おうちごはん! (Ouchigohan) Shojin Ryori Japanese Homecooking Class

To complete your registration, click HERE or visit www.japansocietyboston.wildapricot.org/event-5236638

おうちごはん！(Ouchigohan) Shojin Ryori with Reverend Daiko Matsuyama of Taizoin

Japanese Home Cooking with Table for Two

in Atlanta, Boston, Houston, Philadelphia, Washington DC, Colorado, and New York

Sunday, May 21st, 2023

6:00 - 7:30 PM ET (5:00 - 6:30 PM CT)

$10 Members / $15 Non-members

JASG members use code "Georgia"

Hosted online via Zoom

(ingredient list will be provided a few days before the event)

This month's unique Ouchigohan event features a special guest, Reverend Daiko Matsuyama, Buddhist monk from Taizo-in Buddhist Temple in Kyoto, who will teach us about Shojin Ryori. He will begin with a presentation on the history and significance of Shojin Ryori, followed by Q&A, then showcase how to cook and eat traditional temple food. Attendees can choose to cook along with Debra Samuels from Table for Two. On the menu is a vegetarian soup accompanied by rice mixed with greens, and kinpira, a side dish of simmered vegetables in Japanese seasonings.

About Daiko Matsuyama:

Born in 1978 in Kyoto, Matsuyama obtained his Master’s degree in Agriculture and Life Sciences from the University of Tokyo. After three and half years of training at Heirin-ji Temple, Niiza, he became the deputy priest of Taizoin Temple in 2007. Matsuyama is acclaimed for organizing intercultural activities such as Zen experience tours for foreign visitors and talks at embassies in Japan and at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club. In May 2009, he was elected as a Japan Tourism Agency’s Ambassador for its “Visit Japan” Campaign. He has been a member of Kyoto’s Ambassadors for Tourism since 2011, and was listed as one of “The Top 100 People of the New Generation 2016” in Nikkei Business. And he was appointed as a fellow of US-Japan Leadership Program from 2016. In 2018, he was invited to Israel as the delegate of Young Leaders Program. And he also became a visiting lecturer at Stanford University.

He received The Award of Commissioner for Cultural Affairs and Shigemitsu Award from the Japan Society of Boston in 2019. He is serving as an appointed member of the Kyoto City Board of Education and an Outside Director of V-cube, a tech startup, since 2021. As a young representative of the Zen Sect in Japan, Matsuyama has interacted with many religious leaders, such as having an audience with the Roman Catholic Pope and conversing with the 14th Dalai Lama. He also participated in the Davos World Economic Forum in 2014, and continues to work actively beyond national and religious borders.

Debra Samuels leads the program content and curriculum development of TABLE FOR TWO USA’s Japanese inspired food education program,   “Wa-  Shokuiku -Learn. Cook. Eat Japanese!”. She was a food writer and contributor to the Food Section of   The Boston Globe and has authored two cookbooks: “My Japanese Table,” and “The Korean Table.” She curated the exhibit, “Obento and Built Space:Japanese Boxed Lunch and Architecture,” at the Boston Architectural College (2015) and co-curated  “Objects of Use and Beauty: Design and Craft in Japanese Culinary Tools,” at the Fuller Craft Museum (2018). Debra worked as a program coordinator and an exhibition developer at the Japanese department of the Boston Children's Museum (1992-2000).  She has lived in Japan, all together, for 12 years and specializes in Japanese cuisine.  She travels around the country and abroad teaching hands-on workshops on obento, the Japanese lunchbox. During Covid 19 she is teaching live online cooking programs to youth and adults.