Found DELI
Found DELI searches for seasonal ingredients from all over the world, and explores the wisdom of eating well inherited from local culture. Original tastes of ingredients are being brought to the menu through healthy and tasty traditional family recipes.
Through Found DELI, Café&Meal MUJI chefs visited Okinawa and learnt different cooking methods and skills from local families, bringing their wisdom accumulated in daily life and original tastes of in-season ingredients to the menu of Café&Meal MUJI for you to enjoy the enchanting flavours of Okinawan cuisine.
OKINAWA
Okinawa, located at the south-westernmost of Japan, consists of numerous islands scattered across a vast ocean. The unique food culture is shaped by its history and culture, geographical location and sub-tropical maritime climate.
Okinawa was once part of an independent state called Ryukyu Kingdom and greatly influenced by foreign cultures, which led to the belief of "Medicine and Food Homology" among Okinawans. Local people treat food as medicine, and pay much attention to ingredient selection, seasoning and cooking methods for the sake of health.
Pork and Okinawan vegetables such as bitter melon, are the main ingredients of local cuisine while the stock made from bonito flakes and kelp serves as the base for many dishes, with simmering and stir-frying as the main cooking methods, bringing uniqueness to Okinawan food culture.
INGREDIENTS
Bitter Melon
As the most symbolic food of Okinawa, bitter melon is rich in vitamin C, carotene, dietary fibres and minerals that will not be lost easily during cooking. It also contains momordicin which increases appetite to regain energy and slows down absorption of sugar. Taste it in spring and summer to enjoy the best flavour.
Mozuku
Grown in the pure seawater of Okinawa, Mozuku, a type of brown algae, is known as "Seaweed of Longevity". It is low in calories and rich in minerals and dietary fibres. Its slimy surface contains high level of fucoidan, which maintains the health of digestive system and enhance immunity, making it an ideal ingredient for everyday meal.
Honwakatou
Okinawa has plenty of sunshine and rain, forming an ideal natural environment for the growth of sugar cane. Honwakatou, with fine and milky white sugar crystals, is made from 100% raw sugar from sugar cane grown in Okinawa. Its minerals are retained during sugar processing, giving it a mild sweetness.
DELI
In this spring and summer, Café&Meal MUJI brings you Okinawa homestyle menu through Found DELI. Rediscover a healthy diet by tasting the natural flavour of seasonal ingredients and sensing the inherited wisdom of Okinawans which has been passed through generations.
Rafute
Rafute was originally part of the royal court cuisine of Ryukyu Kingdom and then became a symbolic homestyle dish gradually. Pork is first simmered over an extended period of time to remove its fat, then further braised slowly with pork broth after fat is skimmed off and added with various seasonings, leaving the pork meltingly-soft tenderness with a rich taste.
Okinawa Chanpuru
Okinawa Chanpuru is a traditional homestyle dish. Okinawa bitter melon and vegetables are stir-fried together with traditional seasonings, and bonito flakes are added to leave a mellow aftertaste to bitter melon. Containing vitamins and minerals from vegetables together with proteins from meat, it provides balanced nutrition for a healthy diet.
Pineapple & Bitter Melon Salad
Bitter melon is a staple food of Okinawans, either being eaten cooked or raw. The salad is made with crispy and refreshing raw bitter melon marinated with fresh pineapple, brown sugar and shikuwasa juice, with the addition of carrot and red pepper shreds to give a rich taste. This green cold deli is ideal for spring and summer.