Underground Japanese Lunches & Dinners

That’s right, after months of promising, it’s here!

As a vegan and foodie living in Japan for two and a half years, I ate a lot. I cooked a lot. I was cooked for a lot. I studied cookbooks. I trialled and experimented constantly. I even taught vegetarian cooking to housewives. 

Japan is inherently not vegetarian friendly. Yes, there are some amazing traditional dishes that are vegan, even if they don’t realize it. Here are some things that are considered vegetarian by everyday Japanese society: fish; all other sea creatures; chicken broth, and of course, bacon. While other areas of my language studies may have suffered, I have an exquisite food vocabulary and food-related kanji reading skills for making sure these situations did not happen.

While Japan does have a traditional Buddhist vegan cuisine called shoujin ryori, it is niche and only alive in some heavily populated areas of (usually Esoteric) Buddhist monks. You can pay a pretty penny for it in the bigger cities if you want it bad enough, though. Still, Japan is an island nation, using sea creatures heavily in dishes, which means there is a lot a vegan cannot eat.

That’s why I’m here to fix this nonsense! We shall enjoy common Japanese dishes without animal products that you simply cannot find in restaurants!

Here are some dishes we will be having:

• Takoyaki: fried octopus-less balls (hands on demo!)
• Fresh yuba: soya milk skin
• Gomadofu: savoury sesame squares with wasabi
• Chawanmushi: a steamed “egg” pot with vegetables
• Tonkatsu: Fried non-pork cutlets
• Tamagoyaki: Eggy roll
• and other snacks, drinks, traditional meal endings, desserts and things!

Of course you understand if I need to swap a dish, but we should be fine!
There are also no filler, fake meats being used in dishes. It’s real food!

Dates available to choose from:
Sunday, 15 July, 14:00 (finished)
Sunday, 22 July, evening 19:00 (finished)
Wednesday, 29 August, evening 19:00 (sold out)
Sept TBA

*Interested? Get in contact! With enough interest, I can add another date!

Still not sure? Check out the reviews on the Events page!

Where: Finchley Central

When: see times and dates above
How much: £25 pre-pay donation by bank transfer or Paypal.
Sake: Free tasting with donation. Japanese home-brewed non-alcoholic drink also available. BYOB for the rest.
Who: Foodies! This specific Underground Supper Club is invite only, which is probably how you ended up on this page!

*No donation refunds. I don’t really make anything off of this, but the money goes to planning the food, drinks, and good times! If you cannot make it, please give your spot to a friend (let me know, it’s no problem!). I hope you understand!

If interested, please send me a message either by email (chocoagogo AT gmail.com), or Vegan Ronin’s Facebook or Twitter, all of which are listed on the right side of the home page.

Only a few seats at each luncheon, so grab a friend and let’s eat!

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