FOOD LAB

Kyoto Research Institute’s Test Kitchen is a dedicated food laboratory to explore the heritage materials of Japan’s cookery culture. We explore how these materials nourish daily life in today’s kitchens, no matter where we call home.

Food Lab is a collaboration between Kyoto Research Institute and members of Kyoto University's Graduate School of Agriculture to explore seasonal food practices contextually, together with the cultural and ecological ecosystem in which they exist. Not just by reading and observing, but by doing.

During Spring/Summer we work with foraged greens, umé plums, tofu, heirloom Kyoto vegetables, tea, freshwater fish, and red shiso.  And during Autumn/Winter we work with rice, koji, wild game, saltwater fish, persimmon, and seaweed.

In addition to traditional academic coursework and fieldwork, participants draw on their unique backgrounds and research to re-examine traditional ingredients and techniques through hands-on practice within the context of Kyoto's history and terroir. This is one method to nudge heritage materials to remain trendy materials today.

As the old capital, and what remains the cultural capital of the country, one can argue that Kyoto’s food system encompasses the entirety of the archipelago. Sourcing ingredients and other materials of the Japanese table from near and far. Whether eaten fresh, preserved, or fermented, the way in which ingredients have been historically prepared speak to the natural environment, Japan’s native microseasonality, and chronicled past.

Heritage materials are at the center of our work at Kyoto Research Institute. Traditional ingredients and techniques cultivated and refined over centuries that embody not only taste but also community and craft. They are living knowledge.

Our Test Kitchen is not about preservation. It is about fermentation. How these heritage materials of cookery evolve with the times. Our activities are rooted in field research across the Japanese archipelago. Interviews with food professionals and residents of each micro-community, assessment of terroir and social systems, and documentation of traditional tools and techniques. We bring what we’ve foraged back to the Test Kitchen for kitchen-based experimentation and educational curriculum.