In February 5 Tokyo Food File (Japan Times), Robbie Swinnerton suggest that "there's no finer way to eat on a chilly winter evening than sitting around a bubbling nabe
hot pot. No matter what the ingredients — meat, fish, tofu or
vegetables — just cooking and eating from the same communal casserole
is nourishment for both body and soul."
Just Hungry agrees in Tori Nabe: Japanese Chicken and Vegetable Tabletop Hot Pot (January 2009) and enlightens us on what the Nabe concept is:
pan. But it also means a one-pot dish where several ingredients are
cooked together in a broth. While nabe can be cooked in the regular way
on the stovetop, the most popular kind of nabe are cooked at the table
on a portable burner. The quintessential image of a Japanese happy
family is one that gathered around the dining table eating a nabe.
(Nabe cooked at the table is also called yosenabe (寄せ鍋), which just
means a nabe where the ingredients are gathered together (寄せる、yoseru).
Because a nabe is piping hot, it’s a great winter meal, with very
little preparation."
We learn from Japan-Guide.com that Chanko Nabe is the traditional diet of Sumo wrestlers.
Enjoy the Chanko Nabe work in progress above.
Food to warm up body and soul for Tokyo Thursdays # 126
Previously: Graphic Heroes, Magic Monsters by Utagawa Kuniyoshi, Japan Society, March 12- June 13