In the Field, wild flowers have bloomed.
And Bees are busy flying around too.
I didn’t eat them when they bloomed. I picked them out before they did and ate them.
Delicious. A pleasure of the Spring.
Small plants like Vetch, Henbit, or Speedwell are also blooming. I was able to make a Speedwell flower garden at the side of the field.
This year too, I made Miso with the Marukawa Miso-Making Set.
By the way, fermented foods are said to be good for health, but those with a lot of additives, fermented for only a short period of time, kill the bacteria by heating, and make the taste just with additives.
In Miso, the declaration of use of genetically modified soybeans for production, is Obligatory. But in soy sauce and oil, it does not have to be declared, so if it's not specifically displayed, that domestically produced soybeans are used, it is considered made of genetically modified ones.
Strong herbicides are used for genetically engineered crops. The biggest player is a company which made defoliants used during the Vietnam War. Under this diversion, the famous flagship product was bought by Japanese Companies now, and TV commercials praise it as "It has finally arrived...". Agriculture used to have a good image for nature and environment, but now it is part of environmental pollution by some huge enterprises.
Depending on chemical companies, seeds, agricultural chemicals and chemical fertilizers have been sold in sets, and in exchange for efficiency, we have lost a rich natural environment and diversity. The soil becomes thin and it builds a loop of dependence. In addition, we're in an Era of genome editing, buying in larger scale, big influence on Governments and anxiety.
I think that there are a lot of people who still resist against genetically engineered crops in Japan, nevertheless, there’s still a large number of imported products which origin is not clearly declared.
Even if the appearance of the soy sauce or oil is not altered "if the weight of the raw material is less than 1/3 , and the percentage of the weight of the raw material is not more than 5%, a declaration is not necessary."
So, we may find genetically engineered ingredients in one fourth of the raw material declarations. But, when asking the Clerk of the Meat Corner on a low budget Supermarket “Do you use genetically modified Corn as fodder?”, the answer would be “Yes, we do”. So, it’s really flowing constantly into every day life.
If declaration of all genetically modified raw materials would be obligatory, like it is in the EU, the situation would be different.
Seasonings are important for food taste, food enjoyment, and for health building, I think.
Especially, Miso and Soy Sauce are wonder seasonings created and formed by Nihonkokijabi (Koji) and Japan’s Climate.
Well then, should we choose “normal” Miso or Soy sauce?
This week I read Shizuo Tsuji 's book.
内山隼人
Hayato Uchiyama
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Translated by: Ani (Using Online resources)