Japanese diet import

Japanese people like to emulate Americans -- they wear the same brands of clothes, buy the same music and eat the same foods. And now obesity and its related health problems are showing up in Japanese communities just like they have in America.

But Mariko Yoshiya is working to revolutionize the way Japanese people think about their food. A chef and nutritionist, she has been hired by international companies and magazines to communicate the benefits of a healthier diet to Japanese people. She was a lecturer at Yomiuri-Japanese Television Cultural Center and has taught an international culinary cooking class. She also has been host of her own television cooking show and is currently a spokeswoman for Minute Maid in Japan.

Her work in Japan also got the attention of Southeast Missouri State University, where she was nominated for an International Distinguished Service Award. She will be honored during a reception from 4 to 6 p.m. today at the International Center on campus.

Yoshiya took several nutrition and dietetics classes at Southeast more than a decade ago when she and her family lived in Cape Girardeau. Her husband was an executive at BioKyowa for eight years. The family left Cape Girardeau 12 years ago to return to Tokyo.

On Friday, Yoshiya held two cooking demonstrations in the Dearmont Teaching Lab at the university where she talked about how to prepare foods that are full of taste without having excess fat, salt or calories.

She demonstrated six recipes ranging from a rolled omelet to miso soup. Her work blends the ease and quick-cooking style of American dishes with the taste, texture and colorful ingredients found in Japanese cooking. "I've mixed American and Japanese dishes," she told the audience of about 35 people. The seasonings are Japanese and so is the cooking style, but all the ingredients were found locally.

"The ingredients are from here, but the taste is from Japan," she said.

Basic ingredients in the recipes were eggs, soy sauce, white wine, salmon, beef and mushrooms. Some of the vegetables and meats were stir-fried first and then dipped in a sauce. Rice was served as a complementary dish.

Like many professional chefs, Yoshiya says presentation is important in cooking. She made sure to add a few extra walnut pieces and scallops to a dish of green beans. Using chopsticks, she picked up pieces of salmon and laid them across a bowl of steamed rice, adding spinach and mushrooms to finish the entree.

But just as important as presentation is knowing the nutritional value of a dish, Yoshiya said. "We need to tell people that one egg is enough. They don't need three eggs."

Most of the dishes she prepared would have served four people. In Japan, the three-egg rolled omelet with crabmeat would be served cold and would serve four. In the United States, a three-egg omelet would be considered food enough for just one person.

People in Japan are beginning to eat more because food is cheaper now, and they are eating more meat because it's not as expensive and readily available, Yoshiya said.

Most traditional Japanese dishes use meat sparingly. Asian dishes use small portions of meat, and usually the meat is cut into thin slices. Asian cooks spread their meat over more portions with the addition of vegetables and grains, said Dr. Georgeanne Syler, a dietetics professor at the university. Many of Syler's dietetics and hospitality management students attended the cooking demonstrations.

A Japanese meal would include several dishes and would be supplemented with vegetables and rice, said Noriko Obata, a Japanese student who helped in the kitchen.

When Obata first came to the United States, she was amazed at the portion sizes.

"We serve tiny amounts and would have four or five dishes," she said.

In Japan, the dining process is as much for the eyes as the taste buds, Syler said.

All the foods prepared for the demonstration were made from relatively easy recipes, Yoshiya said.

"Typical Japanese cooking is very complicated."

In selecting the recipes for her demonstration, she wanted dishes that Americans could cook easily.

Returning to America and Southeast Missouri after a 12-year hiatus, Yoshiya was surprised to find an abundance of Asian foods available in local markets.

She did have to make one substitution, using spinach for the leafy green Japanese vegetable komatuna. And she did carry her own toasted sesame seeds and miso paste for the soup.

ljohnston@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 126