In your Kyoto cooking class, Rita will give you an exciting introduction to authentic Japanese cuisine, starting with a brief tour of a tofu shop established 90 years ago. She will talk you through the process of how tofu is made from soy beans and describe the variety of products that can be made from tofu (please note that you will not see the entire process of making tofu because the manufacturing starts early in the morning). After your introduction to tofu, Rita will take you upstairs for your hands-on cooking class. You will have the opportunity to help prepare and taste the unique ingredients and seasonings that form the foundation of Japanese cuisine. Your Kyoto cooking class will last about an hour and a half before you sit down together to enjoy the meal you helped prepare, over fun conversations. Your well-balanced, fresh and seasonal home cooked Japanese meal might include dishes such as chirashi-sushi, miso soup, teriyaki of fatty buri (yellowtail) fish, and a tofu dish. You will go home with recipes in English for the dishes you learned, leaving you well-prepared to create an authentic, home cooked Japanese meal back home.
Children above the age of 4 will be charged the price of an adult. The website defaults to charging 50% but since our host prices children and adults the same, please add children as adults while booking this experience.
Meet Rita at AEON MALL Kitaoji before you explore a bustling, local supermarket that sells everything you need to make a traditional Japanese meal at home. Rita will teach you about the local products on offer, from farm-fresh fruits and vegetables to Japanese traditional ingredients and spices. You will also learn how to choose the freshest produce. After exploring the supermarket together you will walk together to a tofu shop, where you will have your cooking lesson. Please note that unlike a typical open market visit, this is a visit to a supermarket where locals shop everyday.
Please note children above 4 years of age, will be charged the full adult price, for this experience.
This is just a sample menu to give you an idea of the types of dishes the host cooks. Your menu will vary according to seasonal availability.
Marinated seasonal vegetables or tofu dishTeriyaki of fatty buri (yellowtail) fishMiso soupChirashi-sushi A delightful local with a zest for life, Rita is a wealth of knowledge about the local culture and speaks great English. After studying in the US, she returned to Japan to become an entrepreneur and make time for her main passion: cooking and sharing her food and culture with others! Rita follows the Japanese principles of mottainai (avoiding waste) and ichiju sansai (literally "one soup three dishes" or a balanced approach to menu planning). She tries to balance her dishes with a variety of flavors that come together as one. She tends to use fresh, seasonal vegetables in her cooking to make healthy, well-balanced and nutritious dishes. Washoku, traditional Japanese cuisine has been added to UNESCO's Intangible Cultural Heritage list and Rita is eager to share her cooking practice related to Washoku. Rita delights in beautiful table settings using traditional plates and cutlery so guests can enjoy a visual and sensory experience of her food. This also contributes to making the perfect balance of a meal, as she believes.
"We booked this at the last minute and are so grateful we invested some of our time in Kyoto in this fabulous experience. Rita is a treasure! Warm, funny, present, curious, knowledgeable, genuinely interested in connection, and a fantastic cook! A Kyoto native, her passion for Japanese cooking, culture and connecting through food was evident from start to finish. We spent 3 hours with her, beginning with touring the modest tofu shop of her friend (a 4th generation tofu maker), where we learned about the various stages of the process, the importance of various elements (like the water used) and were treated to samples of different kinds of fresh tofu, soy beans, and soy milk. Upstairs in the kitchen, Rita had a delicious and authentic meal already underway, but eased us into the cooking process with her to complete our meal together. She taught us not only about tofu, but about meal etiquette, Japanese seasonings and marinades, the aesthetic of meal presentation, and even the spiritual meanings behind some of the food customs. She also accommodated our food preferences (we’re pescatarians), which was so appreciated. We enjoyed every minute and morsel and left with a full and happy belly, printed recipes for everything we ate, gifts (including a lovely cotton kimono for our daughter - see photos), a new friend, and knowledge about the wonderful Japanese culture that is sure to enrich our experience in this fantastic country. Highly recommend."
