What kind of food do we serve in our retreat?
Today, please let us share some photos of the delish food that’s served in the past retreat programs at Prana Retreat Japan! What we offer at our table is a healthy vegetarian meal, which is super easy to digest yet very satisfying!
Please scroll down to see our nourishing retreat food, which is also very nice and entertaining to our eyes :)
The picture above is a rice ball plate we had for a lunch one day in May program. We don’t really repeat menu but our chefs are more like “We will see what seasonal ingredients are available, and go with the flow!” kind of creative people, so I don’t really know what comes up on the table until the meal time.
One day, I went to the kitchen to see how the lunch prep was going, and saw these beautiful rice balls with variety of ingredients. The moments I saw this artful plate-up, I had a scream of delight and excitement, and so did everyone.
So many colors, so much depth of flavors in each ball. It was just delicious!
This one had a bit of Western cooking essence. We had this “Bamboo shoot Croquets” as the main, and fresh salad, veggie pickles, stir fried root veggies and nutritious Miso Soup at the side.
We also serve Japanese green tea as all-day drinks during the meals, and the entire dining space always gets filled up with such a beautiful smell of food! (And yes, because of this, people often come early to the dining space even before the meal time!!!)
Do you know that a Japanese cooking class is a part of our cultural activities during the retreat? We learn how to cook “Japanese family dishes”, not “restaurant type of dishes”. It is so authentic, and something you can try at home after you go back to your own country.
“きんぴら / Kinpira” is a typical home dish in Japan, and in the picture, we learnt how to cook root veggies (including some Japanese vegetable like burdock roots). I love when people make notes in the cooking class, and I hope they still enjoy Japanese tastes at home after the retreat program.
Everyone loves fresh salad day with nice breads! This sautéed mushrooms were gone so quickly as everyone wanted to have it more!
We had a few different dressings on the table, but my favorite was Japanese creamy sesame dressing. It was full of flavors, and crispiness of sesame seeds was just perfect match with fresh greens.
Some people enjoyed the soy mayo not only over the salad but also over the bread.
Bamboo shoots are something locals always eat in spring time, as they grow everywhere. (We actually have to cut off bamboo shoots because bamboos are such spreading type of trees. People care for the nature, and the nature gifts us something delightful to eat. How beautiful this cycle is!)
Lotus roots are another classic Japanese vegetable. It is crunchy, and can be cooked in many ways. Because a lotus flower is often a symbol of yoga, our chefs use lotus roots a lot in our retreats, serving it in different dishes from a creamy soup to a stir fried dish.
The picture above is a vegan burger, and this was by far the best vegan/vegetarian kind of burger I have ever eaten!
They used fluffy soy buns, and delicious soy mayo. The BBQ sauce was Teriyaki kind of deep rich flavors. The patty was all vegetables. It was simple, yet super satisfying!
I remember people kept saying “I want to have another one” after the lunch, and yup, I felt the same!
We are always so grateful for the fresh and nourishing meals that’s served by our retreat chefs. Eating is one way to connect to the culture, and I am sure that our meals is the embodiment of the idea, which cross a bridge between retreat participants and the local culture.
Arigato chef!
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