Project Food Los Angeles

08/21/2024

07/30/2024

07/30/2024

This is "Hollywood Reservoir Pollinator Garden Grand Opening" by LADWP on Vimeo, the home for high quality videos and the people who love them.

03/30/2024

Soba Noodles 'Deliveryman' in Tokyo, Japan (1935). Piles of soba bowls were packed on shoulders of bicycle couriers.

Delivery of food called demae was originally a service for wealthy daimyō (feudal lords) in 1700s CE. Wealthy daimyo would send servants to let shopkeepers know that they wanted food delivered to their homes. As time went by, demae became more mainstream and affordable for middle class.

Tradition of eating soba originates from Tokugawa (Edo) Period (1603-1868 CE). In Tokugawa period, every neighborhood had one or two soba establishments, many also serving sake, which functioned much like modern cafes where locals would stop for a casual meal. At, that time, population of Edo (Tokyo), being considerably wealthier than the rural poor, was more susceptible to beriberi due to their high consumption of white rice, which is low in thiamine. It was discovered that beriberi could be prevented by regularly eating thiamine-rich soba.

Soba is typically eaten with chopsticks and in Japan, it is considered acceptable to slurp noodles noisily. This is especially common with hot noodles, as drawing up noodles quickly into mouth helps cool them. However, quiet consumption of noodles is no longer uncommon.

During that period, every noodle delivery man required a special technique of stacking towers of food on their shoulders as they biked through busy streets. One of most popular foods to be delivered with this method was soba, buckwheat noodles that can be eaten cold with dipping sauce or served in hot broth. Dish was affordable and could be carried around without losing flavor or appearance.

Lastly, In March 1961, new cycling traffic laws added restrictions. Officials of Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said “To ride on a bicycle with piles of ‘soba’ bowls on your shoulder is dangerous. It must be prohibited from the viewpoint of road traffic safety. But we will not place any stricter curb as they will lose more than half their customers”.

📷 : Mainichi Shimbun

© Rare Historical Photos

03/23/2024

Join us online this Sunday. Register:

Join us as we explore cultural productions representing a bleak future, and things we can do today.

03/15/2024

A picture from the Eden Project in Cornwall - this is what regenerative farming can look like. Unlike conventional monoculture planting, this polyculture system diversifies the soil life, making plants less susceptible to pests and disease.