The JETAA Pre-departure cooking class for new JETs is famed for its heat.
The recipe starts with a balmy base of a July afternoon. We eliminate any hope of a cross-breeze by renting out a closet-sized kitchen in the back corner of Trinity St. Paul’s Church, with only two very small windows and a snugly closed door to restrict airflow.
Into this small, stagnant container we pour 20 new JETs, 8 JETAA members, and 5 JAVA volunteer cooks. We stir them up, folding them all into one another as they share and learn to prepare Japanese culinary staples like kare, oyakodon, onigiri, wakame, and yakisoba.
If the combined body heat of all those budding chefs isn’t enough to bring the room to a boil, we then turn on every burner in reach and pile all those dishes onto the grills.
And, just when the room has reached its sauna-like zenith, something alchemical happens. All those ingredients and all that heat harmonize, and the resulting event is something that keeps JETAA members and JAVA volunteers keep coming back, year after year.
At that point it is safe to bring the heat down a little, rewarding the new JETs for their hot work with a chest of cold Ramune and the uniquely Japanese experience of learning to open marble pop.
Recipe serves 33.
Story and photos by NIcholas Jones, Bokeh Photography