Making Miso, Sharing Cultures

from $14.00

Learn the story of our annual miso making party and get step-by-step instructions for how to host your own in this beautiful, 60-page bilingual chapbook by Yuri Baxter-Neal, Lola Milholland and Sakiko Setaka.

Throughout the book are collages made by Alix Jo Ryan and photos taken by Shawn Linehan of our miso making party. Designed by Timme Lu.

Created with support from the Regional Arts and Culture Council, Umi Organic, Life Sampling, and Vibrant Valley Farm. A portion of proceeds will help us send copies to nonprofits across the US. Printed in December 2021.

CONTENTS

  • Miso Time 味噌時間 by Lola Milholland

  • How to Make Miso in Community

  • Umami Life 旨味人生 by Yuri Baxter-Neal

  • Miso Soup for Every Season

  • God Dwells in Miso 味噌の神様がいた by Sakiko Setaka

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Making miso is not difficult! Anyone can participate in miso making regardless of age or cooking experience. During the community miso making events we organized in 2018 and 2019, we made miso with a total of more than 60 people. Each of us put our clean bare hands in bowls of steaming beans placed in a row on a long table, smashed beans, and then moved to each bowl so that we could deposit our natural bacteria in all the bowls. We shared our cultures with people we were meeting for the first time, people we hadn’t seen for a long time, our friends of friends, their children. Together, we packed a little bit of ourselves in the crock to create something better for the future—something that will feed, heal and soothe us. 

“Miso that has been aged over time is so nutritious that it has long been said in Japan, “we should pay money for miso makers rather than doctors.” Miso boosts our immunity and is highly effective as a medicine. I believe that our community miso is fermented with our memories, strengthens the connections between us, and creates a living chain that promotes our mental and physical health.

“After all, making miso with others is a perfect excuse to meet again.”

-Yuri Baxter-Neal