Gluten-free rice flour bread

In Japan, it is still difficult to find gluten-free bread. You can find rice flour bread in most supermarkets and some bakeries, but they usually contain some wheat flour. It may be confusing and disappointing for people with allergy who must have wheat-free or gluten-free foods.

The other day, I found real gluten-free rice flour bread in Seijo Ishii (成城石井) in the station building. It had a long name, “Yaiteoishii Okomepan (焼いておいしいおこめパン)”, which means “rice bread that tastes delicious when toasted.” Beneath the name, it was clearly written that the bread is intended to be toasted. According to the package, it is gluten free and does not contain 28 allergen ingredients including wheat, milk, and egg. It is made by a company TAINAI in Niigata Prefecture, and they use rice powder made from rice of Niigata Prefecture. As Niigata is a major rice production area, I got interested in this bread.

As this was my first time to eat genuine rice bread, I didn’t know how it was different from other kinds of bread such as baguette and rye bread. I also wondered why it should be toasted. When I sliced the bread, I was surprised to find how smoothly and easily it could be cut with an ordinary knife. It was different from wheat bread.

This time, I toasted slices with olive oil plus some other things. This one has salt, garlic, and dried parsley sprinkled on it,

and this one has salt, garlic, and black pepper.

These two slices of bread were not bad. But I still thought this combination of flavors might go better with baguette. The texture of the rice bread was also different from that of wheat bread. It was drier and felt a little strange as I wasn’t used to eating it.

But the third slice tasted much better than the first two. After toasting the bread with olive oil and salt, I put dried seaweed from South Korea.

This product is my favorite seaweed flavored with corn oil, olive oil, which is different from Japanese flavored seaweed. Like Japanese one, it can be eaten with rice and rice cakes as well.

Later, I toasted one more slice to see how it tastes without olive oil or any other flavors.

The toast somehow reminded me of a rice cracker while I was eating it. It was just like a thick and spongy rice cracker. Next time, I have to make some kind of paste with soy sauce or miso to spread on it.

Pain 2 Olives of Paul

Paul is a French bakery chain that has many shops also in Japan. The nearest shop from Hamamatsu may be the one in Kyoto, more than 220 km away. However, they sometimes have a temporary stand in the basement of Entetsu Department Store. It seems that they don’t have any vegan sandwiches or pastries, but they have at least two kinds of vegan bread: Ancien Paul and Pain 2 Olives. Several days ago, I bought them home.

The left one is Ancien Paul baked in a traditional way. It was soft and had easy-to-eat taste. The right one is my favorite Pain 2 Olives. It contains slices of both black and green olives. I love the salty taste and rich flavor of olives.

Paul's products are more expensive than those in ordinary Japanese bakeries. However, it is diffiult to find bread like Pain 2 Olives in elsewhere. If I have a chance to visit big cities, I’d like to visit a permanent shop of Paul. As seen on their plastic bag, it is an old bakery founded in 1889. I’m curious to see the interior of their shops that is said to be the same as that in France.

Veggie hot dog newly launched in IKEA

Last Saturday, after visiting the exhibition in Matsuzakaya Museum, I went to IKEA in Nagakute, a town adjacent to Nagoya. On May 16, IKEA introduced a veggie hot dog and a plant-based banana soft-serve ice cream in the bistros in their stores. I was excited to hear that as I had never been in their bistro due to the lack of vegetarian/vegan options.

At IKEA, I was surprised to see how many people were standing in the line in front of the ticket vending machines. But the line moved faster then I expected, and I could get both veggie hot dog and soft-serve ice cream smoothly. I tried the ice cream first before it would melt. I heard this is 100% plant-based and made from only banana juice. It had a light taste and quenched my thirst.

The veggie hot dog cost only 100 yen, but it was satisfactory to eat. It was made from chickpeas, green peas, kale, carrot, etc. and reminded me of the vegan sandwich I had in SUBWAY in Rovaniemi, Finland last year. It had also red cabbage on top, and I added ketchup and mustard. I thought it was a good value for the price.

According to IKEA, the CO2 emission of the veggie hot dog is 10% of that of the conventional pork hot dog. Though the bun still contains egg and dairy products, it will be vegan in the future. I also learned that 30% of their customers in Japan come to IKEA to eat. I hope more and more people get interested in sustainable and healthy food provided there. From June, they will have a plant-based food fair with two new kinds of veggie hot dogs.

In addition to visit to the bistro, I had another important thing to do at IKEA. These are wholegrain crisp rolls, multigrain crispbread, rye crispbread, and sugar-free oat biscuits I bought in the food market. All of them seem to be vegan.

In addition to them, I bought also thin bread, my favorite, which I have already eaten up.

Vegan bread of PECK

In the basement of Entetsu Department Store, you can see a stand of PECK selling their bread sometimes. I had misunderstood for a long time that it was a bakery, but it is an Italian delicatessen shop founded in 1883.

Today was the last day of their sales period this time, so I bought two kinds of vegan bread, focaccia and ciabatta. You can see focaccia in many Italian restaurant in Japan, but focaccia of PECK look different from others. They are brown and soaked in olive oil.

I bought one during the lunch time. In the evening, immediately before eating it, I noticed that some oil had oozed from focaccia and was glittering.

As I ate it, I didn’t feel that it was too oily. I enjoyed the flavor of juicy olive oil and simple salty taste of bread.

The other bread ciabatta is also traditional Italian bread. According to the explanation in PECK, ciabatta means a slipper.

As ciabatta is flat, it may be easy to make a sandwich with it, but I cut it and ate with a tomato soup. The cross section looked like this. It tasted a little sweeter than baguette though I had imagined that they had similar tastes.

In addition to a tomato, the soup contained leftover vegetables such as dried radish, shiitake mushroom, Japanese mustard spinach, and potato and was seasoned with salt and soy sauce. This is one of the simplest dishes I usually have.

PECK has some permanent shops in Japan. The nearest shop from Hamamatsu is the one in JR Nagoya Takashimaya. I like traditional European bread. Simple is the best!

BAGEL & BAGEL - Vegan bread available in JR Hamamatsu Station

When I went on a trip to Nagasaki the other day, I bought my lunch before getting on Shinkansen. In Shinkansen, box lunches are available, but they are not for vegetarians/vegans. So, I had to take something with me. I was going to meet my mother at 7:30 near the ticket gate of Shinkansen. Before that, I went to Bagel & Bagel and bought some bagels. To my surprise, my mother did the same (but not for lunch) before we met. Bagels are good to eat under a long train trip because they are pretty filling.

BAGEL & BAGEL is a nationwide bagel chain with more than 40 shops. The open hours vary depending on shops, and the one in May One Ekimachi West in JR Hamamatsu Station is open from 7:00 to 22:00. It is convenient not only for travelers but also for commuters. The shop is easy to find because it is in front of an automatic glass door.

Yesterday, I found a sign with a picture of a bagel sandwich in front of the glass door. It was a seasonal new sandwich called “spring vegetables and cheese omelet” and looked suitable for vegetarians. Spring vegetables were canola flowers and snap peas. I didn’t want to any sandwiches but went inside. I noticed an indication saying that you can get six bagels you like for 1080 yen! One bagel costs 180 to 200 yen, so it may become less expensive.

I chose six vegan bagels (those without 乳 (milk) written as an ingredient) out of some more options.

When I got home, I tried the most delicious-looking one and the most interesting one. They were Triple Berry and Soy Milk & Edamame.

Triple Berry is a brand-new product with strawberries, cranberries, and blueberries contained. According to the website of BAGEL & BAGEL, it is on sale from February 25 to April 7. It had a beautiful color and sweet smell. As I expected, it was delicious and not too sweet.

Soy Milk & Edamame was also good, but edamame or green soybeans were small pieces, and I couldn’t feel their taste very much. It seemed to be sweetened with apple juice, and this sweetness was more noticeable.

Today, I had Sesame and 15 kinds of Grain for lunch. They were simple but nutritious.

In fact, I thought of keeping the remaining two in the refrigerator to eat on some other day. But I couldn’t wait because they were my favorites. I ate Cinnamon Raisins and Maple Walnuts for dinner.

I like the flavor of maple syrup. It tasted especially good when I was tired after work.

DONQ - Big fresh baguette just out of oven

In the evening, after I had gelato in the basement of Entetsu Department Store, I went to the old building of the department store to buy something for dinner. In front of the shop of DONQ, a chain bakery, one of the staff members started shouting to announce what they would offer at 17:00. Two big fresh baguettes would be cut in slices in front of the customers who wanted them! It was 16:50, and I stood in a queue at once. 

The queue became longer and longer. Each customer could buy up to two slices and got one or two plastic cards according to the number of slices. All the cards seemed to be given out by 17:00, and the first baguette was carried in front of us. It was big indeed! But I was more surprised to see steam coming up from the baguette when it was cut. 

It went very rapidly. As I was the second in the queue, I could get my slice soon. After paying at the cash register, I hurried home. When I took out the baguette out of the paper bag, I noticed that the bag became wet because of the fresh bread. I measured the width of the slice with a measuring tape. It was about 24 cm.

Since I was so attracted to its freshness, I ate the baguette as it was without putting anything on it. The crust was as crisp as those of ordinary baguettes of DONQ. But the inside was very spongy and reminded me of Chinese steamed buns. 

It was an interesting kind of baguette, and I enjoyed eating it. The only disadvantage was that it was too big to eat at a time, so I left the half of it and put in the refrigerator. I have to warm it up when I eat it next time.

Every day, this big baguette is sold in the same way in DONQ in Entetsu Department Store. Generally, I don’t like to stand in a queue, but I think it was worth to do it this time.

European Christmas (4) - Scandinavian Fair in JR Nagoya Takashimaya

After arriving at JR Nagoya Station, I went directly to JR Nagoya Takashimaya and took an elevator. It is a big department store located in JR Nagoya Station and has the 15th Scandinavian Fair on the 10th floor until December 24. In this fair, traditional handicrafts and food in Northern Europe are introduced and sold.  

Beside this display, there was an artisan painting on a red wooden horse. She was Ms. Maja Carlstein from Dalarna (Dalecarlia) in Sweden, and the horse was a Dalecarlian horse.

A Dalecarlian horse has a history of nearly 400 years. It was originally a toy for children but is now one of the most popular souvenirs of Sweden. I have one myself, but this was the first time to see how it was painted. There were already some people around Maja, looking fixedly at her work. I joined them to look closer.

It was amazing how smoothly and skillfully she used her brush. I didn’t think the patterns could be corrected later by overpainting them. High concentration was obviously required for each stroke. It was especially interesting to see how she drew blue arcs on the horse. The blue paint was added only partly on the brush and the rest of the brush remained white. In this way, the two colors were put on the horse at the same time with each stroke, making fine gradation between the blue arcs and the white part. It reminded me a technique of Japanese ink painting my uncle showed me once, though in his case, the gradation was made with black ink and water.

Everyone around her was drawn into her work and looked for a while. I wondered how long it took to acquire this craftsmanship she had. I feared to break her concentration but finally could speak to her. Here I’d like to thank Maja for letting me take pictures. Tack så mycket!

After that, I walked around the venue for a while and went back to Hamamatsu. It was a long day. I came home about 20:30. My first trip with Seishun 18 in this season was over.

Then I had dinner. This is thin bread I bought at IKEA. It is my most favorite food in Sweden, and I went to IKEA mainly because of this.

Christmas Market in Create Hamamatsu

Create Hamamatsu is a community center, where many cultural activities and events are held. Today, they had a Christmas market. I had been looking forward to going there since a couple of weeks ago because I heard a German bread bakery Roggenmehl would participate in the event.

When I buy bread at bakeries, I choose either French bread (baguette) or German rye bread. This is not because I try to choose vegan options, but because I simply like European hard bread. Unfortunately, options of hard bread are quite limited in ordinary bakeries, so I expected to have much wider selection in this Christmas market.

When I entered the building around 10:00, there was already a chorus group singing a Christmas song. I found a big Christmas tree beside a stall.

Roggenmehl was easy to find. They had too many kinds of bread to choose from.

Besides, they also sold German Christmas cakes stollen that have become popular in recent years. I bought a slice of Stollen as I had never eaten one before, and almost all kinds of hard bread in half size. Each of them had a label on which all the ingredients were listed.

I especially like bread that contains fruits and seeds. I had three kinds of bread for lunch and felt very happy.

This is a slice of stollen. The name of the bakery is beautifully written on the label.

I think Roggenmehl is the only German bread bakery in Hamamatsu. I checked information on their website.

Bakery Roggenmehl
Address: 1-51-32 Takaokakita, Naka-ku, Hamamatsu-shi, Shizuoka
Tel/Fax: 053-437-4753
Open hours: 7:00 - 18:00
Closed: Mondays
Parking space available for six cars

In the Christmas market, I found another interesting stand Maple Experience run by Mr. David Martel from Canada and his wife. They sold Canadian Christmas sweets. I saw Canadian Christmas cakes for the first time. They were slices of fruitcakes with marzipan on top. They explained me that they usually use marzipan for Christmas cakes in Canada and the cakes they were selling would keep for a few weeks. I thought it quite a long time, but I was really surprised when I heard that there were cakes that kept for 25 years!

I became interested in Canadian Christmas cakes and searched for a while after I came home. I learned that the marzipan on the cake represents snow like sugar on Stollen.

I ate a slice with peppermint tea. It was dense with many kinds of ingredients mixed together. It was so good that I regretted not having bought one more.

According to their Facebook page (@mapleexperience), they produce maple sugar and maple butter. Since I was so absorbed in the cakes in the Christmas market, I forgot to ask about their maple products. I wish I can find Maple Experience in some other events and can taste different kinds of sweets flavored by their products.