Really Old Japanese Food

These pictures are really old, but they're the most food bloggy pictures I have on my computer and I feel obligated to post them. I went to Japan about a year and a half ago to study abroad and teach English at a junior high school. During my stay, I lived with a host family and embarked on the adventure with my host mom on cooking vegan food in Japan. We cooked a lot together and even experimented with baking some vegan cake and donuts. I had my mom mail me some egg replacer since we had a little trouble with binding agents and my host mom instantly fell in love with it. We also went to cooking classes hosted by this famous tv chef that lived in Morioka. It was really fun because the chef thought of ways to veganize traditional Japanese dishes (even though a majority of them are pretty vegan friendly) and I got to hang around a bunch of Japanese housewives.

My memory is pretty foggy, but the first picture shows a center dish of miso shiro with tofu and green onions accompanied by tofu mixed with shredded carrots, mushrooms, and maybe daikon. I completely forget what the other dishes are. The third picture shows vegan jajamen, which includes udon noodles, a chunky sauce primarily consisting of a dark miso past, shredded cucumber, green onion, and a tomato. The center dish has croquettes patted with bread crumbs and almond slivers, along with a jello type dish that I think is made out of konnyaku. The last dish includes some really yummy mochi desserts.

And this is why being vegan in Japan ain't that bad.