yoshidamayuko We are planning many activities with the local community, aiming for a relationship where the residents of Arrupe and the local people of Kamakura can get along and help each other!
Today, we planned a Myanmar lunch for the local residents at a guest house in Zaimokuza called “Kamejikan”, which is an old private house.
We believe that through food, people who have never thought about refugee issues or have never been involved with foreigners will be able to enjoy and feel free to participate…
This project is filled with such expectations!
This time, we decided to serve a dish from Myanmar, which we see on the news every day due to the current political instability, and decided on a noodle dish called “Nan Zi Thu”!
Using Japanese udon noodles, the seasonings are all familiar to the Japanese, such as soy sauce and dashi (Japanese soup stock)…
But what adds to it all is kinako (soybean flour)!
M from Myanmar, who was in charge of cooking this time, was so nervous about the idea of having Japanese people eat her food, that she repeated the prototype over and over again before the day of the event.
On that day…
It was refreshing to eat familiar ingredients in an unfamiliar combination, and the local people who participated in the event were very pleased with the results, which made Ms. M very happy!
During and after the meal, we talked about Myanmar and Japan from the Myanmar people’s point of view, and the participants were interested in hearing about refugees at the end of the meal.
It is a difficult issue, but it was wonderful that people could come to the event like this and listen to the conversation with interest, and both the staff and M, who cooked the Myanmar cuisine, were deeply moved.
We hope to hold another event like this and continue to do our best with everyone at Arrupe Refugee Center to get to know the community as well as possible and to make the community happy.