There are people who make the food, then there are us who use and deliver it, and finally it reaches the customer. I met the people who make the food in Kamiyama Town, Tokushima Prefecture.

Nice to meet you, I'm Aoki from MONOSUS Shokuken .
I joined the company in March last year and worked at Kudan Shokudo making salads.
In September, I was transferred to FarmMart & Friends and am now in charge of producing donuts and lunches.

I've been interested in food since I was a child and I loved both eating and cooking.
When I was wondering what my future path would be, I wanted to learn more about food and the truth behind all the information about food that is out there (such as, "If you eat this, you'll lose weight!" or "This is bad for you, so you shouldn't eat it") so I went to a university specializing in nutrition.

After graduating, I worked as a registered dietitian, but then I wanted to be on the cooking side, so I changed jobs to work at the restaurant industry.

When I went to eat at a restaurant while studying, I was impressed by the salad that came as an appetizer.
The leaves were vibrant and fresh, and it was as if the dish was telling us to come and eat!
When I ate it, the texture was good and the flavor of the vegetables came through. It was the first time I'd ever had a salad that made me happy while eating it.
It was around that time that I started to become interested in ingredients and the people who produce them.

This time, I was able to meet the producers of the vegetables and processed foods that we handle at MONOSUS Shokuken, and stayed in Kamiyama, Tokushima for about a week. I met a lot of different people and learned a lot, so I would like to share that with you all.

Connecting Farms

The Food Hub Project , which operates in Kamiyama, calls the fields where they grow rice, vegetables, wheat, and fruit "Tsunagu Farm." At Tsunagu Farm, we toured the fields and orchards, and experienced harvesting kale and wasabi greens.
There are about 10 greenhouses, and we were able to see the state of the fields at each stage, from before sowing to after harvest, all at once.
I learned a lot by actually seeing the fields and listening to stories, such as what the vegetables used in the salad look like in the fields, the balance of fertilizer that is added to the soil, and the pressure that goes into the process from sowing the seeds to germinating.
I finally understood why building relationships with the people who grow them and learning how they actually work the fields allows me to better imagine the vegetables when they are delivered to me.
Another benefit is that the vegetables can be delivered as quickly and in the best condition as possible without going through the market, and in that respect, I realized that Kamaya's meals, which are cooked right next to the farm, offer exceptionally good conditions.

Oronono

Two years have passed since Matsumoto-san of Oronono became independent from Tsunagu Farm. It was the busy season for carrot harvesting, but we were able to help him and talk to him.
Kamiyama is cold, and when I visited in February the soil was frozen, making carrot harvesting very difficult. The leaves fell over, and what couldn't be picked up by machine had to be dug up by hand, which was very hard work.
However, the colder it gets, the higher the sugar content becomes, resulting in juicy, delicious carrots.
He said that even when he is prone to being biased towards efficiency, the reaction of the people who eat his food sometimes brings him back to his roots. He said that in Kamiyama, the people who cook and eat the food he makes are all close by, which is a good thing.

Vegetable Wisdom

We had the opportunity to talk to Chie about the difficulties and joys of farming, and the working style that suits her.

I learned that it's not enough to just say, "I want to make something!" but to think about a lot of things, such as the land and environment where it will be made, and whether it suits your pace.
Chie also delivers vegetables to her acquaintances in the town. She leaves the choice of vegetables up to them, as long as they are within her range of movement. I think it's important for producers to do things that don't put too much strain on themselves in order to continue.

Extra: Kamapan & Store

Since I am currently manufacturing donuts, I had the opportunity to undergo training at Kamapan & Store.
It was my first time to enter a bakery's production site, and I was able to see how various types of bread are made. What impressed me was that the bread made in Kamiyama cannot be made exactly the same as it is made anywhere else. It seems that the air of Kamiyama and the bacteria floating around the store affect the taste and flavor of the bread.
Immediately after returning from Tokushima, the clothes I was wearing smelled like a Kamapan shop.

The training period was short, and I thought I might never have another opportunity like this, so I asked lots of questions to Daisuke, the production manager, and the other members, but I also learned the importance of thinking for myself first.
Instead of immediately looking for the answer, first research and study on your own. Try every possible method. After doing everything you can on your own, consult with people around you.
Since this is my first time making donuts, there are many things I don't know and I tend to take shortcuts, but I learned once again that I shouldn't skip the process of thinking for myself.

At Kamapan, we have also made vegan whole grain doughnuts which are manufactured and sold at FarmMart.
I did a test fry the day before the sale, but I felt the difficulty of doing the same work in a different environment. I didn't have a thermometer, and it was hard to control the temperature because I was cooking on a portable stove, so the donuts ended up being very dense, which was frustrating because they were not as delicious as they should have been.
The second time, we learned from the mistakes of the first time and borrowed a thermometer from Kamaya, carefully checked the recipe, and made preparations. As a result, we were able to deliver delicious donuts to our customers that were close to our usual multigrain donuts.

During my stay in Kamiyama, I learned a lot of things from the people around me and received a lot of things from them, so it was great to be able to give them some multigrain vegan donuts.

I never expected that my wish to meet producers and make connections would come true so soon, so it was a very pleasant training.
During my stay, the various experiences and stories I heard gradually began to connect, and I felt like the dots were starting to form lines.
Seeing the faces of the people who make the food has made me want to reduce the amount of food waste I've been wasting without thinking about it, and use it all up while it's still tasty. There are people who make the food, there are us who cook and deliver it, and finally it reaches the customer. It was a valuable experience to be able to experience this process. Once again, I felt that food is fascinating.

I also realized that it is important to understand the thoughts of the people who make the products and deliver them to customers, and to build a relationship of trust with the people who make them. I will not forget what I felt and learned in this training, and I would like to use it in my future lunch and donut production.