Recently Dutch artists Hannie van den Bergh and Jan van den Berg traveled to Yamada-machi (Iwate Prefecture) in Japan to establish their Nori Pan art project.
A culinary dialogue
Nori Pan is a culinary dialogue between typical Dutch and typical Japanese “flavors & ingredients”; especially seaweed and dough products. After extensive preliminary research with various seaweed & dough experts in both countries the artists traveled to Yamada-machi (Iwate Prefecture, Japan) to create intercultural dishes, in collaboration with local chefs and experiential experts.
Dishes such as: ‘stamppot’ with crunchy wakame stem (kukiwakame), ‘stroopwafels’ with akamoku powder, ‘bitterballen’ with crispy wakame, and edible bowls of bread and nori. We also made a sobagaki (with buckwheat from the region) with ‘pindasaus’ .
The dishes were presented during intercultural meal sessions in Yamada-machi, during the city’s annual festival (o matsuri) and during a tasting event in restaurant 8ablish in Tokyo; in collaboration with historian Isabelle Tanaka – van Daalen.
Table conversations are an essential part of Nori Pan. Conversations in which the participants, on the basis of special questions, exchange thoughts and experiences about i.a. craftsmanship, eating habits & table manners, sensuality, taste & memory, and hospitality.
The Dutch edition of Nori Pan will take place in December 2019 in Amsterdam.