Japanese-Inspired Autumn Harvest

thedepanneur.ca

Caroline Ishii grew up in Toronto as a third-generation Japanese Canadian, or sansei, and some of her strongest memories of home are tied to food. Her mother was born in Vancouver, but after losing her parents at a young age, she was sent to live with relatives in Japan; when she later returned to Canada and reunited w

Caroline Ishii grew up in Toronto as a third-generation Japanese Canadian, or sansei, and some of her strongest memories of home are tied to food. Her mother was born in Vancouver, but after losing her parents at a young age, she was sent to live with relatives in Japan; when she later returned to Canada and reunited with her siblings in Toronto, she recreated the food she missed using the Japanese and local ingredients she could find. Caroline's relationship with her mother wasn't always easy, but food was one of the places where they connected — her mother showed her how to make Japanese food, and somewhere along the way, Caroline developed the same love for those flavours.

Perhaps that's why autumn feels so meaningful to her. In Japan, the seasons are deeply connected to how people eat, and autumn is one of the great food seasons — newly harvested rice, mushrooms, kabocha,…