MARINE CORPS AIR STATION IWAKUNI, Japan -- Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni residents traveled with the Cultural Adaptation Program to a Japanese cooking class at the Santopia Otake Sougou Fukushi Center in Otake City, Japan, July 28, 2017.
Residents who attended the cooking class were led by Sachiko Tamura, a chef with the Iwakuni City Food Promotion Association, who instructed them on how to cook fried chicken, golden fried rice and a pudding dessert topped with fruit.
The purpose of this event was to allow station residents to experience cooking Japanese dishes, and learn about the ingredients being used.
Tamura first gave everyone a demonstration on how to prepare and cook all the dishes that they were going to be making that day.
Residents were then set free with recipes given to them to create their own.
“My favorite part was being able to watch Tamura cook the food in front of us and show us what ingredients we were using, then being able to go recreate the dishes on our own.” said Cassie Neil, an MCAS Iwakuni resident.
After cooking all the food, residents got a chance to sit and talk with each other while tasting their creations.
After cleaning up all the dishes and utensils, everyone who attended the event travelled over to a local super market with Mikie Watanabe, a cultural adaptation specialist with Marine Corps Community Services. Here residents had the opportunity to have assistance in finding the ingredients they used in the cooking class.
Watanabe said that people want to try Japanese food and this event is a good opportunity to make those dishes using a Japanese menu and ingredients. The local shopping experience helped them buy the ingredients and understand what they were buying.
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