experience for you!
First, your English speaking local guide will bring you to the banks of Lake Izunuma-Uchinuma, two connected lakes that offer a stunning view of deep green, pink-dotted stretches of lotus flowers. There, you can choose to hop aboard a boat to enjoy an up-close view (for an extra fee of 700 yen).
Then, your local expert, Sato-san, will introduce you to specialty Miyagi products, sharing insights into the regional cuisine and how it is embedded into the local lifestyle and culture. Discover the range of charitable and fun initiatives developed by residents to preserve their culinary heritage while you enjoy the fresh air.
Peaceful landscapes unwind before your eyes as you take a refreshing walk… bet your belly is growling! Roll up your sleeves and take part in one of those sustainable initiatives designed to boost local cuisine. In this cooking class, you’ll learn how to cook Shojin Ryori, Buddhist vegetarian cuisine.
The menu includes specialty dishes that are characteristic of the Obon summer season. This is the time of the year when ancestors were thought to visit their living relatives, and typical Obon dishes are therefore imbued with cultural significance.
In keeping with sustainability principles, we will use only local ingredients that are considered unfit for sale (but are still perfectly tasty), contributing to the reduction of food waste. Give a new life to the delicious “ugly ducklings” of the veggie patch and relish the lip-smacking homemade result.
Before you leave, check out the town’s market and buy local ingredients so you can recreate the regional dishes featured in this cooking class!
Menu:
-“Hatto” (Northern Miyagi's rice-flour dumplings)
-“Ofu” (local dish made of wheat gluten)
-“Nimono” (boiled dish)
-Vegetarian “chirashi-sushi” (with pickled vegetables)
-Dessert
What You Get
Good To Know
- Please be reminded to arrive on time at the meeting point
- This experience is seasonal. Dates TBD.
Meeting Point and Meeting Time
Meet your guide at the "Izunuma-nosan" local produce center. A car park is located in front of the store called “Kunperu” and the center is around a 10 min walk from JR Nitta Station (JR Tohoku Line).
Cancellation Policy
Cancel your booking at least 48 hours before the experience start time to receive a full refund minus a 3.2% transaction fee.
Experience Location
Miyagi Prefecture’s fertile Tome City is renowned for its delicious and sustainable rice production (notably home to rice brands Hitomebore and Sasanishiki) and other local agriculture as well as Hasama beef, local beer, local sake, and miso. Tome is nicknamed “Water Village” because of the many rivers and wetland areas, such as Lakes Izunuma and Uchinuma.
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10 meals
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